15 Minutes or Better
By NEIL GREENBERG
Hello Seattle!
Neil from Detroit here. I am working on a project that you all may find appealing. It has a Seattle connection. More importantly, is has broad relevance for the entire public transit space.
The effort is called 15 Minutes or Better. It's a series of short videos to highlight the fundamentals of effective public transit: coverage, connectivity, speed, span, frequency, accessibility.
To longtime transit enthusiasts, these elements are painfully obvious. Today, thanks to increased academic interest and a chatty internet, more and more people are describing themselves as transit enthusiasts. It's a positive phenomenon - we need all the support we can get.
However, many newcomers are overlooking the core ingredients of effective transit. Essential service attributes are regularly dismissed as "too technical" - while the conversation drifts toward trendy sub-topics of transit: policy, technology, private financing, real estate development.
Those are all worthwhile matters. Taken alone, though, none can significantly improve the full experience of using transit. As such, 15 Minutes or Better intends to give proper due to the meat-and-potatoes of transit service. We'll address each "technical" component in a fun, engaging and decidedly non-technical way. In so doing, we'll equip the growing ranks of transit enthusiasts with a more thorough, more powerful understanding of the issue.
The project starts in Detroit because our transit conversation is astoundingly incomplete. Despite well-documented deficiencies with our transit service, the official discussion is revolving around secondary themes. We talk of apps and websites and TOD and attracting millennials - while practically ignoring route coverage and service levels. We know that other cities have effective transit systems, but we've failed to identify - or even ask - what makes those systems effective.
So we're hitting the road. We are travelling to multiple US cities - including Seattle - to showcase effective transit service in its natural, everyday habitat. In each city, we'll walk the viewer through an actual transit trip and point out what is working. The message is clear: the elements of quality transit service should not be taken for granted. If you want to improve transit in your city - Detroit or elsewhere - insist on this element!
In Seattle, our particular element-of-focus is connectivity - how transit can downplay political boundaries to link logical destinations. For example, we may start at the Tacoma Dome and travel to UW. Anyone can see why this trip makes sense: a big population center to a big university. In too many other places, transit couldn't connect these dots because they're in different counties. But Puget Sound gets it right. Let's bring that to light - and set it as a precedent for all metropolitan areas.
And - you had to see this coming - 15 Minutes or Better will cost us to produce. We've figured about $45,000 to film, edit and compile the whole video series. We are attempting to raise $15,000 of that through crowdfunding - check out the campaign, along with the trailer, at patronicity.com/15mob. Our first target audience is Detroit. Beyond the Motor City, our findings can help inform the national dialogue. We want to ensure that the transit conversation doesn't forget to talk about transit.
We'd love your support - a small contribution, ideas for local transit highlights, even your knowledge on-camera as a "local host". If you have any questions, please contact me directly.
Thank you!