The builder's path
For: Riders who spot a wrong bus or train time in an app have no easy way to tell whoever publishes the data.
“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in every country.
Step 1
Build in the open
Publish the code and invite contributors from the community.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 2
Fund the maintainers
Sponsors, collectives and open source grants.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 3
Get it adopted
Civic tech groups and public bodies take it up.
Y Combinator's free course and co-founder matching.
Raise and spend money in the open for a community project.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Volunteer data scientists working with social-sector organisations.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
the agency and feed info files where publisher contacts live
the routing service and its list of data sources
wrote the proposal and can explain how feeds are named
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Anywhere. Problem: Riders who spot a wrong bus or train time in an app have no easy way to tell whoever publishes the data. Who it hurts: Riders using apps built on Transitous, a free, community-run public transport routing service, and the agencies whose timetables it shows. The moment it hurts: When a rider waits at a stop the app says exists, or for a departure that never comes. What people do today: Errors have to be reported to whoever makes each timetable feed, and riders rarely know who that is. Why it is still unsolved: Transitous combines many feeds from different publishers, and the right contact differs for each one. What solved looks like: A small web service and form: given a Transitous trip id, it works out which feed the trip came from, returns the right contact (or says none is known) and a prefilled report. Tested on 20 trips from different feeds. Where: Anywhere First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Arise, awake; seek out the wise and learn.”
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge.”
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”
δός μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Speak the truth. Do what is right.”
सत्यं वद। धर्मं चर।
satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.