For immediate release:

MAJOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO LAUNCH IN THE SOUTH WEST

Traveline South West, the largest provider of public transport information in the region is launching a dynamic and high profile marketing campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of travelling by bus, rail, coach, and ferry.

The Traveline service aims to make public transport more desirable and obtainable through the provision of high quality, comprehensive and impartial travel information and is currently the only provider of this data at such a level of detail in the UK.

Julie Williams, Traveline South West Project Manager said, 'We plan to make a real impact with our new marketing campaign by encouraging people to use our phone, web and text services to discover new ways of making their journeys. Traveline South West lets you choose how and when you want to travel and pulls together bus, rail, coach and even local ferry information from all the services in the region to provide the best journey option for you.'

Traveline South West offers an outstanding service giving customers the opportunity to get impartial timetable information for every public transport operator in the South West and all journeys using local bus, national rail, coach, local ferry, or a combination of all four. Every service in the region is plotted electronically, mapping out each route and stop so customers can phone, text or visit the website for accurate and up to date information. The Traveline call centre currently receives approximately 600,000 calls every year with the website getting in excess of 1.2 million hits every week along with 3,000 text enquiries for this newest element of the service.

RH Advertising, the fastest growing independent full service agency in the South West of England, based in Exeter successfully pitched and won the three year contract with Traveline and will be launching the vibrant advertising and pr campaign in early spring next year.

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Richard Marsh, Managing Director of RH Advertising said, 'We're really excited to be working with Traveline and all the transport partners involved with this ground breaking service. We aim to dramatically increase the usage of public transport throughout the extended South West region and our campaign will strive to communicate the excellent service on offer as well the financial, lifestyle and environmental gains that come from leaving the car at home.'

With the subject of public transport increasingly at the centre of political and public debate, the Traveline campaign is both timely and relevant. By placing itself at the forefront of the continued development and provision of detailed travel information for the public transport network as a whole, Traveline has a unique, powerful and compelling opportunity to help minimise the environmental effects of carbon emissions, as well as contributing to the sustainable growth of the region's economy.

Research by the Department of Transport has shown South West England has the highest frequency of travel in the UK and with an ever expanding regional population, the amount of journey's within and from the region is expected to continue to climb. The changes in transport usage across the South West have revealed some interesting trends over the last ten years with the percentage of road traffic increasing by 21% and train patronage up 37%. However, across the same period bus usage has fallen by 8%.

Extensive research has been undertaken on behalf of Traveline identifying key barriers to public transport use across a range of audience groups and changing these negative consumer perceptions and raising awareness of public transport information, will form key objectives for the fresh and innovative marketing campaign, developed by RH Advertising.

Visit www.traveline.org.uk, phone 0871 200 2233 or text your stop code to 84268 for all the latest public transport information.

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Media Enquiries: For further information, interviews or images please phone Hannah Overton at the Traveline Agency South West on 01392 219797.

Notes to Editors:

• Traveline South West is a public transport information service for all public transport journeys, including national rail, coach and local bus, which start in the South West region.
• Traveline South West encompasses Devon, Cornwall, Torbay, Plymouth, Dorset, Poole, Bournemouth, Wiltshire, Swindon, Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Hampshire, Portsmouth, and Southampton.
• The traveline website currently receives in excess of 1.2 million hits every week and 3,000 SMS-related enquiries.
• The traveline call centre receives approximately 600,000 calls every year.
• Traveline South West is made up of 30 partners including public transport operators and local authorities.