In February 2015, the Moovit Team were able to gather enough information to launch a service for the 6th most populous city in the European Union, Bucharest. The city’s data was made accessible for the city’s app users to govern and they responded enthusiastically. They utilized their familiarity with the local transport routes to perfect the information. Within a month of Bucharest’s launch, Community member Cosmin mapped his home city of Arad, followed by Darius who added Cluj-Napoca and the cities continued to flow. Community Ambassador Mihaela, from Bucharest, who has also been indispensable in the creation of new Romanian cities on the app, also contributed to the Community’s greatness. Thanks to the collective efforts of the group in the 14 months since the Romanian Community’s inception, an average of one new city has been added each month.
The crusade to bring better public transport information to the country has been spearheaded by a group of determined leaders, namely the country’s Ambassadors; Mihalea, Dee and Bogdan, who are never deterred by any challenge. Together, with some of the country’s other wonderful top contributors, they decide together which city is next on their radar and then mobilize in mapping it. They are adding the capital cities of the 41 counties first, and then working on expanding coverage across the country. Each individual member has a variety of his or her own reasons for becoming such an integral part of the Romanian Community, but they are all aligned on the altruistic aspect of their volunteering as voiced by Mihaela, “I am happy to help people.”
The group promotes information transparency across the national public transport sector and have a presence across online forums and groups. The communal spirit in the country is not limited to mapping; the Community benefits from its own official volunteer translator, Razvan, a student from Bucharest who dedicates himself to localizing important written messaging from the Community team. Thanks to their efforts, the Community has so far created better transport information for 4.9 million of the country’s total population and that number is constantly growing. This is something worth celebrating!