CSPDC Transit Planner, Danielle Gannon, recently completed the Social Marketing in Transportation course from the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. The course was five months long and was focused on how to address transportation issues in our communities through social marketing.
Social marketing is a form of marketing that is centered around encouraging behavioral changes that promote positive social action and address societal issues. For example, many transportation related deaths can be avoided if individuals choose to drive at reduced speeds or to wear their seatbelts. Additionally, congestion mitigation can be addressed by more individuals choosing to carpool or take transit to work.
In the course, participants chose a transportation issue and priority population that were relevant to their community and then applied formative research techniques to identify both internal and external determinants that influence that group’s behavior. With this insight, participants then developed a detailed social marketing plan based on both social behavioral principles and marketing techniques.
This web-based class was predominately taught by Dr. Mahmooda Pasha, PhD. Dr. Pasha has a Doctorate in Public Health and is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director at the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre on Social Marketing and Social Change at the University of South Florida.
Gannon will use these tools at the CSPDC in both her role as a transit planner for the BRITE system, as well as in her role as TDM Coordinator for the Commuter Assistance RideShare Program.