Fast Forward Plan to Improve NYC Transit Accessibility

New York resident Barry Baldwin spent over 25 years as a bus operator for the NYC Transit Authority. Over the course of his career, Barry Baldwin earned several safety awards and certificates, including one for providing outstanding service to people with disabilities.

Appointed president of New York City Transit in 2018, Andy Byford has made a promise to improve accessibility within the transit system. To this end, he put together the Fast Forward plan. One of the key components of this plan is the Capital Plan, which includes putting $5.5 billion toward making 70 additional subway stations accessible by 2024.

Additionally, Fast Forward hopes to accomplish a number of other goals, including:

1. Making immediate improvements to the Access-A-Ride service, to offer more types of trips and add 700 new vehicles.
2. Doubling access to the e-hail on-demand service from 1,200 to 2,400.
3. Adding staff to ensure that elevators are in good service and condition.
4. Updating sensitivity training so that NYC transit employees provide better service to differently abled customers.

He has also established an advisory committee to collect community feedback throughout the transit system.

Is Direct Mail Marketing Still Effective Today?

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Former bus operator at New York City Transit Authority, Barry Baldwin received multiple safety awards and certificates for ensuring that his bus was not involved in any accident for three consecutive years. Before joining New York City Transit Authority, Barry Baldwin spent three years with Chase Manhattan Bank performing direct mail marketing.

In this age of technological advancement, it is not surprising that online marketing is the leading strategy for advertising campaigns and brand building. However, it could not be denied that offline marketing strategies, such as direct mail marketing, are as effective as online marketing.

Direct mail marketing is an offline marketing technique where promotional materials, such as leaflets, brochures, postcards, and letters are delivered to prospective clients by mail. Here are a few reasons why direct mail marketing is still effective today.

A study conducted by Canada Post was designed to determine how direct mail marketing and digital advertising impacts the brain. During the study, the researchers created two different marketing campaigns that featured mock products. The first campaign comes from a travel agency. The second campaign comes from a retailer. Both campaigns utilized the same message consistently applied to both the offline and the online formats.

Two hundred seventy participants were enrolled in the study. Each participant saw both offers in just a single format. The researchers tracked the electrical activity of the brain. They also used an eye-tracking test to measure eye movements. The result of the research yielded two important observations.

First, direct mail marketing is easier to understand. Based on this study, reading and processing a marketing material requires 21 percent less cognitive effort compared with online materials. It means that direct mail marketing entails lesser time and brain power to resonate with a prospective buyer.

Second, offline advertisements are more persuasive. The study also revealed that response to offline marketing materials is 20 percent higher compared with the online counterpart. It means that that message of offline advertisements gets across prospective buyers at a higher and faster rate.