The Challenge

The L train subway line will be shut down in April 2019, cutting off 225,000 daily commuters who ride the train across the East River each day to work.

A group of avid NYers convened at the offices of Forum for the Future to come up with innovative solutions to this looming nightmare.

After several informative presentations, we broke out into interdisciplinary teams made up of urban planners, transit specialists, data scientists, and of course, UX people.

The Process

We did not have a chance to do any research but we did delve into the open data provided to us by the city and the MTA to mine some basic demographics.

It was determined that 80% of current L-train riders would find alternate means of getting into the city, but that left 20% with only bad options. The people with the fewest options would be the ones closest to the city -- the ones boarding at the Bedford Street station, past the last junction with another subway line. Fortunately, they are also close to an alternate route: the Williamsburg Bridge.

Our Solution

We decided that in order to meet the needs of the 5-10% of commuters who would not be served by the alternatives offered by the city or the MTA (ironically, those living closest to the river crossing), they needed an app to enable "slugging", or a free ride-sharing program to benefit those who could not afford the additional cost of the paid ride-share services like Uber.

By creating a slugging community, with both drivers and riders, we could satisfy two needs: the riders needed a quick way to get across the river into Manhattan, and the drivers needed full cars to take advantage of the HOV lanes on the Williamsburg Bridge.