Local public transportation during off-peak hours suffers in Basel, as well as in other major cities in Switzerland. Passenger volume stagnates or even decrease slightly, depending on the specific bus and tram lines. The digitalization enabled new competitors to enter the transportation business, employing collaborative mobility, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) or other digitized concepts. The population near Basel increased overall with new potential customers entering the market, however that fact did not translate in increasing passenger volume numbers. The goal should be to develop recommendations for off-peak hour offers to raise the occupancy rate.

To systematically analyze the company environment and gain an understanding of the factors contributing to it, the Strategic Marketing Analysis and Planning Process was applied. Following the structure of the Marketing Roadmap, the Situation Assessment was conducted, gaining insights from customers, trends, competitors and the company. The second stage consisted of the Strategy Formation and covered the targeting of the customers, as well as the strategy overview for the recommendations. Lastly, the Implementation stage presented the elaborated recommendations, based on the knowledge gained from the previous sections.

Based on the insights gained from the Situation Assessment, various potential recommendations have been constructed. For instance, the development of a flexible subscription offer that targets individuals with a specific, niche demand. On the other hand, there is a promotional tool to reward current customers for their loyalty, while potentially attracting new customers in form of the social circles of current customers. Moreover, the idea of an information campaign was presented, which main goal is to positively influence the commuter behaviour in a non-obtrusive manner. Furthermore, four key aspects have been singled out that have been determined to hold great impact in the conceptualization of offers during off-peak hours. Firstly, the expansion of flexible offers due to the changed customer demands. Secondly, the effects of positive influence towards customers to change commuter behaviour. Thirdly, the growing importance of auxiliary services as a result of mobility being seen as a commodity. And lastly, the dormant potential of the senior residents customer segment since they inherently exhibit more flexible schedules.