From March 20th to 23rd this year three motivated and diverse groups of people (citizens, students, experts etc.) came together for MOVID19 - a hackathon in Bogotá for mobility during the COVID19 crisis. Hacking is creative a problem solving process and a hackathon is an event where people come together to solve problems. Participants typically form groups of about 2-5 individuals, take out their laptops (if the event is technology themed), and dive into problems. They spent four days analyzing data (transport data, OD surveys, age etc) and came up with three conclusions around reorganizing routes for TransMilenio, Bogotá's bus rapid transit (BRT). Their conclusions, in the form of proposed solutions, are:
- Provide bicycles to the main health care centers around city
- Focus on providing the cleanest and most frequent public transport service
- Do these activities at a low cost
Thanks to the exercise the Secretary of Mobility is coordinating with TransMilenio to implement some measures resulting from the hackathon. The data provided is being analyzed by the department of road intelligence in order to broaden up the solutions. Finally, Lima is interested in replicating the hackathon.
A concrete result of the hackathon was to implement one of the winning proposals. The proposal chosen was for providing bicycles to the health care system workers - those who have to move to get to their workplaces.
How was this implemented? Bogota with support of NUMO (New Urban Mobility Alliance) and a private bike operator MUVO, gave 400 bikes to Bogotá's health providers identified thanks to data processed during the hackathon to help during this difficult moment.
CFF actively participated in the entire session, took part in the webinars, disseminate the activity, contributed with ideas that inspired participants to work and explore solutions around the use of the bicycle as a means of safe transportation in times of COVID-19 and contributed with the prize to motivate more people, experts, geeks to participate in the activity.