Seeking Feedback: An Open Source Solution for Public Transport

Hey! 👋 I'm toying with an idea and could really use your collective wisdom and feedback. The Problem: We’ve all witnessed or heard about the struggles cities face with their public transport systems - they are often disparate, non-unified, and can be a nightmare for both the operators and the commuters. Different regions, even within the same country, utilize varied systems that sometimes make public transport less efficient and user-friendly. Probably a bigger problem in some countries... The Idea: I’m considering developing an open source project, let's call it TransitUnity, akin to WordPress, but for public transport. The goal is to offer cities a customizable, scalable, and cost-effective platform to plan, manage, and improve their public transport services. It would include a feature-rich website and API, and potentially, a white labeled boilerplate app could be developed down the line for cities to use. Cities could adapt TransitUnity to their specific needs, allowing for a more unified, user-friendly, and efficient public transport experience. Being open source, it could also promote innovation and improvements from the global developer community, and the city itself can use the API to integrate into other services they are in need of. There would probably be better products developed when it is open sourced as there are then possibilities for developers to build custom "PRO" apps they could sell. Questions: - Where do you see a need for a solution like this? - How do you think public transport could be improved upon? - What challenges, both technical and non-technical, might be encountered in the implementation? - Would cities be open to adopting an open source platform for managing public transport? Why/Why not? - How could this be monetized to sustain development and support, considering it's open source? I’m all ears and excited to hear your insights, critiques, and suggestions. Let’s brainstorm and evaluate if TransitUnity is a journey worth embarking upon!