The transportation demand app, Try Parking It, is North Texas’ proimary resource for alternative transportation commuting and ride-share options. Redesigned and relaunched in 2019 by Agile Mile, Popken PopUps was engaged to reach new users.
Try Parking It is a regional program in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, administered by the North Central Texas Council of Governments, to encourage mode shift as a way to improve the air quality in DFW.
The Try Parking It app records trips taken by users, rewards users with points earned by each trip, and partners with both local companies and national chains for points to be redeemed for real rewards.
The app can locate rides hare matches with neighbors, find transit routes between destinations, and record trips taken by bike, walking, or with a rides hare company by integrating with other apps as well as with direct manual trip recording.
The team included Thomas Cantu, Jonathan Braddick, Novita Ochoa, and Adair Aranda - at events across DFW to explore what types of engagement events could be most impactful.
A tradiitonal booth at the Deep Ellum Creative Market engaged the general public at an outdoor craft market in a transit-rich mixed-use neighborhood near downtown Dallas. Our booth, near the Lime Scooter Rentals and Bike DFW, attracted market attendees as soon as they arrived. Although a traditional booth isn't the most interesting, we hooked passers by with intriguing questions about their transportation choices and lured them with a flier of enticing rewards.
At the Grapevine Wine Festival we decided to go all out with an eye-catching set-up: a parklet designed as a Neighborhood Mobility Stop with bike parking area and livingroom style seating to encourage conversation. Our designated Ride Share Drop Off zone was a huge hit, designating space and promoting that aspect of mobility rewarded with the app. The parklet attracted a LOT of attention and immediately hooked the passersby who were already interested in biking, riding the nearby commuter train, and other low-carbon modes of transportation.
The Cranksgiving event at Local Hub Bicycle Shop was the most successful. The annual scavenger hunt event encourages cyclists to gather dry goods and groceries for food donations before Thanksgiving. Here we had a captive audience who were all already active bike users. Many attendees applauded the app for encouraging less-carbon-intensive transportation, surprised that they could earn rewards for behavior they would do anyways! We even met a few individuals who didn't even own cars. Event attendees had tons of ideas for future events and future partnerships for more valuable rewards. We'd found the most motivated and excited group of transportation enthusiasts worth engaging seeking out across DFW to engage with the Try Parking It app!