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The Mineta Transportation Institute has released its latest research report, “Exploring the Effectiveness of Transit Security Awareness Campaigns in the San Francisco Bay Area,” which shows the area’s five major transit agencies are effectively addressing security, but could do a better job overall with security awareness.

“A positive finding of this research is the consistency with which Bay Area transit organizations address the need for passenger awareness as part of their overall security programs,” said research report principal investigator Nina Rohlich in a prepared statement. “However … little evidence confirms to what extent they are achieving this goal. Therefore, the report includes suggestions for using outcome measurements to provide a reasonable indication of a campaign’s effectiveness by capturing the public’s response to it.”

Agencies should implement a combination of output and outcome measurements to capture public response to the campaign and understand whether agencies are achieving their campaign goals to increase awareness, provide tools for action and encourage passenger involvement, according to the report. At a minimum, agencies should track marketing activity levels and use internal tracking mechanisms or surveys to capture at least one “meaningful” data set that summarizes passenger behavior and comprehension, the report said.

The Mineta Transportation Institute conducts research and promotes education on multi-modal surface transportation policy and management issues. Established by Congress in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, the institute is funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, California Department of Transportation, and other public and private grants and donations.