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A new communications campaign on incivilities

RATP has launched “Staying civil right down the line”, a communications campaign to build passenger awareness of incivilities on public transport networks.

vign_pouleWith over 10 million passengers riding the RATP public transport networks daily, incivilities are a major source of concern for the company. 83% of the residents of the Greater Paris region feel that it is the RATP’s role to encourage passengers to behave properly, and 90% are in favour of a communications campaign on passenger behaviour being conducted in all of RATP’s public transport networks (Source: March 2011 SOFRES survey).

To foster individual and group awareness of the problem and to help change people’s behaviour, RATP has always positioned itself as a responsible player on the subject of civility. Since 1997, RATP has regularly rolled out behaviour-oriented communications campaigns dealing with incivilities and the need for mutual respect. Previous campaigns include “Respect” (1997), “Violence and indifference: talking can make a difference” (1998), “Initiatives workshops” (2000-2001), and “When ideas circulate, indifference fades” (2002-2003). The company then took a more institutional approach in 2006 with its “Mission Respect” campaign, and more recently in March 2011 with “Let’s share more, let’s share the bus”

Over the past five years, RATP has engaged in an active policy to prevent incivilities and to promote respect with its “Rugby Wednesdays” operation. This citizenship project was designed for young people from low-income districts in the Ile-de-France region. It promotes “living better together” on public transport as well as in everyday life by relying on rugby’s strong values, of which the foremost is “Respect”.

With today’s new communications campaign “Staying civil right down the line”, RATP is pursuing its commitment to speak out against incivilities in public transport.

“Staying civil right down the line”: a comprehensive communications campaign


img_restons civilsThe term “incivilities” is clearly identified as meaning non-respect for the rules and regulations of travelling together:

  • lack of cleanliness,
  • noise,
  • pushing and shoving,
  • lack of courtesy,
  • fraud.

We chose to use a deliberately offbeat and humoristic tone, with slogans formulated as maxims. The campaign highlights the absurdity of behaving uncivilly on public transport, bringing to the fore the idea that each act of incivility is based on an absurd logic that not only harms the group, but also harms the individual acting out of line.

This campaign has three goals:


  1.  Build general awareness

    To start the campaign, a “Dear fellow passenger” digital interactive website was set up in June 2011. Dedicated to promoting discussion about incivilities, this temporary website invited passengers to tell others about their experiences using an offbeat and humoristic tone. The site has had 729,493 page views since it was launched.


  2. sticker_busBuild awareness of incivilities

    In addition to the ad campaign, adhesive stickers marked with slogans were placed in situ inside buses and trams and on metro and RER trains and station platforms. The maxims urge passengers to be courteous, to validate their tickets, and to be principled about the proper use of priority seating, foldaway jump seats and emergency alarms.


  3.  Create dialogue and discussion

    On 20, 21 and 22 September, passengers were given the opportunity to meet with RATP staff throughout the network, to encourage dialogue and discussion on the subject of incivilities. At special stands decorated in the campaign colours and conceived as rest areas, RATP staff welcomed passengers and invited them to participate in a kind of game quiz using an iPad, with questions from the communications campaign and on the proper way to use public transport.

    The encounters were conducted over a three-day period inside 9 metro and RER stations and also outside the network, on board the Villebus (bus exhibition).
 Five metro stations and four RER stations:
  • Miromesnil (line 9)
  • Porte de Versailles (line 12)
  • Saint-Denis – Université (line 13)
  • Saint-Lazare (line 14)
  • Montparnasse (line 4)
  • Massy-Palaiseau (RER line B)
  • Torcy (RER line A)
  • Saint-Germain-en-Laye (RER line A)
  • Denfert-Rochereau (RER line B)
Bus network events with Villebus, the Civility Bus:
  • on 20 September at Noisy-Champs RER station
  • on 21 September at Nation RER station
  • on 22 September at Nanterre-Université RER station

 

In late September, an institutional forum - “Civility changes the city” - was held at the Maison de la RATP on the subject of incivilities on public transport. The forum brought together elected officials, sociologists, journalists, representatives of public transport networks from other cities, …

The forum was designed to encourage the sharing of good practices, notably by seeking inspiration from international examples.

June 20, 2013

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