Personally I find the issues of design in transportation equally fascinating. But I share Jonathan's skepticism about using this as a means of getting contracts, at least in the short term.
First, cities need to figure out they have a problem on their own. They have citizens shouting opinions left and right for free, without someone wanting to impose a new perspective, redo their street signs, and get paid for it. But more seriously, given the way city government and national transportation funding works, simply figuring that part out does not give them budget or leeway to hire a (non-union, non-transportation engineer, non-government employee) ux designer and implement her recommendations. If you were starting from a city official who formally recognized a specific issue (accidents at a particular intersection), who had jurisdiction over the agencies in charge of that area, and who had posted a public request for solutions, that would be different. You'd at least know what the terms of the RFP were, and what the composition of the team needed to include. I also don't mean to suggest this is an entirely futile pursuit--I contact my local government periodically with feedback, and occasionally get a response. I was genuinely pleased when the designers at BART.gov incorporated my comments about how nonsensical their map is for the great number of riders who take their trains within the city of San Francisco, and added city labels to differentiate between 19th Street (Oakland) and 24th Street (San Francisco) on the new website. And I agree there's great need for a UX consultancy specializing in urban planning, and plenty of room for articles and advocacy. Someone up to speed on ARRA (stimulus) funding could help identify opportunities. But don't hold your breath. I wouldn't expect local governments to move quickly, even on the best of ideas. And these are hardly great times to be managing a city budget. Diana ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
