Foreword

Developing lifestyle services to make public transport become the mode of choice for citizens is the challenge of public transport organisations. Successful marketing measures can significantly increase PT market share, ridership, profit margins, stimulate demand as a whole and lead to a better capacity utilisation of the existing PT network. That's a fact!
The need is to ensure that people using public transport services are not just users but convinced customers, or even supporters and fans. Marketers are facing the challenge of developing new ways to approach customers or potential customers in order to convince them to make public transport their preferred mode of transportation.

To be more cost efficient and result-oriented, a marketing approach and use must be enhanced with better professional techniques and tools. Performance and increase of the business will only be achieved if marketers integrate new working methods to share and disseminate their knowledge and arguments across all the company's levels to achieve a real customer focused action plan.

Aware of this challenge, the UITP Commission on Marketing and Product Development has developed a Marketing Summer Course that offers public marketing practitioners the opportunity to improve their practical knowledge and competences in the development, implementation and monitoring of marketing projects, and also to be part of the worldwide network of marketers in Public Transport.

The initial project was thoroughly designed according to the results of the survey assessing the needs of UITP members in marketing training. The UITP Commission on Marketing and Product Development strived to improve the structure and content of the programme based on the evaluations made by the trainees at each edition. It is indeed of the utmost importance to UITP to better meet the members expectations in terms of training.

The training programme is primarily targeted to marketing technicians and executives. The number of trainees is limited for the whole course in order to give optimal conditions to the participants for exchanging and discussing among each other and interacting with the trainers.

It is a unique opportunity to have someone from your staff be amongst them. Do not miss it! First come, first served!

Susana Palomino		Hans Rat
Chairperson of UITP Commission on Marketing and Product Development		Secretary General