FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
Contact:     Andrea Grayson
Cell:        802.238.4433

HINESBURG HIRES MARKETING/DESIGN/WEB CONSORTIUM TO INCREASE RIDE SHARING

Hinesburg, VT – The town of Hinesburg, Vermont, through its community-organized transportation group Hinesburg Rides, has assembled a specialized team to implement a $50,000 grant to increase ride sharing in, from, and through Hinesburg.

The three different components of the project required specialized expertise: creating a web-based ride-matching system; design and identity development; and a marketing plan that would tie it all together. Through their Request for Proposal (RFP) process, the town cherry-picked a team to meet each of those needs: Feather River Productions of Waitsfield for the web site; The Image Farm of Middlebury for the creation of design and identity; and Dr. Andrea Grayson of Charlotte, for the marketing plan.

“We thought about the various components of the project and who we thought would be the best fit for each part. We’re fortunate to have been able to assemble the team this way,” says Alex Weinhagen, director of planning and zoning for Hinesburg, and one of the leaders in this effort.

Feather River Productions, led by James Foreman, is a Waitsfield-based web design and programming company that will be building an online ride-matching system to facilitate carpooling and ride sharing in and through Hinesburg. Other web-based components, including outreach and promotions, will also be coordinated by Feather River. Foreman, working as Project Manager, will be working with a team of content and technology developers at his company to bring the web component to life.

The Image Farm, a design and branding company in Middlebury, was chosen for their streamlined design sense, and experience with other local transportation projects. Partners Pam and Matt Heywood redesigned the route map and schedule system for Addison County Transit Resources (ACTR), and also created an identity for the Addison County Safe Routes to School campaign, which encourages children to safely walk, bike and use public transit to school.

Dr. Andrea Grayson of Charlotte is managing the marketing component of this initiative, and has expertise in creating media for social change, and will be integrated behavior-change strategies into the outreach and marketing efforts of the team.  One of her recent projects includes a web-based video series for college students called Mayhem State which addresses student risk behaviors, including excessive alcohol consumption, risky sexual activity, and issues of bias. She says the Hinesburg project will involve a lot of education and awareness-raising, “because people have the misperception that ridesharing is inconvenient. What’s inconvenient about saving money, reducing pollution, and making friends?”

The $50,000 grant comes from the Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which awarded the grant in May to help Hinesburg develop transportation options for the town to reduce congestion and pollution in the village.  Since Hinesburg is a through-way for many commuters south and west of the village of Hinesburg, the outreach effort will also extend into Addison County and the southern Chittenden towns of Shelburne and Charlotte.

Weinhagen says that they are planning to launch the website in October, contingent on how long it will take to develop and test.  “Community members can expect to see lots of activity around this through the fall, and then again in the Spring.” Several special events and contests are in the planning stages, he says.

The main address for the initiative will be www.hinesburgrides.org, and there will be some initial information posted by the beginning of August. For further information, please contact Andrea Grayson at 802.238.4433.

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