Public Feedback Systems & Active Citizenry

Freiburg has an innate connection to the environment given the backdrop of the Black Forest as well as longstanding, bottom-up environmentalism. 1975 marked the beginning of a sitting issue for a new nuclear power plant in Wyhl, a municipality within the same state as Freiburg. The location was chosen by planners given the Rhine River, international borders, and low predicted resistance. However, citizens mobilized to block this issue by innovating in “counter-expertise”, a renewable energy industry, and education that supports a moved toward solar energy [1]. Building-up civil society this way fostered not only a precedent for people first, but also a clear shift toward green development. The counter-expertise in this case was The Eco-Institute of Freiburg. Since many of the protesters themselves hailed from the University of Freiburg, a connection to environmentalism in the city was born out of the Wyhl nuclear power plant protest.

Today, the city of Freiburg has continued to live up to honoring feedback from people, and it is greatly reflected in the public infrastructure. Updated buildings and public transportation like the tram line are symbols of lasting citizen impact and successful environmentalism [2]. The video below showcases Freiburg’s new city hall building which produces more energy than it consumes, but more importantly is the home of the citizens’ service center. Here, residents can come to educate themselves on local initiatives as well as collaborate with each other in a free working space. Other spaces in Freiberg like the district of Vauban have housing that incorporates this culture of knowing your neighbor and community pride [3].

Turning to the U.S., Philadelphia has a rich historic legacy stretching back into the 18^th century. The city was the site for the creation and signing of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. These two documents alone dedicated the U.S. to a new democratic system. That is not to say there were no flaws. Back then and into current day, the U.S.’s democratic system has disenfranchised millions of people based on their education, ethnicity, race, gender, and more. However, people in Philadelphia are endowed with an excellent, and quite large, network of nonprofit organizations that teach about the area, foster community, and mobilize to address issues with the city. As one of the poorest large cities in the U.S., these nonprofits create a critical link between vulnerable populations and government resources. The greater Philadelphia area is also home to dozens of universities that provide opportunities for students to work in the city to advocate for a better quality of life for all.

The launch of Transit Forward Philadelphia this month is a turning point in the future of transportation. The coalition consists of nonprofits banded together to achieve equity, accessibility, safety, and sustainability in Philadelphia’s transportation system [4]. This coalition already has insider status, having Leslie Richards, General Manager of SEPTA, Chris Puchalsky, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for City of Philadelphia's Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (oTIS), Helen Gym, City Council Member at Large for the City of Philadelphia attend the first meeting [5].

One of the main highlights from Transit Forward Philadelphia’s meeting was SEPTA’s fare restructuring proposal. This proposal introduced key elements of a $0.50 increase in the base fare for SEPTA key users, one free transfer under specific conditions, and ten public hearings through the month of April. The vote on the proposal is scheduled for May 28 and the implementation should come into effect July 1. Is the fare restructuring an example of Philadelphia’s progress with public feedback, an impetus for civic engagement, or something else entirely? Philadelphia parallels Freiburg in that people are mobilizing for a cause. Transit Forward Philadelphia can be seen as the city's own counter-expertise. Perhaps the fare proposal is the impetus needed for citizens to make new policies accessible and equitable.

Still, Philadelphia can learn more just in the case of public transportation fares. In Freiburg, passes are a higher share purchased as opposed to individual rides. In the U.S., the opposite is true, especially in Philadelphia where a significant portion of the population cannot afford a monthly or weekly pass. Creating a family pass like Freiburg has, at a discounted rate, will both encourage greater ridership as well as alleviate families that struggle to travel to essential destinations. The framing of passes alone is exclusionary, group oriented, and a huge financial incentives to competitive alternatives (i.e. ride share or personal vehicles). While it may be difficult, it is advisable that citizens raise the issue of discounted passes during the ten public hearings. Especially amidst the COVID-19 turbulence and possible bailout on the table, increasing ridership through these passes will be extremely beneficial in the long-run as well as aid in recovery of public transit post-pandemic. It will also greatly modernize the SEPTA fare system and can reduce the need for outdated exact cash and token methods of payment. These passes can also be contracted to the dozens of higher education institutions in the metropolitan area to target "the next generation of riders" as Helen Gym remarked at the Transit Forward Philadelphia launch [5]. The graphic below and associated link discuss the demographics and fare structure in Philadelphia intensively [6].