CONNECTING VISITORS WITH HISTORY; CONNECTING COMMUNITIES TO THEIR FUTURE

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1 CONNECTING VISITORS WITH HISTORY; CONNECTING COMMUNITIES TO THEIR FUTURE By Beth Wilson and Rich Sampson Our help leads to an innovative partnership and marketing efforts to build transportation for tourists in the short-term, and for several communities long-term. As the bicentennial anniversary of the Lewis and Clark adventure continues this year, historic sites along the 200- year-old trail are preparing for expanded celebrations and growing volumes of visitors. The communities in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, with help from the Community Transportation Association, have developed new connections between their celebrated venues and those eager to retrace the trail. New partnerships have been forged, intermodal facilities created, local economic development has been enhanced and transit options expanded. When Lewis and Clark crossed the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1804, they had left American soil. Ahead lay unfamiliar terrain and undiscovered potential. Their journey would connect the then-17 United States with the Pacific, and a young nation with its future. It was a voyage launched on the experience that preceded it. The explorers studied research on medicine, botany, zoology and astronomy. They examined the maps and journals of traders and trappers who had ventured west before them. They would build new connections on established knowledge. It was a journey completed with new understanding. The encounters, exchanges, travelogues, drawings, descriptions and stories would guide future westward travels. The Corps of Discovery would serve as a model for explorations to come. 42 COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION

2 Destination: The Pacific Preparation The famed explorers ran out of continent near the end of 1805, the Pacific Ocean designating their journey s turning point. The return home required spring s more forgiving weather, and the party sought winter refuge on the Oregon coast. In building Fort Clatsop at the mouth of the Columbia River, they marked the western terminus of the Corps of Discovery. Nearby Forts Canby and Stevens, Netul Landing, the Mark of Triumph, the Salt Works and several other regional sites are all chapters in the Lewis and Clark story, and together make up the explorers western edge experience. Two hundred years later, the accomplishments and the lore continue to capture a nation s love affair with exploration. Some 1.5 million tourists are expected to visit these Lower Columbia communities during the official commemoration period between now and 2006 a 70 percent increase over the regular visitor base. With the Lewis and Clark anniversary looming, Sunset Empire Transportation District partnered with the National Parks Service on an area traffic study. Existing infrastructure was deemed inadequate to handle the predicted tourist load. Parking facilities were small and scarce, and the narrow two-lane roads and highways connecting the area s small towns and historic sites had limited capacity. While a city of 10,000 like Astoria doesn t experience an urban-style rush hour, a dearth of alternate roadways would make congestion inevitable a frustrating inconvenience for residents, a disappointing spoiler for tourists, a safety concern for everyone. It was along the Columbia River that Lewis and Clark spent the winter of

3 Transit won t just take you there, it s a part of the experience. Shuttle developments came on the heels of a new intermodal facility design underway in Astoria, from where Sunset Empire s The Bus would serve Clatsop County, Oregon, and connect with Pacific Transit in Pacific County, Washington, Astoria s historic waterfront trolley, Amtrak s motor coach to Portland and local taxi service. Trolley and bus connections would meet passengers from cruise ships, river boats and the Lewis and Clark Explorer passenger train from Portland. Once the Bicentennial enormity of scale and impact came into focus, shuttle planners envisioned the new transit center as the perfect system hub. Merging plans and efforts enabled leveraged resources for both passenger mobility and visitor exploration. New vehicles, new service, new hub, new partners, new experience. The event planning came to involve a coordinated, multifaceted community-based transit planning process, with multiple stakeholders and diverse investment. When you look at the totality of investment in the Netul landing facility, the Astoria transit center and the new buses it ultimately indicated a community effort, and one that will yield a better experience at the park, says Chip Jenkins, superintendent of Fort Clatsop National Memorial. The transit connections were in place, but their effectiveness depended on visitors using them. How to encourage tourists out of their cars and onto transit? The vehicle for success, its turns out, would be a canoe. Fort Clatsop: Officials anticipate more than a million visitors. Plans began for a combination park-and-ride/ education center, where visitors would begin their exploration, and an area shuttle service to Fort Clatsop National Memorial and surrounding historic sites. Federal funds were designated for a two-county shuttle picking up visitors from area campgrounds and other launching points along the route, and connecting them with 20 Lewis and Clark sites from Long Beach, Washington, to Cannon Beach, Oregon. Guiding the Journey Transit service may survive without effective marketing, says Community Transportation Association s Charlie Rutkowski, but it doesn t thrive. Marketing is a way to maximize investment in transit, he says, highlighting the dividends paid expanded ridership, support from local officials, businesses and voters and an elevated public image of service. Marketing heightens the image of transit as an important part of the economic infrastructure of a community. It s a way to maximize the potential of transit. The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Association s successful application for technical assistance through the Association s Rural Passenger Transportation Technical Assistance Program brought Rutkowski s expertise to Astoria. Our first step in any project is to define and describe an issue or a need that has been voiced by a community, explains Rutkowski. Then we identify a strategy to address that need. We work with consultants and the community to develop and refine that strategy, 44 COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION

4 Destination: The Pacific The Lewis and Clark passenger train from Portland. outlining the tasks and setting priorities. The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Association and the National Park Service were preparing for a significant tourist influx that would benefit from efficient transit connections. Providers Sunset Empire and Pacific Transit brought established service and experience to the project, and recognized an opportunity for expanded ridership. The Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce was also at the table. While a million and a half visitors brought congestion challenges, they also brought substantial tourist dollars. A network of hotels, restaurants and local businesses could communicate the transit message while simultaneously reaping the tourist connections. A plan took shape. For Jenkins and Sunset Empire Transportation District s Cindy Howe, their inevitable partnership was obvious. Jenkins came to the bicentennial project from the Yosemite experience, where a popular national park had wrestled with the perils of overcrowding and congestion. The near-crisis situation required a radical plan to force people out of their cars. Transit proved an effective strategy in transforming the park experience, and preserving the park itself. Here at Fort Clatsop, where the Bicentennial rush had not yet ensued, the park service had a chance to get ahead of the curve. Through the planning process for the shuttle bus service, we determined that there was already a robust regional transit system in the area, one that should be taken advantage of instead of building a parallel new system, says Jenkins. Howe s Sunset Empire is a rural transit system whose successful marketing campaign built impressive ridership growth. Memorable graphics, bus wraps that transformed plain white vehicles, driver uniforms and community outreach led to a 150 percent increase in ridership between 1997 and 1998, and continual growth every year since. Marketing proved an effective strategy in transforming the transit experience in the region. She had every reason to believe it could do so again. Ease, freedom and discovery, says Howe, highlighting the same features that play well in marketing any public transit system. Rutkowski helped Jenkins, Howe and other community stakeholders identify goals and find the right marketing team to meet them. Marketing the new shuttle system presented a unique transit challenge. The target audience is the tourist. And the goal is to hook visitors on transit early on, even before they arrive in the area. To succeed, the message had to begin as tourists planned their visit through travel agents, accommodation bookings and tourist information outlets. The visitor use patterns of the park were going to be significantly altered by the parking and shuttle bus arrangement, explains Jenkins. We recognized early on that visitors needed to be aware of this new way of visiting, and that had to be done by informing the entire community that would be serving them. And the message had to be powerful. When you market to local residents, if you don t hook them today, you might tomorrow, or even next week, explains Rutkowski. With a visitor shuttle, you may have only one opportunity, one instant, to capture the visitor. There is that one decision point: to use transit or not. A Message of Discovery: Out of the Car and into the Journey Consultant Amy Ostrander took the reins, and teamed with Noble Erickson Inc. to chart a course for the new shuttle system. Gathering around the table with representatives from bicentennial committees, Fort Clatsop, the National Park Service, the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon State Parks, Pacific Transit and Sunset Empire Transit District, they agreed on the underlying premise of the work before them: the Bicentennial commemoration of is best experienced by getting out of your car. The marketing campaign had to bring awareness to the region s transportation alternatives, build ridership on the new shuttle system and enhance the visitor experience in the Lower Columbia area. As with most marketing efforts, a necessary first step was identifying target markets. The obvious answer was tourists, but not all tourists were alike. Some would plan a visit around an event the upcoming signature event Destination: The Pacific, a Thanksgiving family gathering. Some around an attraction Fort Clatsop, the beach. Some around a purpose camping, hiking. And each of those different groups of visitors might obtain information through different sources. Probable distribution outlets had to be identified: the National Park Service website, campground reservations, the Chamber of Commerce, hotels and restaurants. Of course some visitors would do no planning, just show up. Those individuals were likely to pick up a map, or 45

5 hop on The Bus in town or stop by a grocery store for supplies. The actual marketing materials would need to match the outlet and the audience. Marketing is important for any transit service. But when there s a high probability that the majority of your audience will be first-time riders, it s even more important, stresses Ostrander, underscoring the shuttle s pending debut. We couldn t take the [marketing] model of an urban fixed-route and make it work here. The bus ride isn t a necessary tool to simply get someplace. It s part of the adventure. But marketing is not an end in itself; it is a tool to help build better transit. The shuttle s identity had to make it part of the overall experience. The consultants began an intense research effort, exploring history, geography, people and place. Who were Lewis and Clark? Where did they go? What did they see? Who did they meet? What did they learn? And how did they connect with their experience? When the expedition made it to the Columbia River in 1805, they encountered a new challenge. Much of their journey to this point was traversing swamps and prairie. The vessels that had served them on the Missouri were no match for the Columbia s swell. They encountered a region where the tree line abutted the water. A trek by land was near impossible through heavy forest. They could go no further without proper transit. The Chinook and Clatsop tribes introduced the explorers to a unique model of canoe, one carved from a single piece of wood, crafted to sit high above coastal waves. With well-suited transit, they could connect with their destination: the Pacific. In the design world, we often speak of that Aha! feeling, when you know it s right, says Jackie Noble of finding the perfect imagery. The canoe came with certain concepts freedom of movement, leave no wake, camaraderie, discovery. It also brought to the project the tribes importance to Lewis and Clark s survival, their part in the story of exploration. Transit became the vehicle to carry the park s message: to experience the exploration, get out of your car... ride The Explorer. Explorer roadside signage (bus stops, park-in-ride), Explorer on the NPS website, Explorer brochures and maps from travel/tourist representatives, Explorer tips and information from hotels and restaurants. The Explorer campaign produced a synergy, with the established identity and related marketing concepts being transferred to a larger public relations strategy for the National Park Service. The Explorer graphics would adorn interpretive panels at the Netul Landing. The same theme would play out on site markers, event logos, even commemorative letter head and a postage stamp (see above). Transit was not simply a connection to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial; the Explorer Shuttle was part of the experience. While the project began as an effort to market a new shuttle system, it evolved into a collective branding of the region. Our work is always about discovering the inherent character of a place, says Noble, highlighting the unique history, geography and culture of the Lower Columbia. That s why consensus building is so important. The community has to be part of the process. 46 COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION

6 With diverse involvement came not only an accurate and understood portrayal of the community but also the much needed buy-in and ownership of an image of itself. Surrounding cities in the area are now requesting banners with their name above the new logo. Not only does the marketing campaign capture the inherent character of this place pristine surroundings, small communities, the opportunity for discovery it elevates the image of public transit as a means of maintaining that character. It s amazing how transit can give a community identity, says Noble. The Journey Continues On June 14, the Explorer Shuttle will begin connecting visitors: to historic sites, to campgrounds, to grocery stores, to shops, to hotels, to restaurants. Two additional low-floor, low-emission vehicles will serve as intra-park shuttles. The Explorer Shuttle is an economic generator as well. The system has launched 30 new transportation positions, creating jobs and income. The new transit service will include the purchase of additional goods and services in the local community, spurring economic activity for local suppliers. The two existing community transit systems will gain more riders, who will become new consumers at local small businesses. This project is an opportunity for Sunset Empire to broaden its audience, to build non-traditional relationships in the community, says Rutkowski of new partnerships with the park service, campgrounds and local businesses. There s the commonality of the Bicentennial, but with repercussions for community development for a long time, adds Noble. Howe concurs. It s been an unbelievable experience, she says. And a great opportunity for our transit system to capitalize on a national event. Never again in my lifetime will over $3 million come to this small community. It s made us one of the most comprehensive rural systems in the state. Because the marketing campaign s graphics were embraced not only for the shuttle but for area communities, the promotion of transit has energy beyond the Lewis and Clark experience. The project s leveraging potential for mobility in the region is already evident. Beyond all the infrastructure improvements, there s a better transportation network that we ve been able to build, says Howe of stakeholder efforts surrounding the Bicentennial. There s much greater awareness. Now, instead of me asking if I can be on someone s agenda, we get calls! Can we get on transit s schedule? Greater awareness is already fueling new transit projects. Cannon Beach has approached Sunset Empire to run that city s transit service. Seaside is eager to introduce new bus shelters and a new transit center. Oregon state parks are exploring shuttle service. After the excitement surrounding the bicentennial dies down, area communities aim to maintain a high utilization of transit, preserving the historic character of the area, staving off auto congestion and connecting residents, visitors and the economy. The commitment made by these communities is to help move tourists in the short-term and everyone in the community in the long-term. b 47