This month we are happy to introduce Fabio, a native of Bogota, Colombia. He is in his final year pursuing a Mathematics degree and in addition, works teaching students who find calculus challenging. We are certain these teaching skills bestow him with his natural flare for guiding the entire Community of his city. Fabio’s journey in the Moovit Community began about 6 months ago. He wrote the Support Team of the app to highlight some local information that could be improved. He tells us, “The Team responded with an invitation to join the Community. Before long I was already editing and improving data.” Fabio’s description of his contributions does not do his deeds justice! In the past six months he has contributed to more than 250 lines and has created 150,000 unique pieces of information about Bogota’s transport system.
Fabio’s contributions to the Bogotano Community go above and beyond editing. We asked Fabio about what he felt was his biggest achievement since joining the Community and he replied, “Undoubtedly, the greatest achievement has been to expand the Community.” This growth is by direct virtue of Fabio; once he was crowned city Ambassador, his mentorship abilities began to radiate as he started to offer incredible support to other editors in a number of ways. He offered newly-joined Community members weekly video calls to teach them about the mapping tools, welcomed everyone with personal messages and taught enthusiastic newcomers about best practices and collaboration. For the Community of Bogota, not one question has gone unanswered! Fabio tells us, “Now we are already several people who frequently edit. This makes me know that it is all worthwhile.” Fabio’s innate ability to guide others come across clearly: “I like members of the Community to know that in me they have someone who can help them with every edit,” he informed us.
Fabio is devoted to educating newcomers to the Bogota Community and is considering “planning meetings with other editors in the city”, to show them how they can contribute. He explains his motivations, “Being an editor goes beyond just volunteering, it is about improving the community where you live.” He continued, “My advice to the new members of the Community is that just 5 minutes a week of contributing to the Editor, no matter how small the change might seem, will be useful to someone.” Despite Fabio’s tremendous contributions thus far, he recognizes that, “due to the extensive transport system we have here in Bogota, we can still improve information.” That is exactly what Fabio continues to do when he is not reading, socializing with friends or cycling around the city. He concludes, and we agree, “…the Community in Bogotá will be a great success because together we are improving faster and better.” Thanks to Fabio, the population of 9.6 million people in the metropolitan area have access to clear information about public transport in their city. That’s the spirit, Fabio!