meetingoftheminds

Meeting of the Minds

Webinar on Aug 23: "Leveraging Cell Phones & Citizens to Transform Public Transport" with [|@**jmklopp1**] and [|@**Kara_Kenya**] At 10:00 am PDT on August 23rd, Meeting of the Minds will host a live webinar featuring Jackie Klopp from Columbia University & Digital Matatus Project and Henry Ochieng from Kenyan Alliance of Resident Associations. [|Register here]
 * Key Links**

[]

[] The rapid spread of cellphones across the globe creates new opportunities to engage citizens to improve public transport in our cities. Using cellphones, the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) and the Kenyan Alliance of Resident Associations surveyed Nairobi residents for the first time in Nairobi history about what they wanted from their transportation system. As a result, the project revealed major gaps in official planning. CSUD also co-founded the Digital Matatus Project which used GPS enabled cellphones to create and update high quality data on Nairobi’s bus system, allowing for trip planning and public transit maps where none existed before. Magic Bus and Ma3route are two more efforts which employ the creative use of cellphones and data for service improvements in Nairobi. Ma3route’s aim is to “bring greater sanity to the roads and inform city planning and transport regulation in emerging economies through the provision of transport data and trend analysis”. What can we learn from these experiments in leveraging cellphones to engage citizens and advocate for critical improvements in public transport in Nairobi? Hear from two of the leaders in this work from the Center for Sustainable Urban Development and the Kenyan Alliance of Resident Associations who have been collaborating together for many years to improve public transport in Nairobi. [].