As part of Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) huge expansion plans for Metrolink, Hemisphere were tasked with identifying structural issues, in both the sales policy and the marketing strategy, that were preventing customer take-up of Metrolink services.
There were three key objectives of the partnership. To achieve the three-month revenue target for the opening of the new Metrolink line to Oldham, to improve overall take-up of services and move customers towards simple transaction processes. Hemisphere tackled the project from all angles. It carried out more overt promotions of better value products, removed the need for photo ID, devised a new zonal fare structure and made information more transparent.
The results were impressive. TfGM reported an 85% increase and a 155% increase in the average number of weekly sales of one-day and seven-day travelcards respectively. It also revealed a 43% performance over budget of the new Metrolink line to Oldham.