The City — Ploiești
Ploiești is located approximately 60 km north of Romania’s capital city, Bucharest, and, is the capital of Prahova County. The city’s residents and visitors enjoy the nearby ski resorts in the Prahova Valley and many cultural elements of city life such as the classical architecture and concert performances by one of the most loved orchestras in the entire country. The local transport provider has an annual ridership of 70 million passengers.
The Historical Muzeul Ceasulu building in the Ploiești city center
The Ambassador – Bogdan
The Mooviter Community newsletter regularly features one of our amazing 100+ Community Ambassadors who dedicate themselves to improving the public transport experience in their cities. All Ambassadors have earned at least 1,000 points on the Community Editor platform through their editing contributions, but perhaps more importantly, they go above and beyond to benefit others.
Bogdan, a first year university student in Traffic and Transportation Engineering at the Bucharest Technical University, first came across the Mooviter Community in July 2015 when looking for a transit app for his hometown Ploiești. As his city was not yet available on the app, he understood he could play a major role in mapping Ploiești on the app for the city’s residents to use. Bogdan is passionate about public transportation and describes the Mooviter Community as “fitting him like a glove”, especially as he aspires to work in the field of transport planning and logistics and is an eminent member of a local public transport forum in Ploiești. When Bogdan is not learning, mapping or concentrating on public transport he enjoys long scooter rides around his hometown, photography and participating in international debate tournaments. Busy Bogdan also is an honorary counselor for the Mayor of Ploiești, embodying true civic participation.
Bogdan at a bus stop in Ploiești
Since Bogdan joined the Mooviter Community, in July 2015, he took the lead role in mapping the city’s mixed transport routes and remains committed to updating the city’s transit information when required. He was one of the first Mooviters in Europe to be asked to become an Ambassador. A few months later, Bogdan also embarked on a unique personal mission, the bus stop selfie project. Something that began “a week prior to starting college to help combat homesickness…I had to do something to keep the memory alive.” So, Bogdan traveled his entire city. He tells us, “It took me five days to take 300 selfies, one at every single bus, tram or trolleybus stop and even 7 photos from every major station in the city.” The city Ambassador even explained how he enjoyed the company of the many drivers he had befriended over the years of traveling around his hometown. This project demonstrates true local pride and the highlights the importance of identity, and we at the Moovit offices were thrilled to see the photos!
You can check out some of Bogdan’s artistic work in this video clip.
At the end of last year, the Moovit Community Team invited Bogdan and other top Ambassadors from across Eastern and Central Europe to join them in Berlin for a regional Ambassador Meetup. In addition to meeting many of the people he had exchanged messages with, Bogdan said that he had been dreaming of visiting Berlin and Potsdam for a while and this, “gave me the opportunity way sooner than I ever expected to go to Germany.”
Bogdan (bottom right corner) and the other Ambassadors of Central and Eastern Europe in chilly Berlin in December
Since moving to Bucharest, Bogdan has used Moovit extensively to learn the city’s layout, see alternative routes and obtain estimated arrival times. “I’ve been contributing in Bucharest for the past year so I got to know the city pretty well and learn some of the main lines.” he elaborates. His friends often ask him for transit directions in Bucharest and Bogdan finds this a huge motivation for contributing; so that he can solve transit queries by simply recommending Moovit to them. The Ambassador for Romania also talks about the idea of recreating the Selfie Project in the country’s capital, with all 2400 stops! Bogdan is currently part of a community effort to map the entire train network of Romania. He explains that the project is a big challenge, “…because every train has to be added individually (there are around 1500 trains)… but I like it because I get to see new areas of the country.”
To our dear Mooviter Community leader Bogdan, may you continue to take new projects and adventures in your stride.