Public transportation

How do you get a neighbourhood to try a new bus route?

By giving people a reason to try it, then reminding them it was still there. For the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and First West of England, Route planned an eight-week campaign around a free travel week on the new 36 service, held to the ten postal sectors the route runs through and the three groups of people most likely to use it.

Client

West of England Combined Authority (Travelwest), with First West of England

Campaign

36 service free travel week

Channels

Out-of-home, Bauer digital radio, Spotify, digital display, YouTube, Meta, Nextdoor, Snapchat, Google search

Campaign period

20 October to 14 December 2025

Illustrative layout of the Travelwest news page headed Catch your local 36 bus for FREE! 3 - 9 November, dated 24 October 2025, above a green banner repeating the line beside a smiling passenger wearing headphones on a bus. Illustrative layout, not an original campaign screenshot. — The Travelwest news page for the free travel week, where every click from the campaign landed. Illustrative layout, not an original campaign screenshot.

The brief

The 36 service was introduced in April 2025 to add public transport for the communities between St Anne's and Highridge in Bristol, running via Brislington, Knowle, Knowle West, Hengrove Park, Hartcliffe and Withywood. It is funded by WECA and Bristol City Council and run by First Bus. WECA's Bus Delivery Team commissioned the campaign through a competitive tender. It had two jobs, to build awareness of the service and to promote a free travel week from Monday 3 November 2025, when anyone could simply turn up at a stop and ride.

What we planned

We turned the route map into ten postal sectors, so every channel could be held to the neighbourhoods the bus actually serves. The route passes colleges, hospitals and local shops, so we planned for three audiences, students at local colleges, adults who use local services and people visiting hospitals.

Nine channels each had a role. Roadside posters along the route, Bauer digital radio, Spotify, digital display and YouTube built awareness and frequency. Meta, Nextdoor and Snapchat engaged the three audiences directly, and Google search reached people already planning a local journey. The campaign ran in two strands, the first building to the free week and the second, from 10 November to 14 December, keeping the message going so a free trip could become a regular one.

Meta ad for the 36 service, paid for by the West of England Combined Authority. Illustrative layout, not an original campaign screenshot.

How it ran

The campaign ran from 20 October to 14 December 2025. The roadside 48-sheets, printed on fixed cycles, carried the free travel message, while the digital 6-sheets switched to a local service message once the free week ended. Three of the 48-sheets stayed up until 30 November as added value. When Nextdoor's audience in the area proved smaller than planned, we moved its budget into Spotify, digital display, Meta, Snapchat and Google search. Every click led to the Travelwest news page for the free week.

What the reporting showed

Reporting each strand separately showed WECA how the campaign built over time. In most channels engagement rose after the free week, as optimisation from the first strand took effect and frequency built. Search added a second insight, with generic local-travel searches reaching people who did not yet know the service, alongside searches for the 36 by name.

Outcome

What WECA and First Bus got from it

The campaign was built to make the 36 known along its own route and to give people a reason to try it. It reached 283,000 audience profiles across the ten postal sectors the bus serves, promoted the free week before and during the offer, and kept the service in front of the same neighbourhoods once it ended.

How we plan media