“MTA Volunteer Resource”
Finalist: Most Social Impact
Creators: Sydney, Kaleb, Princess, and Ymir
High School Students from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Brooklyn School for Music and Theatre
About this Project:
Our app addresses the issues of litter and uncleanliness in NYC subway stations and subway cars.
We were looking for an original idea to help address issues in our environment, specifically the environment we encounter every day and that is the NYC subway system. We found the subway system to be very dirty and have a lot of litter and vermin issues. The purpose of our app is to connect volunteers who would be willing to get together with their like-minded peers and help clean up the subway system. By making this idea a reality, we hope to make our city a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable place.
Our app, MTA Volunteer Resource, will help direct future volunteers to events or groups that would help them get involved with cleaning the subway stations and subway cars.
We were looking for an original idea to help address issues in our environment, specifically the environment we encounter every day and that is the NYC subway system. We found the subway system to be very dirty and have a lot of litter and vermin issues. The purpose of our app is to connect volunteers who would be willing to get together with their like-minded peers and help clean up the subway system. By making this idea a reality, we hope to make our city a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable place.
Our app, MTA Volunteer Resource, will help direct future volunteers to events or groups that would help them get involved with cleaning the subway stations and subway cars.
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Feedback from the Judges:
I applaud you for looking at an issue that impacts your life and the lives of those around you, and working together to find a solution. I think it's a fantastic idea to create an incentive program where individuals from the public can register to clean platforms or train cars, and in return receive free rides or a reduced MetroCard. It'd be great to see you build out the core idea you're having into a program (perhaps one that mimics the mask program you referenced), instead of only linking to current volunteer programs. There's a lot you can do with this idea, and it'd be great to see it! Great work all around.
I love this idea and see it being implemented in a HUGE way, not just across NYC, but across other cities as well. As I was reading through the project, I was thinking that there should be an incentive to encourage more people to participate, and you hit the nail on the head at the end!! I think SO many companies and corporations would sponsor incentives to encourage people to clean up. The way way people can "adopt a highway" to make sure it is clean people or companies can adopt or sponsor a subway station to ensure its cleanliness. GREAT IDEA! I love this and would love to see it come to life.
What an awesome idea! Keeping a public space clean is a forever ongoing issue. I love the fact that you're trying to tackle this problem by also spreading the awareness that the transit system we rely on every day also needs us to do our part in order to stay clean.
Maybe having conversation features where volunteers can communicate cleaning tips to each other may become helpful. It'd also be really exciting if groups in your resource list can connect to each other through your app and then make bigger events from time to time.
Maybe having conversation features where volunteers can communicate cleaning tips to each other may become helpful. It'd also be really exciting if groups in your resource list can connect to each other through your app and then make bigger events from time to time.
Very cool idea and definitely a problem New Yorkers (& tourists!) face. I think the idea of allowing people to join groups is fantastic, as doing things together is always more fun and engaging than doing it alone, and people feel more safe in a group! I also love the idea of rewarding people with free rides. This is a great way for the program to remain like a nice trade between volunteers (who want subway tickets) and the MTA (who want cleaner stations). Maybe integrating a "Call an MTA employee" section would be helpful as well to request things like mops, buckets, brushes, or to get assistance in certain parts of the station.
Lots of places in Europe have started texting hotlines for cleaning up train stations, so if you see some trash somewhere, you can text a number with what track you're on and someone comes and cleans it as soon as they're available. Might be cool to look in to translating that sort of thing for the MTA.
Lots of places in Europe have started texting hotlines for cleaning up train stations, so if you see some trash somewhere, you can text a number with what track you're on and someone comes and cleans it as soon as they're available. Might be cool to look in to translating that sort of thing for the MTA.
Feedback from the Community:
Aissatou 👏 a High School Student from Brooklyn New York
It’s helpful and a really smart idea
👏 a High School Student
Very funny
👏 a High School Student
A smart idea
Sharyaar 👏 a High School Student
Great idea to help people out keep it up
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