Change is coming to transportation, and we want you to be a part of it.  You’ve probably heard about the reform bill which merges the state’s major transportation agencies into MassDOT on November 1st.  As part of this reform effort, transportation officials have been thinking about doing business in some new ways.  In July 2009, the Executive Office of Transportation launched the Developers Page as part of the Patrick Administration’s commitment to creating a modern, efficient, and customer-friendly transportation system.  The EOT Developers Page provides information and data from Massachusetts’ transportation agencies and authorities that is useful to developers interested in creating mobile phone and web-based applications that will deliver information more efficiently and effectively to customers. Data released through the Developers page includes MBTA and RTA route and schedule data, MHD and MTA planned construction event data, RMV branch wait time feeds and a variety of other information. Engaging developers is a new form of Civic Engagement — at it’s core, it is about citizens interacting with government in new ways.  In addition, EOT uses Twitter for updates, a Google Group, and regular meetings to engage developers.  In less than two months, more than five applications have been built using this data.

To build on this momentum, EOT has announced the First Annual MassDOT Developers Conference, on November 14th, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. The Conference is free and open to the public. EOT, which becomes MassDOT on November 1, is also announcing the 2009 EOT Developers Challenge, which inspires developers to create both applications and data visualizations, to submit them to EOT, and to release them to the public. The two top submissions will receive a CharlieCard valid for one-year of free travel on the MBTA, in addition to recognition at the Conference.

This Conference will be interesting to anyone who works on issues related to transparency, open government, technology, civic engagement, transportation and planning, state and local government, and public-private partnerships.  We hope to see you there!