You could say that Trufi is the Mastodon of journey planner services. Yes. You should definitely start saying that.
Mastodon is an open-source, non-profit alternative to Twitter that is made up of independent instances (a.k.a. servers) that work together through a global federation.
Follow us on Mastodon at @trufiassoc@transportation.social
If you are not yet on Mastodon, here is good article from the Zapier blog: How to move from Twitter to Mastodon
The first decision you need make is choosing an instance. Each instance is self-governed, with its own rules. We considered a few before landing on transportation.social.
Between Wednesday and Thursday last week our followers increased by 700 percent! (On Wednesday we had one follower. By Thursday we had seven.)
Movetodon: Helps you find your Twitter followers on Mastodon
We also have started using Movetodon, a free service that helps you find your Twitter friends on Mastodon – those who want to be found. On your Twitter profile, you signal to Movetodon (and anyone else) that you want to be found by putting your Mastodon username in your Twitter profile.
@username@server-name
Like this:
Movetodon searches only your friends on Twitter. If it finds a Mastodon username, it will show you a list of friends who are ready to be followed over on Mastodon as well.
Here are a few of the accounts we found this way – people and organizations close to Trufi’s values and mission. This list might help some people narrow down what server they wish to be on.
We will be running Movetodon about once a week to keep finding our friends who want to be followed on Mastodon. And of course, if you follow us, we’ll follow you back.
Why Are People Embracing Mastodon?
Mastodon has been around for about 10 years. So why the sudden interest? If you haven’t been following the drama around Twitter, here’s quote from The Guardian, and a starter article to get you up to speed:
More than 30 million users are expected to leave Twitter over the next two years as concerns mount over technical issues and the proliferation of offensive content after Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover, according to a forecast.
Twitter ‘to lose 32m users in two years after Elon Musk takeover’ The Guardian
There must be more to it than a distaste people have for Elon Musk’s effect on the platform. It’s possible that Musk was the final straw.
But why Mastodon? Why not Tumblr, Plurk, Aether, Hive Social, and others that are kind of like Twitter of you squint hard? Is it partially Mastodon’s Twitter-ish interface?
Maybe some people were already fed up with the constant monetization of their behavior; with an algorithm designed to serve the interest of the platform rather than the needs of the user, with centralized top-down decision making that doesn’t listen to communities. Maybe some people find it refreshing to use a service that is democratically run, invites input from anyone willing to contribute, and is managed by communities of common interests. Maybe people like that the software is open source.
Or maybe that’s just what we at Trufi find refreshing about Mastodon – because it reminds us of ourselves, of what we do. Trufi is the Mastodon of journey planner services.
We Are Ready for a Mass Exodus From Repudiated Journey Planning Services
We know there are many places in the world where transport planning decisions are not made with good data or with inclusiveness in mind or in the process. Where decisions are made by out-of-touch transport planners who don’t understand the mobility needs of the people in their own city. Where transport authorities can’t or won’t collect and digitize transport data so it can be analyzed. Or if they do have such data, they refuse to share it as open data, and it’s likely inaccurate and incomplete anyway.
Imagine if there were a mass exodus from other public transport journey planning platforms by users fed up with the kind of issues that distinguish Mastodon from Twitter: centralized decision making, a business model based on capturing your attention and monetizing what it learns about you. If such an exodus were to occur, Trufi is ready – with a familiar user interface, accurate information gathered inclusively, and an open source platform ready to be implemented everywhere.
Anyone with the basic skills and interest can set up a Trufi app. Anyone who wants to can contribute routes to OpenStreetMap – routes that will be included in the app. And they can get started today.
Do you want to get started? Contact us:
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