FixMyTransport uses crowdsourcing to solve travel problems
29 September, 2011 Category: Startups No Comments 
Original post by Charles Arthur via The Guardian
A new website with the slogan “Euston, we have a problem” aims to use the power of the crowds using British public transport to notify operators of problems with rail, bus, tube and even ferry services.
FixMyTransport, which launched on Tuesday, aims to “give you the tools to report your public transport problems to the correct operator or authority”, and to post them online so that other people can see where problems are.
And, following representations from transport companies, there will also be another option: to praise them for the quality of the experience.
The project, which is the result of 18 months’ work by a lone developer, Louise Crow, uses the same idea as its older sibling FixMyStreet.com, which lets people contact their local council to report problems with roads such as potholes or fly-tipping and last year had more than 60,000 problems reported.
FixMyTransport has been open for limited user testing for some weeks and has already gathered a number of examples from users reporting their problems: one complained that the Woolwich Ferry’s Greenland pier was in poor repair; the council renovated and fixed it soon afterwards.
