Be on your best behaviour on Edmonton’s public transit and you can get a gift

EDMONTON – The City of Edmonton is using positive reinforcement to encourage transit users to be on their best behaviour when using public transit.

Edmonton Transit System has launched Thank You Thursdays which encourages riders to do things like removing backpacks, giving up a seat to someone with less mobility, keeping music volume at a reasonable level and treating transit staff with respect.

“Every four weeks there’s a different etiquette message that’s going to be out on the system,” ETS street team member Priya Bhasin-Singh said. “Just talking to different etiquette points that are important to riders and to transit operators.”

The city is giving away ‘swag bags’ to riders who comment on either the ETS Facebook or Instagram post about good etiquette they’ve seen while using public transit. Users can also post a selfie or photo on Instagram, including the hashtag #ETSthanks, and have a chance to win.

“We just wanted to take that positive approach to reinforce etiquette. It’s not about he finger wagging, it’s not about behaviour, it’s not about rules. It’s just about, we do this stuff every day; it’s common courtesy, it’s respect, and it’s just us positively reinforcing that message,” Bhasin-Singh said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We just wanted to take that positive approach to reinforce etiquette. It's not about he finger wagging, it's not about behaviour, it's not about rules. It's just about, we do this stuff every day; it's common courtesy, it's respect, and it's just us positively reinforcing that message," Bhasin-Singh said.

The campaign is running for a year.

ETS staff are promoting the campaign over the next three week starting Thursday, Feb. 25 by handing out material and setting up an interactive photo both at a different transit centre each week.