Bulk up your number of supporters
Being right is nice, but being big is even more helpful
Transportation issues like bike lanes, bus stop amenities, and rail lines are not decided based on who is right and who is wrong. If that were the case, we bike, transit, and street safety advocates would pretty much win every time. Right or wrong doesn’t determine the winner because transportation issues are matters of politics, not physics (or morality). From speed bumps to high speed rail networks, transportation issues impact how people and society relate to each other and are thus political. So, while it is nice that we transportation advocates are right, we also need to be strong. One of the fastest ways to bulk up your political strength is to get more people on your side.
More people = more power is a fairly well-established political truth, so I’ll just do a quick reminder as to why that helps in matters of bike lanes or train stations. Transportation changes are made either directly by politicians or indirectly by politicians via the bureaucrats that politicians fund, regulate, and sometimes even directly hire. Either case, politicians are pretty much the decision makers on most transportation matters.
Politicians generally want to win elections so they need to motivate enough voters in the right areas in order to win. The rallies, petitions, call-in days, and other mobilizations you do to show public support for your demand are all signals to politicians about how popular something is. You are effectively saying “hey, a lot of people want this, so this will impact their votes and thus YOUR political career.”
Additionally, the more supporters you have on your side, the more people you can recruit from to get volunteers and resources (like money) which helps you do other stuff. Also, the more people on your side, the more legitimate/social status your side has. If you have 1,000 people on your side, your demand is viewed as more reasonable than if you just had a dozen folks. And if you have 1,000 people on your side, you have better odds of getting more folks to the rally or take some other action.
This is pivotal because action is essential in politics. It’s not enough for your supporters to want in their heart of hearts for the Governor to fund transit. They need to actually speak out in favor of transit in a way that the Governor can see it. Otherwise, the supporter’s desire doesn’t make an impact.
(And as a friendly reminder– the actions are more powerful when it comes from different people. 1,000 calls to the Governor coming in from the same person just means that one person really cares. But 1,000 people each making 1 call shows that a lot of people (and thus voters) care.)
Getting 1,000 people to take action depends on two big factors. One is your call-to-action conversion rate. As in, of the people that you ask to do something, how many actually follow through? Improving your conversion rate means you can get a lot done with fewer people.
The other factor is the number of people you are asking. Even if your conversion rate is 1% but you put the call-to-action out to 100,000 people, you will get 1,000 calls in. Other Substack pieces focus on how transit, bike, and street safety advocates can improve their conversion rate (e.g. this one and that one) so let’s take a look at how to quickly increase the raw number of people you are asking.
Table at big events
Go to where the people are and talk with them. That could be an event like a farmer’s market, block party, our county fair. Transportation issues impact everyone, so any big general event is an opportunity for you to engage with a lot of folks. As long as the event is something that you’re allowed to have a table at (check with the organizers), it is likely productive for you to have a table there. For example, while I doubt many people came to the Santa Clara County Fair in hopes to talk about transit, I recently spent a highly productive four days tabling there. I opened conversations with “where is someplace you’d like to get more easily in the Bay Area,” and was able to engage with thousands of people and got hundreds of people to sign up.
Flyer on the street
As I’ve written about before, a huge advantage transportation advocates have is that we can have a pretty good guess as to what feelings about transportation issues a stranger on the street might have. For example, a person at a bus stop probably wants better bus service. A person waiting to cross the street, probably would appreciate safer street infrastructure. Go out into the community and engage with folks directly. Bring your petition or flyers with you so you can help people sign up on the spot.
Host a fun event
Another great way to grow your base is to put on a fun event that draws a crowd. As transportation advocates, we have a huge variety of ways we can do that. Events like joy rides or transit parties bring people together and elevates your issue’s visibility– that’s a win/win. Plus, they are fun. Just make sure to get people’s contact information (a RSVP page helps with that.)
The more you get out there and recruit, the more you’ll strengthen your effort. Getting It also means getting lots of no’s, but that’s just part of the process. You will also get some yes’s who don’t end up converting into action takers later on (a sort of political “bycatch” if you will). That’s fine too as long as you are also meaningfully bulking up your list. Because in the end, politics is about people. If you want to win, you gotta get a lot of people on your side– that takes persuasion and a whole lot of outreach. So go on and get out there!
Need help winning transportation changes in your community? I’m here to help! Whether you want a 1-on-1 training session or a group workshop, let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com to set something up. Here’s a bit about what training sessions are like
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