Urban Studies

The average car trip in America has 1.2 riders, including the driver. The first time I ran smack into a full-blown I35 traffic jam, and looked at the lanes of cars, minivans and SUVs filled with one person each, I thought to myself wow, if only we were all carrying three or four people, this nonsense wouldn't be happening. The trick though is that carpooling is always a bit difficult to organize with any spontaneity, and so it is an often unpopular tactic in transit.

Dynamic ridesharing systems intend to change this. Using the fairly ubiquitous technology available to users (cell phones and web services) these nascent programs enable users to call for a ride wherever they happen to be. A web service matches the user up with a driver already going in their direction. The service then gives users or riders some financial rewards, in the form of money or business discounts.

The big issue in Austin is the cost of housing, and the fact that as Austin has become a hot spot recognized around the country, folks have been flooding in and driving up rental and purchasing costs of homes, much to the chagrin of natives, low-income groups, civil rights organizations, environmentalists- well basically everyone besides developers.

We talk and talk this issue to death, and I can't count the number of times I've heard people bash the Californians and their McMansions, but apart from some dynamic organizations like PODER or the Texas Affordable Housing Project, people don't seem to fight gentrification. It causes enormous anger, but people don't seem to know what to do about it, what tools they can use to fight it.

Austin Affordable Housing Crisis General Assembly