The benefits of crowdsourcing anything

There is nothing so mysterious about crowdsourcing. It only means to be open to as many ideas as you can about a particular topic, issue or product.  The difference is not to impose an idea but to allow the “crowd” to come forward to give their own reasons on why they like a certain product if they like it and vice versa if they don’t.

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It is the same with constitutions. It can be crowdsourced and doing that yields remarkable ideas. When before you would immediately think of “experts” you would now have the self-confidence to depend on your own ideas. This opens the field to ideas that would otherwise have not been thought of and its trajectory is infinite….it goes on and on. I know of two places where it was done in their own distinctive ways, Iceland and Spain in the context of their politics and culture. Through crowdsourcing, Iceland was able to put up a new constitution that legislators now follow. In Spain, the crowdsourcing led the activists to create their own political party Podemos that will in time assert their own ideas in governance.

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We have started our own crowdsourcing using the website bayanko.org.ph and it has quickly caught on among netizens. Take the public transport and traffic problems. Everyone suffers from it from the time they wake up in the morning and yet like most problems under a lackadaisical and inefficient government it seems that nothing can be done. Citizens, the crowd, suffer in silence. But with bayanko.org.ph, ideas are being put up that might make the difference in time. It is developing an attitude of problem solving.

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Here comes one from a netizen writing to bayanko.org.ph. He does not want me to print his name because it might get him to trouble. Why, I do not know, but this is also an attitude cultivated from many years of government with officials who do not relish being told what to do. Let’s flood them with crowdsourcing and get the upper hand in problem solving.

“I have a solution for the MRT/LRT situation. The width of each train is 126 inches. The width of a normal bus is 102 inches. The need for a driverless train becomes less important when the wage rates are so low. If you look at Google earth, you will find that the entire system is virtually empty and that is a random daytime shot.

This means that it is operating at an extremely low capacity. My solution is to pave over or fill in the current tracks and create a 2 lane constant bus system. Off and on ramps could be established and new stations could easily be created by cantilevering sections so that buses can pull over to pick up. Stairways and half moon trusses could create a walkway/slash waiting line across roadways like EDSA for loading and increased access. The different MRT and LRT systems could also be tied in the create a complete 2 way loop. The system would be completely scalable and could run 24 hours a day. The total area to be filled in without connecting stations is about 254,000 square meters throughout the entire system. We literally have an empty 2 lane highway at our beck and call that would relieve a massive traffic burden as well as providing an instant emergency lane for fire and police vehicles. It could also be used for legitimate VIPs that have security issues. Most of this solution can be [rebricated and laid in for a very short turnaround.

I also have a plan to install pattern recognition traffic cameras in several strategic locations around the city. It will recognize and record license plates and markings from every vehicle. It will identify any duplicate markings that are in different parts of the city. This is conclusive evidence of multiple (colorum) vehicles on the same license. I would record all of these offenders for about 30 days in order to catch everyone and then silently prepare legal cases against all offenders. I would then confiscate all the buses using any possible law on the books....The decent ones could then be used for the MRT/LRT and for distribution to poor areas all over the country. The buses on the system would not be connected in any way, their is no need. We have massive capacity untapped because of traffic and unsafe driving conditions because of slave wages and commission competition and 24 hour shifts with tired drivers. These characters duplicate their fleets. It is the classic tragedy of the commons. If 2000 buses are licensed and the total number of passengers per day is 5 million at P20 each, then the total pool is P100 million per day. That number won’t change. Each bus would get P50,000 in revenue per bus. If these fools double the fleet, it will result in revenue per bus being reduced to 25,000 per bus and so on....They don’t even realize that they are destroying them themselves because revenues have dropped so much. That is one of the other reasons that there are so many accidents and maintenance is so poor. Add to that the wasted gas at 1 gallon a day per vehicle (est) plus lost productivity, plus the projects created to solve the artificial problem and the numbers are massive. (This I do not want you to post as it would cause a ruckus. Just something to think about…I have programs and solutions in every area.)

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Edith Gerona cites the article of Rick Ramos. Public transportation: Worst failure of Aquino presidency!

“Last week, President Benigno Aquino finally put closure to the issue of his being open to a second term that even the editorial of the prestigious New York Times entitled “Political Mischief in the Philippines” bluntly criticized. Mr. Aquino reassured the Filipino people that he is not a “masochist,” who will go beyond the term of his office.

I completely concur that P-Noy is not a “masochist.” But how about being a “sadist” for inflicting much suffering on his fellow Filipinos? The thought came to mind when I read and saw the photos and videos of the myriad of our countrymen lining up at the Mass Rail Transit (MRT 3) stations along EDSA in Metro Manila. This has been going for the past two years under the Aquino administration.”