Background to the project

The central London Congestion Charging zone, operational since 2004, reduced traffic congestion within the charging zone by 30% as well as improving conditions on many roads around the zone.

The area to the west of the central London Congestion Charging Zone still suffered from high levels of all day traffic congestion, causing air pollution and unreliable journey times. In September 2005, as part of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy to further reduce London traffic congestion, and after a series of consultations with key stakeholders, including the general public, the Mayor gave the go ahead for an extension of the existing Congestion Charging Scheme westwards. This was called the Western Extension Zone (WEZ).

K International was immediately brought on board by the Transport for London (TfL) to help them communicate with London’s diverse population.

Communication Plan

The new campaign to launch the Western Extension (WEZ) of the Congestion Charging scheme was complex and it was essential that the public fully understood the scheme. The scheme’s communication was heavily information based and required a closely integrated approach. Four key communication phases were identified:

• Launch – to announce that the WEZ scheme would happen and when.
• Awareness – to ensure that the whole of London and beyond were aware of the WEZ scheme and understood whether or not they would be affected.
• Understanding – to educate the various target audiences about the details of the Scheme and how they would be affected differently. To help gain acceptance by creating awareness of the benefits of the scheme.
• Action – to ensure all those affected were pre-registered for their discount or exemption pre launch in good time.

Objectives

The target audience were split into several distinct geographical groups. Each group received a different form of communication best suited to their profile. The following were identified.

• Pan London. All Londoners, whether they drive in central London or not received communication about the scheme. The intention was to make sure that they were well informed and let them decide if they were affected by the new scheme or not.
• Western Extension Zone (WEZ). All those who lived, worked or were planning to drive within or into the WEZ needed to understand exactly how they would be affected and what actions they needed to take before and during the operation of the new zone.
• Congestion Charging Zone. All those who lived in or drove within the existing Congestion Charging Zone needed to understand the changes that were being introduced on 19th February 2007 and how it would affect them.
• Other sub groups. Additional sub groups were also identified, and communication strategies decided upon on how best to inform them of the new developments, these were;
• Blue Badge holders
• Other exemptions
• Fleet Operators
• NHS patients, hospitals, clinics, NHS trusts and doctors

Translated Versions

Each piece of direct mail communication was translated into the 12 standard TfL languages - Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

To ensure all the translations were localised for the London audience we arranged teams of translators and proofreaders for each language who live within the London area. This was vital as people outside of this region would not have the in-depth understanding of the congestion charge and how to best communicate that to people living in local communities within the London area.

For the translation of the businesses direct mail campaign we arranged a different translation group for each language, with translators and proofreaders who had experience in the London business culture.

As the schemes communication was phased over a period of time each translation team as asked to build a glossaries of terms to ensure consistency throughout the campaign. This glossary was used for any translation relating to the congestion charge, and was also later used for the implementation phases of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

This process created documents that were easily understood, welcomed into all areas of the community, and reduced the cost of supporting the scheme as all stakeholders had a clear understanding of the expansion.

Contact K International

If you have a project that involves communicating with large amounts of people in many different languages, K International can help you. To discuss your project call us on 01908 572600, email info@k-international.com or use our contact page.