TransitCamp: could this help Connex?

February 25, 2008

From the perspective of someone who uses Melbourne public transport (Connex) at least twice a day, this is pretty amazing.

TransitCamp follows the BarCamp-style of conference (or unconference, whatever that is supposed to mean). It brought together a wide range of people that have an interest or investment in the Bay Area transit system with a view to make things better. Not to complain, not to piss and moan about the problems with the system, but to find solutions. As the information says, the event is a ‘not a complaints department, it is a solutions playground‘. By reading Miss Rogue’s account of the day, it sounded like a fantastic success.

I’ll repeat some of the points she outlines in the recap on HorsePigCow. Naturally, these may or may not be applicable outside of the Bay Area, but it shows what kind of thinking comes out of such events.

• Creating symbols or colored lines on the roads to show people where the buses physically go. This way non-riders would start to notice that buses from their neighborhoods go to neighborhoods that they want to go to.
• “If you build it, I would come” – the ability to vote for your route. Maybe you don’t currently ride the bus because it is just too inconvenient, but if you had a better bus system that could take you to and from work everyday, you would totally ride it. A simple clickable map with the ability to input the amount of time maximum you would tolerate (and the times you would travel) may bring in some good data for transit planners.
• Share A Route! So, why can’t we help encourage our non-transit friends to take transit by planning out a good route for them and sharing it? Sounds like a pretty simple solution to me!
• Transit Buddy System. This is a no-brainer as well. If you buy monthly Transit passes, you should be able to take 1-2 friends with you for free. You are promoting the system and encouraging ridership.
• Welcome Wagon Transit Packets. I remember the nightmare of moving to the Bay Area and trying to figure out the transit system. BART? Muni? Caltrain? Etc.? There were so many to figure out! How about a packet with links and information for new people. Promote them to big companies in the area who are importing people in.

Even just with ideas such as these being thrown around, it shows that there are people willing to discuss the issues rationally, looking for mutually beneficial answers. All that I can see in Melbourne at the moment are the commuters losing patience and joining the ‘I hate Connex’ Facebook group or the 38,000 Google results for ‘I hate Connex‘ out of frustration from the poor service, and the service providers on the other hand trying to reduce fare evasion, cut timetables to save money and still try (and fail) to keep customers happy. I’m certainly not going to claim that I’m pleased with the service that is currently offered.

The problem is that there are so many people that would prefer to just criticise and complain and so few who would be willing to talk things through to a solution. And I mean this on the part of everyone involved, not just the customers.

Public transport in Melbourne has quite simply not kept up with the city’s development and some major changes are needed. What better way for this to happen than in discussions with all the players in the game? Not just the companies and governments trying to get out of it cheaply and not just the commuters wanting unsustainable services.

Congratulations to everyone involved in TransitCampBayArea. After an insufferable train trip home tonight, it was just the thing I needed to read about to remain hopeful.

Image via Miss Rogue on Flickr

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