TransitCamp
by AlexaIn my mind, it seemed perfect: Technologists and transit-enthusiasts coming together to rethink the transit experience. A chance to bring the experience design gospel to an industry in need. Brimming with missionary zeal, my transportation planner husband and I headed off to the Bay Area TransitCamp.
I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock. My idealism was greeted by a ragtag bunch consisting of khaki-clad engineers, frumpy transit riders and suit-wearing transit officials. The engineers preached the possibilities of open-source data. White-haired transit riders screeched frustrations about their particular pet issues. And the transit officials defended cuts to bathroom-cleaning with the hard, cold facts of their bureaucratic reality.
Welcome to TransitCamp.
Could this possibly be the crowd that would transform transit? It felt like anarchy. “No complaints without solutions” was the only rule, and organizer Tara Hunt had to reiterate it again and again. Yet as idealism and realism collided, something impressive happened. We learned from one another. iPhone app developers learned that 40% of riders are below the poverty line. Cost-conscious officials learned that dozens of techies are eager to develop solutions — for free.
I realized that making a difference requires a humble and listening posture. Transit is an interdisciplinary problem that requires interdisciplinary understanding. While it produced interesting ideas, TransitCamp’s greatest triumph was fostering an atmosphere of learning and collaboration between unlikely bedfellows.
Entries (RSS)
February 28th, 2008 at 1:24 am
wow, great story and perspective. Will there be more events like these?
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:46 am
Alexa —
I’m glad your impression of the event was positive! We had the same feeling when we ran the first TransitCamp in Toronto: could this seemingly random group of creatives be the future of the third largest transit system in North America? I think the answer for us was a resounding “Yes!” and led to coverage in HBR and the support of the our new regional transit authority to run a series of Camps around the city. We were thrilled when Tara and Chris took up the TransitCamp mantle and brought it to the Bay Area, and delighted by the general post-event consensus that new ground was broken. Applying the BarCamp ethos to a non-tech event was an experiment which I think we can judge quite successful