National RTAP Announces 2018 Website Contest Winners

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National RTAP Announces 2018 Website Contest Winners

support • September 20, 2018

For this year's annual National RTAP Contest, we asked for outstanding rural transit websites. (Most years we do a Photo Contest, and last year we did a Marketing Brochure Contest.) We got 20 great submissions, with 19 eligible - one missed the deadline. It was a tough decision, but we're excited to announce the winners!

The winners and runners-up for the three agency size categories are listed below, as well as websites deserving honorable mention. See farther below for more information about the contest and how to build a transit website for free if you don't already have one.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who participated!

Winners

Agencies with 0-5 Revenue Vehicles:

1st Place - Carrot Express, Milan, NM, www.villageofmilan.com/departments/transit/index.php
Runner-Up - Eastern Connecticut Transportation Consortium, Inc., Uncasville, CT, ectcinc.com

Agencies with 6-15 Revenue Vehicles:

1st Place - Northwest Connector (submitted by Tillamook County Transportation District), Tillamook, OR
Runner-Up - ACTR (a division of Tri-Valley Transit), Middlebury, VT

Agencies with 16+ Revenue Vehicles:

1st Place - Bay Town Trolley (submitted by Bay County Transportation Planning Organization), Panama City, FL, baytowntrolley.org

Runners-Up (tied) - Blue Rivers Public Transportation, Beatrice, NE, braaa.org/publictransit and Grays Harbor Transit, Hoquiam, WA, ghtransit.com

Honorable Mention:

Norfolk Public Transportation, Norfolk, NE, nptrans.org
North Central Regional Transit District, Espanola, NM, RidetheBlueBus.com
OATS, Inc., Columbia, MO, oatstransit.org
South Central Regional Transit District, Las Cruces, NM, scrtd.org

Contest Information

In each of the three fleet size categories, we are awarding $300 each for the top winner, $50 for the runners-up, and plaques for websites deserving honorable mention. The prizes will be awarded to the agency, not the individual who submitted the website.

Submissions were judged by the following criteria:

Passenger information provided
Customer service elements
Clarity
Visual quality
Overall user-friendliness

Additional Information

To learn more about how you can improve your website, as well as develop a marketing plan and utilize other strategies for building ridership, awareness, and community support, visit our Marketing Transit Toolkit.

Don't have a website? It's important to have some sort of presence on the internet, even if it's just a one-page website with a quick overview of your services and basic contact information. Learn more about our free Website Builder tool, which provides a basic transit website template that you can customize. Instructional videos walk you through the process and our Tech Support team is available to assist you.

See this 2017 news article to view winners from last year's Marketing Brochure Contest. To view past Photo Contests, visit the Photo Albums section of our National RTAP Facebook Page .

If you have any questions about our contests, marketing, or National RTAP resources, please contact us at info@nationalrtap.org , 888-589-6821, or chat with us during business hours via the button above.

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