LOS ANGELES - Metrolink won an AdWheel Grand Prize Award at the 2015 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Annual Meeting held this week in San Francisco for its use of Facebook. AdWheel awards recognize public transportation agencies and APTA members for creative excellence in advertising, communications, marketing and promotions.

For a third consecutive year, Metrolink has won the Grand Prize Award in the social media platform category for the Metrolink Facebook page in the Group 2 competition, for public transportation systems with more than four million riders but fewer than 20 million annual passenger trips.

In addition to providing real-time information about service delays and status updates, the Metrolink Facebook page engages its passengers with contests, promotional event information and serves as a community-building interface for passengers to share their commuting experiences.

"Social media is a valuable tool for keeping our riders informed and engaging them in two-way conversations about their commute," said Robert Turnauckas, Metrolink's Marketing and Communications Officer. "This award recognizes the hard work, professionalism and effectiveness of our marketing and communications staff."

The agency also received first place awards for the Metrolink Interstate 5 South commuter incentive program in the billboard/outdoor advertising category, as well as for its Vine videos in the social media single event or campaign category.

There were over 500 entries this year in the five categories of print, electronic, campaigns, special events and social media. First place honors were awarded in various subcategories for each of the five groups, based on system size. Grand Prize Award winners were chosen from those first place winners in each group.

For information about the APTA AdWheel winners click here or go to the 2015 AdWheel Winners page for a complete list of awardees. Click the following hyperlinks for details of the winning entries:

http://www.facebook.com/Metrolink

http://www.metrolinktrains.com/i5

https://www.youtube.com/user/MetrolinkMatters/videos

ABOUT METROLINK (www.metrolinktrains.com)

Metrolink is Southern California's regional commuter rail service in its 23^rd year of operation. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network. Metrolink is the third largest commuter rail agency in the United States based on directional route miles and the eighth largest based on annual ridership.

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