Get There Report 2015 final

City of Corvallis
Transportation Program
“Get There” Campaign Report
May 4-15, 2015
The annual “Get There” campaign celebrates community connectivity, active transportation, and
sustainable transportation options, and involves community and business participation to encourage
biking, walking, carpooling/vanpooling, transit, and teleworking. “Get There” features public outreach
events and provides prizes for randomly-chosen DriveLessConnect.com members who use the website to
track their trips via these modes.
The City of Corvallis Transportation Program has held its annual “Get There Challenge” (formerly “Get
There Another Way Week”) since the mid-1990s. Cascades West Rideshare at Oregon Cascades West
Council of Governments joins forces with Corvallis for this event, and program participation has been
managed via the Drive Less Connect software since 2012. DriveLessConnect.com is a statewide carpoolmatching and trip-tracking website funded by the Oregon Department of Transportation and managed by
regional entities, including Cascades West Rideshare,
which oversees the program in Benton, Lincoln, and Linn
Counties. “Get There” is one of the region’s signature
annual campaigns helping drive registration and user
engagement with the Drive Less Connect tool (see
registration data, page 6).
“Get There” was Corvallis-focused for many years. In
2013, Cascades West focused on expanding the event
throughout the communities of Benton, Lincoln, and Linn Counties for the first time – while also
continuing to partner with the City of Corvallis Transportation Program. This year, the campaign featured
events in Lebanon, Albany, and Newport in addition to the continued focus on Corvallis.
PREPARATION AND PLANNING
Staffing:
Staff from Cascades West Rideshare and the City of Corvallis collaborated regularly in the weeks and
months leading up to “Get There,” meeting frequently and communicating multiple times per week
throughout February-May, addressing project management and planning; prize donation procurement;
marketing and outreach; event planning; Drive Less Connect management; and other priorities. Staffing
included part-time hours from Cascades West Rideshare’s outreach coordinator and the City of Corvallis
transportation specialist, and some additional support from Cascades West Rideshare’s transportation
manager.
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Design and printing:
Cascades West Rideshare staff used the Adobe Creative Suite to update campaign materials that were
originally created for “Get There” by a contracted marketing firm, Pac West Communications, in 2013.
These included the campaign poster and brochure as well as an on-screen advertisement that ran at the
Darkside Cinema in Corvallis in April and May, and a website graphic for the DriveLessConnect.com
homepage (see marketing samples, page 10). The poster and brochure were printed thanks to an in-kind
donation from the Oregon State University Sustainability Office.
Financial contributions:
The City of Corvallis solicited a $250 financial sponsorship from American Dream Pizza / the HandleBar in
Corvallis. This business has been a longtime supporter of the campaign via donating gift cards and
displaying posters in years past, and we were pleased to see the business’s engagement increase through
financial sponsorships this year and in 2014. Cascades West and the City of Corvallis also secured a $250
sponsorship from CH2M Hill, which is a major local employer in Corvallis and active with the City’s
Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) group. CH2M Hill also was a sponsor in 2014. Funds from
these sponsors were used to purchase 3 Kindles which were provided as grand prizes for the campaign.
Cascades West also solicited two overnight vacation packages from Chinook Winds Casino Resort in
Lincoln City, including golf, dinner, and headliner show tickets for two.
High-value grand prizes provided a strong focal point for the campaign to encouraged participation and
Drive Less Connect registration. The grand-prize sponsors received an array of publicity benefits, including
logo placement on the brochure and poster, on the Darkside Cinema ad, and at www.CWRide.org and
DriveLessConnect.com. The sponsors were featured in all media coverage solicitations across the threecounty region and recognized via targeted email marketing to over 700 Drive Less Connect members, as
well as email outreach to hundreds of other stakeholders.
We also received a $250 sponsorship from vRide, one of the vanpool providers and a partner in the
regional Valley Vanpool program. This sponsorship supported the vanpool appreciation lunch described
on page 5.
Cascades West and the City of Corvallis also solicited over two dozen smaller prizes. For prize details and a
full contributor list, see page 8. Providing an array of prizes – from retailers, restaurants, bike shops,
farmers markets, and more – helped build excitement for the campaign, and celebrating prize winners
was a central focus of our messaging to participants throughout the campaign.
REGISTRATION AND OUTREACH
All registration, trip-tracking, and prize drawings were conducted using DriveLessConnect.com. Staff
configured the incentives for “Get There” Daily Prizes and “Get There” Grand Prizes in Drive Less Connect
such that anyone who tracked 1 or more trips by biking, walking, carpooling/ vanpooling, transit or
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teleworking during the campaign was eligible to win daily prizes and anyone who tracked 5 or more trips
was eligible for the grand prizes. There was no need to join a specific Drive Less Connect network. All
winners are chosen randomly via the website, from among the qualified participants.
The prize details and incentive qualification requirements were visible to Drive Less Connect members in
Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties starting in April to build awareness and excitement. A homepagegraphic
at DriveLess Connect.com (see page 11) was visible starting in late April inviting people to participate.
The largest share of participation in the campaign was by people affiliated with worksites, specifically
organizations that are members of the Corvallis ETC group (see “How Did You Hear About Drive Less
Connect?,” page 4). We partnered with Benton County to upload contact information for over 1,000
people employed by Benton County into Drive Less Connect before “Get There” to streamline the
registration process. These people received an automatic registration link directly from
DriveLessConnect.com and if they chose not to participate, their contact information was automatically
deleted within one week. Other ETCs shared information from us directly with their colleagues via their
organizations’ preferred internal communications channels.
We provided informational emails to ETCs and existing Drive Less Connect members before and during
the campaign. We used these emails to provide instructions, build momentum, and report on prizes and
achievements.
Sample email for Corvallis ETCs to distribute to their staffs, Mon. 5/11/15
Starting off the week with more local “Get There” winners!
Congrats to Friday’s “Get There” prize winners! David B., who works for the Corvallis School District,
and David P., who works for Hewlett Packard, both will take home tokens to the Corvallis-Albany
Farmers Market. John M., who works for Hewlett Packard, won an audiobook from Audible.com, and
John B., who works for the Barnhisel Willis Barlow & Stephens law firm, won an Enterprise CarShare
membership. Keith T., who works for Hewlett Packard, won a gift card to McMenamins. All of these
winners have been notified via a personal email.
Keep tracking your trips by bike, bus, carpool/vanpool, teleworking and walking, at
www.DriveLessConnect.com, because there are lots more prizes to be won! The campaign ends this
Friday, May 15. So far, participants have tracked 23,174 non-drive alone miles. Let’s see how high that
number can grow!
Our outreach tactics were numerous. The infographic on the following page shows how our outreach
translated into Drive Less Connect registrations, as reported by people who signed up April 15-May 15.
This time period represents when our advertising and outreach ramped up, through the end of the
campaign.
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Print materials, earned media,
advertising, and other tactics:
We distributed posters and
brochures (see samples, page
10) to sponsors, ETCs, and
partner organizations, as well
as via many community
organizations, businesses, and
public spaces throughout
the region.
How did you hear about
Drive Less Connect?
Workplace: 60 people
Poster/Flyer: 5
Friend: 6
Roadway sign: 4
Community Event: 4
Internet: 11
News Coverage: 2
Other: 13
DLC new-registrant responses 4/15/15 - 5/15/15
We solicited news coverage in
April-May that resulted in
coverage in the Corvallis
Gazette Times and Albany
Democrat Herald newspapers.
Our post-campaign wrap-up was published in the Lincoln City News Guard newspaper in June.
We provided tabling outreach at Linn Benton Community College (Albany campus). Newsletter articles
were featured in public newsletters by the Corvallis Independent Business Alliance and First Alternative
Co-op, and in an internal sustainability newsletter at Hewlett Packard.. We partnered with the OSU
Sustainability Office to secure advertising on a digital reader-board on campus, and the City of Corvallis
procured paid advertisements on the popular Corvallis Pedi-Cab during the two Saturdays of the
campaign. The Pedi-Cab serves the Saturday Farmers Market and other areas. We also placed a paid
month-long ad at the popular Darkside Cinema, an independent movie theater in Corvallis. “Get There”
was regularly promoted on the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition email listserv, and was featured
prominently on the webpages of Cascades West Rideshare (CWRide.org/GetThereChallenge and the City
of Corvallis (CorvallisOregon.gov/GetThere).
Engagement with Employee
Transportation Coordinators:
We provided a lunchtime
presentation for staff at Hewlett
Packard in Corvallis in April,
hosted by ETCs Reed Lacy (left)
and Scott Logan. The City of
Corvallis provided pizza from
American Dream. American
Dream is one of our campaign
sponsors, and we also valued
the chance to support
a local business.
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“GET THERE” ACTIVITIES
We hosted and partnered with several community activities during “Get There,” aiming to enhance a
sense of community connectivity, raise awareness, and help create social norms surrounding active
transportation and transportation options. All events were free and open to the public.
Corvallis events schedule:

Mon., May 4: Light it up! Free bike lights for cyclists at several Corvallis locations.

Tues., May 5 and 12: Free bike repair workshops at the Corvallis Benton County Public Library,
hosted by the Corvallis Bicycle Collective.

Wed., May 6: Children’s storytime at the Corvallis Benton County Public Library. (We also
produced a bookmark highlighting the campaign and promoting library-specific events).

Thurs., May 7: Transit Appreciation Day, giveaways and outreach at the Corvallis Transit Center.

Wed., May 13 and Thurs. May 14: Show and Tell about bike commuting, Corvallis Benton County
Public Library.

Thurs., May 14: Vanpool commuter appreciation lunch. This lunch
welcomed vanpoolers who commute into Corvallis from Eugene and
Salem, as well as anyone interested in learning about commute
options. NOTE: Corvallis is the only Valley Vanpool work-side
destination in our region, but there are several vans that leave from
our region – namely Corvallis and Albany – for work in Eugene and Salem. We wanted to make
sure that all vanpoolers living OR working in our region were recognized, so participants in the
outgoing vanpools received Dutch Bros free-drink coffee cards in the mail.

Fri., May 16: Bike to Work Day: Free breakfast for skaters, cyclists and pedestrians at the Corvallis
Skate Park.
Regional events schedule:

Tues., May 5: Outreach at Linn Benton Community College safety
fair, Albany.

Wed., May 6: Walk and Bike to School Day, Newport (Cascades
West provided safety-related giveaways and refreshments, and
spearheaded the walking group).

Sat., May 9: Outreach and giveaways at the Lebanon Fire
Department Open House.

All month long: Free lights and transportation information avilable
to clients of the FISH food bank in Albany (see photo, right).
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OUTCOMES
Non-Single-Occupant Vehicle Miles tracked during ‘“Get There”’: 46,442
That’s enough to go around the Earth over 1.5 times!
CO2 Reduction: 60,097 pounds
Bike
Trips:
1,646
*Telework
Trips:
113
Carpool
Trips: 1,351
Bus
Trips:
269
Financial
savings:
$22,896
Walking
Trips:
479
Vanpool
Trips: 325
*The mileage attributed to telework trips is not included in data for non-SOV miles, because of the many out-of-state locations,
which over-represent the impact of teleworking. See more information on page 7.
Drive Less Connect Registration Data
Registrations
during campaign
(May 4-15)
Registrations
during heavy
promotions period
(April 15-May 15)
Registrations
April 1-April 30
Registrations
May 1-May 31
Non-campaign
average
registrants
per month
43
109
69
58
40
While the number of registrations is lower than in past 2 years, registrations remained above our monthly average.
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Modal Distribution Report:
Number of Trips, 5/4 – 5/15
Number of Trips
Bike
Bus
Carpool
Compressed
Work Week
Did Not Work
Drive Alone
Light Rail
Mode
Bike
Bus
Carpool
Compressed Work
Week
Did Not Work
Drive Alone
Light Rail
Other
Telework
Vanpool
Walk
Number
of Trips
1,646
269
1,351
2
219
318
2
8
113
324
479
Modal Distribution Report:
Number of Miles, 5/4-5/15
Miles Traveled
Bike
Bus
Carpool
Compressed Work
Week
Did Not Work
Drive Alone
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Mode
Bike
Bus
Carpool
Compressed
Work Week
Did Not Work
Drive Alone
Light Rail
Other
Telework
Vanpool
Walk
Miles Traveled
5,437.33
1,512.94
25,900.61
25.34
3,267.16
4,842.48
9.26
302.78
30,208.84
12,904.97
3,043.55
INCENTIVES
Daily prizes (gift cards to restaurants, retailers, etc.) and grand prizes (3 Kindles and 2 overnight coast
stays) provided a strong incentive for participants to track their trips via Drive Less Connect.
Over $1,000 in prize donations and financial contributions bolstered the success of “Get There.”
Below is a list of “Get There” contributors. They are noted as a donor either of prizes, in-kind
contributions, or financial contributions.
1. American Dream Pizza, Corvallis
($250 financial sponsorship)
2. Audible.com (prizes)
3. CH2M Hill, Corvallis
($250 financial sponsorship)
4. Chinook Winds Casino Resort, Lincoln City
(prizes: two vacation packages)
5. Corvallis-Albany Farmer’s Market (prize)
6. Corvallis Cyclery (prize)
7. Cyclotopia, Corvallis (prize)
8. Enterprise CarShare (prizes)
9. First Alternative Coop, Corvallis (prize)
10. Footwise, Corvallis (prize)
11. Great Harvest Bread Co., Corvallis (prize)
12. Lebanon and Sweet Home Farmers Market
(prizes)
13. Market of Choice, Corvallis (prize)
14. McMenamins, Lincoln City/Corvallis (prize)
15. Mo’s Seafood Restaurant, Newport (prizes)
16. New Morning Bakery, Corvallis (prize)
17. North by Northwest Connector (prizes)
18. Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport (prize)
19. Oregon State University Sustainability
Office (in-kind printing services)
20. Papa’s Pizza, Corvallis (prizes)
21. Peak Sports, Corvallis (prizes)
22. Santiam Spokes Bike Club, Strawberry
Century bike race, Lebanon (prizes)
23. Sibling Revelry, Corvallis (prizes)
24. vRide ($250 financial sponsorship)
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Worksite
Oregon State University
(faculty, staff, students)
Benton County
Samaritan Health Services
Environmental Protection Agency
Linn County
City of Corvallis
Oregon State Legislature
Barnhisel Willis Barlow & Stephens
law firm
Oregon Health Authority
Hewlett Packard
Corvallis School District
Number
of winners
7
4
5
1
1
4
1
1
1
4
3
Prize winner Janet Chenard, who works for the
City of Corvallis, shows off her new Kindle after
commuting to work by bike.
Note: This table does not take into account
winners whose worksites are not identified.
Worksite-specific prizes: For the first time this year, we partnered with one of our ETCs, Samaritan Health Services,
to provide site-specific prizes. In addition to the Kindles that were awarded regionally, Samaritan funded 3 Kindles
for its own staff, which were awarded to randomly-selected “Get There” participants who work at Samaritan’s Avery
Square location in Corvallis. Parking space is at a premium at this office location in the center of town, which has
prompted increased interest from management in exploring transportation demand management strategies. We
worked with Samaritan to provide customized Get There messaging
promoting these
specialregularly,
prizes. and
in the HP sustainability
newsletter
in the HP sustainability newsletter regularly, and staff
staff attend the city’s
attend the city’s
quarterly ETC meeting, and engage in various ways
quarterly ETC meeting, and engage in various ways with TOwith TO efforts.
efforts.
“The prizes are indeed very nice incentives,
but the real benefit of bike commuting to work/
home is better health, less stress, a positive boost
to my budget, and a little less traffic on the road system
at peak times. I’ll keep riding as long as I can.”
- Ren Keppinger, grand prize winner, Lincoln City getaway;
Works for Hewlett Packard, Corvallis
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MARKETING SAMPLES
Left: Ad that ran at
the Darkside Cinema
in Corvallis
Top left: Snapshot
of the “Get There”
Corvallis brochure
Top right: “Get There”
regional poster
LOOKING AHEAD
We’re excited for the continued growth of “Get There” in 2016. We’d like to see ETC participation
continue to increase, including more tabling events at ETC worksites. ETC engagement is critical to the
campaign’s success, as evidenced by worksite winners (see page 9). Corvallis ETCs participated by
attending a pre-“Get There” ETC meeting, distributing posters/brochures at their worksites,
communicating with their colleagues via email, and including the campaign in their newsletters (for
example, the Hewlett Packard sustainability newsletter). Depending on staff time, one priority in the
coming year is to create a network of ETCs in Lincoln County and in Linn County to follow the model of
the Corvallis ETC group, including meeting quarterly to share information and build camaraderie.
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We’ll consider more mode-specific outreach for “Get There” in 2016, for example, more engagement
with transit programs in the region. In 2016, we also will consider offering more ways for participants to
become eligible for prizes, in addition to tracking trips. This may include more mode-specific prizes, such
as a prize for Longest Bike Commute, or prizes for participants who recruit friends to join Drive Less
Connect during the campaign. We’ll also consider ways to identify and acknowledge participants who
shift from driving alone to ridesharing or another transportation mode. We’ll also consider an
overarching “theme” for the campaign, which could change annually. A proposed theme for 2016 is
safety.
We worked to leverage our limited budget while achieving strong coverage in our marketing and
outreach this year. Our only paid advertisements were the Darkside Cinema ad and Corvallis Pedicab, for
a total of $150. We’ll continue to pursue more engagement with existing programs within the City of
Corvallis and Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments, if possible. For example, “Get There”
could potentially be an initiative promoted by the COG’s wellness committee.
We suspect that many people who attended the free “Get There” events and who engaged with
information-sharing at the events did not sign up for Drive Less Connect to formally participate in the
campaign. We could consider bringing a tablet computer with us to events in 2016 to capture more
registrations and encourage people who participate in our events to register for the campaign on site.
“Get There” 2015 provided many successes for us to expand on in the short and long term. We will
evaluate our marketing and outreach strategies in order to maximize our coverage based on financial
and staff resources for the 2016 campaign.
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