It’s not always easy to get a lot of people to work together…

New York City has seen a dramatic increase in bicycling, but the lack of secure, legal bike parking is still a deterrent to many.

The city invites citizen input into the placement of streetscape improvements of all kinds. Citizens, for example, can request a bike rack for any location where they see a need. But the request process requires that officials spend a huge amount of time checking the request locations, and setting location priorities is difficult. What’s more, the city can place dozens of racks far more quickly as a ‘bulk order’ than in response to one-by-one suggestions.

The bulk order process is, well, bulky. To help, OpenPlans developed FixCity, a social mapping application designed to “crowdsource” the information that’s needed for placing racks.

The bulk order process involves surveying the area, noting locations and gathering support. All this is done with more accuracy and efficiency by harnessing the power of the local residents, community groups and businesses.

FixCity encourages residents and community organizations to suggest new bike racks, verify suggested locations, gather statements of support from the broader community, and finally submit a “shovel-ready” bulk order to the Department of Transportation. Information can be submitted directly on the project site, via email, or by way of tools like Twitter and SeeClickFix.

The application is designed to use web technology to support an existing public process that isn’t always easy to engage with.

Adaptable Software

FixCity is built using Django, a powerful and popular web framework.

The FixCity software is open source, so it’s available for use, improvement, and adaptation to any number of civic applications.

Press Coverage

• Our Bike Racks, Ourselves: Crowdsourceing Two-Wheeled Parking – WIRED Autopia
• City Prepares for Law Allowing Bikes in Buildings – New York Times CityRoom