What if you could get around cities with an option that combined the simplicity of Uber and the affordability of systems like D.C.’s Metrobus or Arlington’s ART buses?
It would be an on-demand transit system with no routes, no transfers, and no time tables. A fleet of shuttles would have their paths constantly adjusted based on who’s traveling right now.
The way it works today, passengers schedule their days and choose their homes and jobs based on the availability of transit. In the future, a smart city will dynamically change in real time to meet the needs of its citizens.
TDM TAKEAWAYFresh thinking about infrastructure, like figuring out how to make our systems more flexible and accommodating, will get people more excited about public transportation.
This is the idea our team has submitted to the Genesis Generation Challenge, a global competition aimed at improving the world that was created this summer after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $1 million he won for a lifetime-achievement award.
Bloomberg invited teams with ambitious but achievable plans to compete for 10 grants of up to $100,000 each. Project teams were encouraged to work on environmental sustainability, urban design, clean technology, or sustainable cities – all topics that relate directly to mass transit.
For several months, we have been thinking, rethinking, writing, and rewriting our plan for how we’d use that money to test a concept for dynamic mass transit on real city streets. Fingers crossed, when the winners are announced on January 28, we will win this seed funding to launch our vision for the smart city.
We call ourselves “Team ROOT” and we have been thinking about the future of mass transit from multiple perspective. Some of us, like me, are scientists who research optimization algorithms that could be used to move people and goods more efficiently. Some of us are experts in the changing global transportation industry, such as Levi Tillemann, who is the author of the upcoming book The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future. And some of us have years of experience working on transit-oriented design, like Tom Fairchild, the director of Mobility Lab. All 10 of us are passionate about sharing our skills to make smarter mass transit.
We had been discussing an idea that combines big data, smartphones, and supercomputers to reimagine the day-to-day and minute-to-minute operations of an urban bus system. Parts of our idea are already in motion. Helsinki, Finland, has a goal of being car free by 2025. Their innovative Kutsuplus pilot program has 15 minibuses shuttling people around. And, in Boston, the private company Bridj launched their concept of an adaptive transit system with beta tests this summer.
We think that the space for fresh thinking in transit is wide open, and we’re excited to take our own ideas out for a spin. The Genesis Challenge is just a first step for Team ROOT. For now, watch our video pitch for the contest posted above, and we’ll keep you updated on our progress!
