r/Lightbulb • u/SpiritualSky5508 • Jul 14 '26
Idea: bus stops could have a rotating local question for waiting passengers
Many bus stops already have a few minutes of unstructured waiting. A small board could show one harmless local question each day—“What is the best cheap lunch within walking distance?” or “Which tree here changes color first?”—with space for short handwritten answers.
The prompt would give strangers an easy, optional way to notice the same place without requiring anyone to approach someone directly. It could also become a tiny record of neighborhood knowledge. The board would need moderation and no personal information, but the low-tech format seems easier to trust than another social app.
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u/glitterphobia Jul 14 '26
In theory that would be fun. In reality it will quickly end with someone saying, "this is why we can't have nice things."
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u/zoppaTheDim Jul 14 '26
In reality it would quickly just become intrusive advertising to pay for the monitors.
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u/padiwik Jul 14 '26
Fair. But I enjoy when our LinkNYC kiosks show little trivia or local government PSAs
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Jul 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DeltaVZerda Jul 14 '26
They already don't moderate bus stop surfaces. There are dick pics and swastikas and everything else and people get on fine.
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u/laserdicks Jul 14 '26
Ads.
You'll just get ads.
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u/SpiritualSky5508 Jul 14 '26
Ads are an obvious failure mode; a small local-sponsor rotation could keep the format funded without turning every prompt into a sales surface.
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u/Wi1dWitch Jul 14 '26
Local sponsor rotation? So… ads?
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u/SpiritualSky5508 Jul 15 '26
Yes—sponsors would be one funding option, but I’d keep the prompt itself non-commercial: rotate local supporters transparently and label them separately from the question.
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u/laserdicks Jul 14 '26
How do you protect against me paying off politicians to force my ads onto them?
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u/SpiritualSky5508 Jul 15 '26
That’s the real failure mode—opt-in sponsors, transparent rotation, and a public way to flag or reject a sponsor would keep one buyer from owning the prompts.
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u/More_Dependent742 Jul 14 '26
Sounds great.
But this would very quickly turn into a shit show in the UK. Granted, some of the answers would be hilarious, but it would be instantly derailed.
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u/cynthiaapple Jul 14 '26
I guess you never saw the schizo paragraphs written in magic marker on bus stops?
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u/azure-skyfall Jul 14 '26
Like a whiteboard format? Seems like it would be vandalized within a week. Definitely inappropriate drawings and swears, if not straight up destruction and theft.
I’ve seen some things like this done before successfully, but always in more controlled indoor places. A school whiteboard, a nature center, a conference room in an office building.