Transitmix Finds Professional Applications, Municipal Partners

Eric Jaffe follows up on the "design-your-own-bus-route tool called Transitmix" released last summer. The mass appeal of the product is producing a trove of crowd-sourced data about how people would improve their city's transit if they could: "In six months since the beta version launched," reports Jaffe, "users have created some 50,000 transit maps in 3,600 cities around the world."

The popularity of the tool, coupled with a strong positive response from professional transportation planners, led the makers of Transitmix to launch the online tool as a new business. According to Jaffe, last month "Transitmix launched a customizable 'pro' version the company believes will help transit agencies not only improve their local bus systems but also explain to the public the logic behind these service decisions more clearly."

"The Oregon Department of Transportation has already contracted to use the tool. Hashemi says he's in conversations with up to 80 other agencies to form similar partnerships."

Jaffe goes on to show examples of how Transitmix works as well as insight from Matthew Barnes of Oregon DOT's Rail and Public Transit Division about how ODOT will use the system to model planning scenarios. The final benefit of the Transitmix tool examined by Jaffe's coverage is its potential as a vehicle for public feedback—even in real time. Already, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is using a modified version of Transitmix for just that purpose.