King County Metro was awarded American Public Transit Association’s (APTA) 2023 Innovation Award for our Transit GO Rewards program. APTA, the premier organization representing public transit agencies, gives the Innovation Award each year to members who have demonstrated innovative concepts or effective problem-solving techniques.
The Transit GO Rewards program allows riders to earn rewards that save them money on their next trip. The program was initially launched in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation to encourage transit and other types of mobility modes for West Seattle residents struggling with the West Seattle Bridge closure. Developed by Toronto-based Velocia, Transit GO Rewards is a web app folded into the Transit GO Ticket, King County’s regional fare payment platform. The platform is powered by Bytemark, Inc., (recently acquired by Siemens Mobility).
“King County Metro delivers a world-class transit system, which requires innovative, flexible thinking – and that is what’s driven the success of Transit GO,” said Executive Dow Constantine. “With incentives to use the many available transit options, riders can earn rewards for their future rides while reducing their carbon footprint. We thank APTA for this award and are honored to receive it.”
Following the pilot’s success, King County relaunched Transit GO Rewards and made it available to riders anywhere in King County.
“King County Metro has a proud history of innovation, whether it is finding new ways to encourage ridership or leveraging technology to improve transit,” said General Manager Michelle Allison. “We are honored to be recognized by APTA for this latest innovation in customer engagement.”
When a rider completes a Transit GO Rewards campaign, they are rewarded with points, which can then be redeemed for transit fares or credit for any of the bike or scooter-share systems that operate in the Seattle area. Current redemption partners include Sound Transit, Kitsap Transit, Seattle Streetcar, Lime, Veo, Bird Link scooter, and of course, Metro buses and water taxis.
“Equitable access to all forms of transit is a key value for Metro,” said Christina O’Claire, Metro Mobility Division Director. “We’re delighted with how Transit GO Rewards has appealed to so many of our customers, and we look forward to more innovations that make accessing public transit even easier and more tailored to each rider’s needs.”
The Velocia platform is unique in that Metro agency can deliver personally tailored individual incentives to riders. The flexibility of the platform has allowed the agency to test various incentives to determine which campaigns most effectively increase ridership.
Since the relaunch of rewards, more than 30,000 active participants enrolled in the program. Among these participants, Metro has seen a measurable increase in ridership, with eighty-five percent of active users interacting with the platform regularly to claim their points earned by completing trips. On average, that’s worked out to about 18 rides per month. Redemption volumes have been equally impressive, with 70 percent of active users redeeming their first reward within 24 hours of signing up.
The campaign and redemption activity provided Metro with unique insights into how to make transit better for our riders, and we’re thrilled to have the program’s success recognized by APTA.
King County Metro delivers a world-class transit system, which requires innovative, flexible thinking – and that is what’s driven the success of Transit GO,” said Executive Dow Constantine. “With incentives to use the many available transit options, riders can earn rewards for their future rides while reducing their carbon footprint. We thank APTA for this award and are honored to receive it.
- Dow Constantine, King County Executive
King County Metro has a proud history of innovation, whether it is finding new ways to encourage ridership or leveraging technology to improve transit. We are honored to be recognized by APTA for this latest innovation in customer engagement.
- Michelle Allison, General Manager, King County Metro
Equitable access to all forms of transit is a key value for Metro. We’re delighted with how Transit GO Rewards has appealed to so many of our customers, and we look forward to more innovations that make accessing public transit even easier and more tailored to each rider’s needs.
- Christina O’Claire, Mobility Division Director, King County Metro