Marketing Toolkit

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Canva Templates

Whatever type of service you operate, a printed passenger guide is an important companion to your website and a key marketing tool. A printed guide offers several advantages. It appeals to passengers who are less tech-savvy, it has the potential to build awareness of the service through distribution within the community, and it allows for easy display of maps and schedules in a “take-along” format.

Passenger Guide Tips

A passenger guide for a fixed-route service should include:

• A route map or maps showing all routes with bus stop locations, landmarks, and key destinations clearly noted
• Schedule information for each route
• How-to-ride information, including fares, fare media (such as tickets and passes), how to identify a bus stop, and any other information specific to your service type (i.e., how to request a deviation, how to apply for paratransit certification)
• Contact information, including a website address and reference to Google Maps trip planning, if that is available

A passenger guide for a demand-response service (including dial-a-ride and microtransit) should include:

• A map showing the area your system serves, with landmarks and key destinations
• Hours of service
• Eligibility requirements, if any
• How to make a reservation
• How-to-ride information, including fares, fare media, connecting services, and any other information specific to your service type, such as cancellation policy.

If you operate multiple services or routes, you will need to decide whether to provide a single comprehensive passenger guide that includes information about all your services, or individual guides for each service or route. To make that decision, consider these questions:

• Do you want your riders to use your various services in combination, for example, transferring from one route to another or from demand-response to fixed-route? If yes, then a comprehensive guide will help riders see how the system works as a whole.
• Do your individual services target different market segments or communities, with little crossover in ridership? If yes, then individual guides for each service will be more effective as riders won’t have to wade through irrelevant information to find what they need.

The following are some key things to consider in developing a passenger guide. These design principles have been incorporated into the templates that are included as part of The Marketing Toolkit.

• The guide must be clear and easy to understand. If the potential rider thinks the guide is too hard to read, they will think riding the bus is difficult.
• Use font sizes that are easily legible to most people. If your primary target market is older adults, use 12- to 14-point font size.
• Use color to make maps and schedules easier to read and reference.
• If you have a significant non-English speaking population in your community, either make your guide bilingual or have a version of the guide in the alternate language. Click here for more information on communicating with limited-English-proficiency (LEP) populations. 

Passenger guides often can be designed to be used in two ways: folded as a rack brochure on a bus or in another display fixture, or flat, as a poster. Designing your guide to work both as a brochure and poster will save costs on printing.

Information Hierarchy

Consider the Rider’s Next Steps

Dial-a-Ride, Demand-Response Guides, or General Brochures, Letter-size (8.5” x 11”)

These could be used for any general information brochure or schedule. For information on the terms “bleed” and “no bleed,” see the Printing Information page.

Rider Guides, Letter-size (8.5” x 11”)

With map and schedules. Good for single routes or small systems.

Rider Guides, Legal-size (8.5” x 14”)

With route map and schedules. Good for single routes or small systems, when you need more space than the letter-size rider guides above.

Rider Guides, Tabloid-size (11” x 17”)

With system map and multiple schedules. Good for systems with multiple routes.

Route Guides - Individual Routes

Individual route guides for systems with multiple routes. Each route guide has detailed route map and schedule for a single route.