The Grocery Loop

Posted by Julia Klaiber on October 05, 2010

Meeting our daily needs without owning a car means being able to walk, bike or take public transportation to get to work, see friends, run errands and even buy groceries. Unfortunately, high quality grocery stores are hard to come by in many urban neighborhoods, forcing even the most reticent among us to get in our cars and drive to the suburbs for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Not so in Providence.

At least not if graphic designer and US Initiative collaborator Lindsay Kinkade gets her way. With a team of graduate students from the Rhode Island School of Design, Lindsay has proposed a creative solution called The Grocery Loop, a food-centric bus route designed for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Stops include not only supermarkets but also farmers' markets and ethnic grocers. A graphic identity for an existing bus and a smart phone app further enhance the riders' experience.

It's so simple it makes you want to slap your hand to your forehead (our favorite kind of innovation at CEOs for Cities), but if it happens, it will meet a very real, daily need for residents of Providence. 

Contest judges at A Better World by Design, a three-day conference held at RISD and Brown University, awarded The Grocery Loop top honors, citing its real-world applicability and scaleability to both small and large cities.

If you'd like to go where you need to go without owning a car, show your support for our Declaration of Interdependence.

Originally posted on the US blog. Join the US Initiative at www.ofbyandforus.org.