Will incentives help taxpayers support transit referendum?
Posted February 19, 2014 5:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Do the referendum options to fund Metro Vancouver transit need to include an added incentive for consumers?
SFU Marketing Expert Lindsay Meredith says consumers often need to feel like they aren’t completely getting the short end of the stick from government.
“By providing some kind of incentive…that is one kind of marketing strategy of trying to cushion the blow. Is it superior to simply just smacking on more road tolls or gas taxes? Sure it is, at least in this case, it looks like there is a little give in the system,” he says.
It could be something like bringing in road tolling but reducing the gas tax, or raising the gas tax and giving people a credit for TREO or Compass Card.
Meredith says it won’t make TransLink‘s problems go away though. He thinks most people associate it with negative things and that it should undergo an overall marketing campaign.
“One of the strategies at the moment would be to demonstrate their frugalness with regards to senior management strategies as well as SkyTrain police for example,” he says. “Step one if you want to try and mend fences, look like you’re trying to do some serious financial constraints inside your organization.”
