An internship at the Department of Transport was the Right Move!

An internship at the Department of Transport was the Right Move!

Interning at the Department of Transport I have had the opportunity to be involved in the promotion, maintenance and ongoing development of a new Transport app, Right Move Perth.

Right Move Perth is a new free smartphone App created by the Transport portfolio – Department of Transport, Main Roads WA and the Public Transport Authority (Transperth) – to better inform Perth commuters regarding incidents, conditions and events that may impact their journey within the Perth metropolitan area.

The new App provides real-time information on incidents, including roadworks, crashes, traffic signal faults, to train and bus service disruptions, major events taking place, project information and weather warnings. Right Move Perth also lets you save your favourite routes and notifies you of incidents that might affect your trip around metropolitan Perth.

 

 

Right Move Perth is available on both iOS (Apple) and Android platforms and can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play for free. If you haven’t download them now!!

 

Currently I am working with my internship coordinator on rolling out a communications strategy for Right Move Perth.

 

This has included:

 

Recruiting and supervising eight flyer distributers

On April 1 and 3 eight distributers recruited from Integrity staffing sported Right Move Perth T-shirts and distributed iPhone shaped flyers throughout the CBD during peak morning, lunch and afternoon periods. I was tasked with liaising with Integrity staffing to find suitable people for the job, mapping out the locations for the staff to be placed around the CBD and also periodically checked on the distributors throughout the day supplying them with additional materials and answering any questions they had.

 

After each day of flyer distribution a rise in the app downloads was recorded through google analystics which was satisfying to know that the work I was doing was contributing to the success of the app.

Twitter page

@rightmoveperth is the official Twitter page for the app. My internship coordinator and I worked on a tweet schedule which included daily tweets about events, planned maintenance, CBD projects and tips for using the app. These were then entered into a system called hootdeck which automatically tweets that are scheduled on a certain day and time, pretty cool!

 

This task also involved responding to any questions or feedback tweeted on the page and retweeting appropriate posts from MRWA and Transperth pages. Initially I was incredibly nervous when completing this task as I was conscious of tweeting correct and professional information with no spelling or grammatical errors to the 575 followers of the page (which includes news and radio pages, perthonalities and members of the general public), I also didn’t want to retweet anything controversial (political or otherwise) that could result in negative media or perceptions from followers. However once I got the hang of it I actually enjoyed the interaction with users and reading their comments on the app.

 

 

Feedback email:

Similar to this I also respond to any queries or feedback that comes to rightmoveperth@transport.wa.gov.au  the Right Move Perth email address. This is the primary source of communication for users to reach the Right Move Perth team. This involved coordinating responses, contributing to the resolution of issues and appropriately referring issues for resolution.

If you have downloaded the app and have any queries or want to provide feedback, make sure you email the above address and I will be happy to respond to you!!

Over the next few weeks I will be working with the Right Move Perth team to decide development options for stage two of the app which will include things such as parking information and cycling.

 

Curtain Call

This journey that began a few months ago has come to an end. I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Department of Transport and it has enabled me to gain access to an important aspect of how our city is forecasted to deal with such rapid growth in the near future. By working for an organisation within the government sector I was given the opportunity to work across different areas which kept the experience interesting and helped me, not only broaden my public relations knowledge, but also helped me develop an interest in perhaps pursuing other areas of work.

I feel as though my entire course has helped me develop a better understanding of what pr is and this unit enabled me to get hands on knowledge and experience that has provided invaluable knowledge to me. Practical work has such a more significant impact on me than theory work. Because I’ve properly experienced something, I’m impacted in a way that makes me remember things learnt much better on the job rather than just talking about it in a classroom.

The biggest highlight I took out of my time at DoT was the ability to contribute and help out within a system I use constantly. Without our transport services I would not be able to get from A to B and being able to contribute and watch as people discussed ways in improving it was really great for me to experience.

What made this internship even better for me was seeing what I had been taught for the last three years actually applies within the industry. It would have been really discouraging if the principles and techniques I was taught were not actually part of what happens within the industry. Communication is the key, as has been conveyed to us as students from pretty much day one and the ability to create free flowing communication that allows for feedback on how to improve any public relations strategies is a vital aspect to the industry.

Beginning of a Journey

Although I'm well through my internship, I would like to reflect on the beginning of my experience and how I felt coming into an organisation I knew practically nothing about.

At the beginning of any sort of work, whether it be volunteer based or career based, nerves are common. In my case, I was put at ease by the staff that I was introduced to on my first day of my placement. I think people sometimes take for granted the impact that a simple smile and ‘hello’ or ‘how is your day?’ can have on someone that is exposed to a new environment. The ability to go around with my workplace mentor and be introduced to everyone around the office was good for me, because I now have a platform to find out more about everyone’s differing roles within the organisation.

The beginning of my placement was quite interesting. I was exposed to the glitz and glamour of setting up an organisational stall for an event. The event was the Australian Institute of Transport Planning and Management National Conference for 2013, held at the Perth Convention Centre. As the WA Department of Transport participated in the event, I was given the opportunity to see how events are set up first hand.

Listening to a speech by the Director General of Transport Reece Waldock and a room full of important people in suits can make a 19 year old university student feel pretty out of place, but I enjoyed learning new things about transport, improvements to Perth transport in particular. Being given things to proof read, articles to write and other jobs reiterates that this is all actually happening. As the train is my most common source of transport, it’s good to know that initiatives and programs are being put in place to make sure that Perth’s transport facilities remain sufficient.

To those that think public relations is all ‘razzle dazzle’ I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but it sometimes really isn’t. This is in no way a complaint about it, as a matter of fact I really enjoyed helping out in setting up the stall where I could but expect to get into situations where your art skills or assembly skills may come in handy (I’m now an expert at putting easels together and cutting out laminated stars).

I really feel I have a place in the office. Belonging somewhere can give people the confidence to voice their opinions freely and I feel as though I am free to contribute to tasks that people may need help with around the office. I’m looking forward to see what’s going to happen as I become more involved in the workplace.