CITY PLANNING IN THE FAST LANE
A startup called Remix is using data to make your commute more efficient.
The Problem
Public transit is the lifeblood of cities, but efforts to establish new routes often succumb to the complexities of municipal policies.
The Epiphany
In 2014, Code for America fellows Tiffany Chu, Dan Getelman, Sam Hashemi, and Danny Whalen learned about the onerous process of green-lighting new transportation solutions. They thought that if officials could visualize the impacts new systems would have on communities, rather than having to read about them in 100-page documents, planners could spend less time convincing and more time building.
The Execution
The group launched Remix, a platform that turns transit planning into an interactive game based on real-world data. As users add a bus stop or adjust a subway route, Remix reveals in real time how the change would impact travel times, mobility, and cost.
The Result
The startup has worked with more than 200 U.S. transportation authorities and is fielding requests from officials overseas. Las Vegas and San Antonio have enlisted Remix to help reroute transit services around street festivals and parades, and Seattle is using it to plan for its expected population growth. Remix also helps city officials learn from their counterparts elsewhere. “It starts to become this connective tissue between agencies that normally don’t talk to each other because they’re scattered across the nation,” says Chu.