ORANGE, Calif., June 3, 2021 / -- The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency (Agency), which oversees the Amtrak® Pacific Surfliner® service, has been awarded two first-place honors for the 2021 Annual AdWheel Awards, presented by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). The AdWheel Awards recognize excellence in the public transportation industry by honoring the "best of the best" in marketing and communications. This year, in an effort to align the AdWheel Awards with organizational and industry strategic goals, a special COVID-19 category was featured to recognize such things as efforts to communicate health information, showcase employees as essential workers, and informing the public about new community safety efforts.
"In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our staff worked tirelessly to execute crisis communications and quickly distribute up-to-date information on service impacts," said Donna DeMartino, managing Director of the LOSSAN Agency. "As the Pacific Surfliner continued to provide a core-level of service for essential travel, it was critical to communicate ongoing efforts to operate train service in a safe manner for crews and passengers. It is an honor to receive the industry's recognition in support of our marketing programs that kept the public informed and connected during the pandemic."
Out of the 363 AdWheel entries received, the highest number of submissions in several years, the LOSSAN Agency was awarded first place awards in two strategic categories:
Pacific Surfliner COVID-19 Communications - Electronic Media (Best Marketing and Communications on COVID-19)
Pacific Surfliner COVID-19 Communications - Social (Best Marketing and Communications on COVID-19)
The LOSSAN Agency's COVID-19 communications campaigns included digital elements such as website updates, informational articles, virtual experiences on social media, and more. Watch a video highlighting important safety messages and forward-looking messages of hope on the Pacific Surfliner blog.
Entries were evaluated by industry experts and awarded in groups based on system size. AdWheel Award winners will be honored October 3-6, 2021, in Philadelphia, PA, at APTA's 2021 Marketing & Communications Workshop.
About the Amtrak® Pacific Surfliner®
The Pacific Surfliner travels along a 351-mile coastal rail route through San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, serving 27 stations. It is the busiest state-supported intercity passenger rail route in the United States with 26 daily trains and annual ridership of nearly 3 million. To learn more and plan a trip, visit pacificsurfliner.com.
About the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency
The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency is a joint powers authority composed of rail owners, operators, and planning agencies along the entire LOSSAN rail corridor. In addition to working to improve passenger rail ridership, revenue, on- time performance, operational flexibility, and safety, the LOSSAN Agency assumed management responsibility for the Pacific Surfliner service in July 2015, following the execution of an interagency transfer agreement with the state of California. For more information, visit lossan.org.
About the American Public Transportation Association
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of 1,500 public and private sector organizations which represent a $74 billion industry that directly employs 435,000 people and supports millions of private sector jobs. APTA members are engaged in the areas of bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail. This includes: transit systems; planning, design, construction, and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations and state departments of transportation. APTA is the only association in North America that represents all modes of public transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical transit services and products.
For More Information:
Emilia Doerr, LOSSAN Agency, edoerr@octa.net
Media Contact:
Laura Lanzi, The ACE Agency, lauralanzi@theaceagency.com
On behalf of LOSSAN Agency
