Public sector and local authority

How does a transport authority move from a fare announcement to app downloads?

In December 2024, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority appointed Route for the first time to explain a change to the region's bus fares at short notice. In spring 2026, a second and separate brief followed, asking for something harder, getting people to download the Travel South Yorkshire app.

The brief

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) runs the region's public transport as Travel South Yorkshire, across Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley. In late 2024, we won our first SYMCA engagement through a below-threshold tender, to tell the region at short notice about a change to the bus fare structure. In spring 2026, a second, separate brief followed, to drive downloads of the Travel South Yorkshire app, which lets people buy Travelmaster tickets across bus, tram and train, by raising awareness among people already using the network.

What we planned

For the fare change, we built a radio-led plan across Hits Radio South Yorkshire and GHR South Yorkshire, backed by programmatic display and Meta - reaching the whole region at speed, then holding attention through digital. The planned audience was adjusted to adults 22-64, so the digital channels worked harder within a tighter audience.

For the app, we paired Meta carousel creative across five audience segments - commuters, casual travellers, students, retirees and public transport users - with Google search and Android app-install campaigns targeted across the four local authority areas. Search captured people already looking for South Yorkshire travel information; the install formats turned that intent into a download.

How it ran

Digital activity began on 2 January 2025, with radio running from 6 January to 2 February. Once the campaign built reach and frequency in its first week, Meta switched to engagement optimisation on 8 January to make the most of the audience already reached.

The app campaign ran for fourteen weeks, from 24 March to 30 June 2026. We identified that the app's Apple SKAdNetwork status ruled out iOS delivery, and concentrated install activity on Android, where the install formats converted strongly.

What the reporting showed

The fare-change campaign was reported back to SYMCA in full, covering reach, frequency and engagement. The app campaign's clearest result was in search. Once people already knew the app existed, branded searches converted far better than generic ones, and the Android install formats did the conversion work.

On the fare-change campaign

We appointed Route for the first time in December 2024 to lead the delivery and management of a paid media project around the notification of a change in the South Yorkshire region bus fares structure.

The Route team were able to turn around the project requirement quickly, building and activating an effective media plan to deliver the campaign communications, delivering strong and measurable results. The internal stakeholders at South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority were impressed with the work carried out.

Jack MartinMarketing Officer, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority