Catch ya later Condo
Interview with Melanie Suitor
Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer for Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils
Liquor accord: Condobolin
Position in accord: Publicity Officer
Strategy: Taxi voucher scheme
Name of project: 'Catch Ya Later Condo'
21 November 2008
OLGR: Melanie, what prompted the accord to undertake this initiative?
Melanie: The main reason the Condobolin Liquor accord developed this project was to reduce the incidence of drink driving in town and to get their patrons home safely. RTA crash statistics showed that between 2000 - 2005 all of the drink driving crashes which occurred within the Condobolin area involved local drivers. This meant the accord was in a really good position to influence locals with a localised alternative transport scheme.
I had previously attended some training where during a brainstorming session we realised that promoting the idea of leaving your car at home would be a good drink driving prevention strategy. I had been working with the local taxi company for the previous two years running voucher schemes so when the accord was developed and were looking at running a town-wide courtesy bus I thought the idea of leaving the car at home was worth pursuing.
There were also a few incidents of malicious damage in the Condobolin CBD which were linked to licensed venues - these were patrons walking to the cab rank who broke shop windows and the like. The accord was keen to see that patrons were able to leave the immediate area and get home safely.
OLGR: With the drink-driving statistics in mind – who was this scheme aimed at?
Melanie: The drink-driving data showed a skew towards younger males, but the scheme was and is available to all patrons of local licensed venues.
OLGR: A strategy like this involves a number of key partners - who was involved in setting up this strategy?
Melanie: Initially the accord were interested in running a town-wide courtesy bus service but we soon realised that it was just too cost prohibitive and would not be able to be sustained in future years. The accord formed a sub-committee and invited the Ministry of Transport, local taxi operator - Condo Cabs and the RTA to come along and help develop the idea of a patron taxi scheme utilising the local taxi service.
The main principle of the scheme was to encourage patrons not to drive their car to where they would be drinking - which effectively eliminated drink driving. In my position as Road Safety Officer, I was able to coordinate the project and organise the promotional material and advertising. The police were very supportive and provided high visibility policing on the night’s the scheme was operating, as well as feedback on enforcement action.
OLGR: So if I were a patron, how would I use this scheme?
Melanie: Well firstly you would leave your car at home! Intially the scheme operated on Friday and Saturday nights during December 2006 and January 2007. You would call for a taxi to pick you up from home to take you to any participating licensed venue (all the licensed venues in town were participating). After paying the fare you would be issued with a voucher from the taxi driver. This voucher was then presented at the venue and patrons paid $1 for the voucher to be stamped - entitling the patron to present the stamped voucher to the taxi driver as payment for the fare home.
As an added incentive the venues also provided $5 worth of goods to patrons upon presentation of the voucher. How the $5 of merchandise was offered was up to each venue, but it included things like $5 worth of tickets in a meat raffle or $5 off a meal.
This year the cost of the return fare to the patron will be $2 and the $5 worth of merchandise will not be offered. We have seen that the behaviour of leaving your car at home is being picked up by the community so not as many incentives are needed to get people to use the scheme.
After three years we also need to be showing some signs of financial sustainability. This year we will have a major prize draw for one lucky patron to win a bbq package worth $1000. The taxi drivers and bar staff are also in the running to win a prize. We are hoping these additional prizes will see taxi drivers and bar staff promoting the scheme to passengers and patrons.
OLGR: How did you market 'Catch Ya Later Condo'?
Melanie: We launched the scheme in November 2006 - just before it became operational. Other aspects of the promotional strategy included; taxi side advertising featuring the 'Catch Ya Later Condo' logo, radio and newspaper advertising, a letterbox drop to homes in Condobolin and invenue strategies like, posters, coasters and t-shirts for the bar staff.
I also ran a parallel road safety advertising campaign utlising posters, coasters, t-shirts and bar runners in the venues which featured the RTAs Mobile Random Breath Testing Paranoia campaign. There was also complimentary newspaper and radio advertising to reinforce the message for patrons to leave their car at home or get caught.
OLGR: Subsidising taxi fares and promoting the scheme must have required funding. Were you able to obtain external funding to support the scheme?
Melanie: Funding was sourced from the Ministry of Transport, RTA and the Lachlan Shire Council Road Safety Program worth around $5000 each. Additional funding was provided by the local taxi company, who agreed to set a $5 flat rate for the return trip and the accord members, who provided the $5 worth of merchandise. These days the scheme requires less funding and is able to be sustained by financial contributions from the accord , Condo Cabs, Lachlan Shire Council and the RTA.
OLGR: 'Catch Ya Later Condo' has been running for a few years now. What have been the results?
Melanie: The scheme achieved everything it set out to do. We saw an increase in taxi patronage and a decrease in the incidence of drink driving. There was also a positive effect on the incidence of alcohol-related crime as patrons were transported out of the CBD area.
Every time the scheme is implemented we conduct patron evaluation surveys to identify drinking and driving habits and gauge their awareness of the scheme. We know that some people were aware of the program and were still choosing to drive to venues, so we need to find ways to encourage those individuals to choose the 'Catch Ya Later Condo' scheme as their mode of transport. The survey results provide us with ways of tweaking the program to make it better.
We also conduct surveys with bar staff and taxi drivers to determine if the scheme could be more user-friendly and identify any issues.
In May 2008 'Catch Ya Later Condo' won the Local Government Excellence in Road Safety award at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia Conference in Sydney, which was great recognition of a very successful project.
The accord has been able to demonstrate that it is achieving results for the community, and we have established a very good working relationship between all stakeholders.
In 2007 there were 10 other accords in the Central West that had implemented their own local versions of the scheme.
OLGR: It sounds like it has been very successful, but there must have been a few issues along the way?
Melanie: During the first phase we decided to use the president of the accord as the face and voice of the project. However, this caused some confusion amongst locals about which venues were participating as the community were under the impression that the scheme only operated at his venue. So we quickly learnt that our branding needed to be generic and list all the participating venues. We now offer stickers to participating venues to be displayed on their front doors.
OLGR: Were there any unexpected benefits?
Melanie: The most surprising aspect of this program was the unexpected benefit of the shared learning experience. The accord members learned about the process of developing, implementing and evaluating a project and I learnt more about licensing and the operational side of the project.
In addition, other accords rolled out similar projects in their own areas.
OLGR: How long do you plan for the scheme to run?
Melanie: The model keeps evolving by making small changes as needed to keep it financially viable and user friendly. We are currently planning this year's rollout which will begin in December 2008.
OLGR: Congratulations on your accord’s success. Thank you Melanie!
For more information contact Melanie Suitor on 02 6861 2364 or at
Melanie.Suitor@parkes.nsw.gov.au
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