Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Spotlight:San Francisco August
2015
Urban Mobility InsightsAt Urban Engines, our commuter app uses open data feeds provided by transit agencies to analyze each route’s historical performance to help commuters make informed travel decisions.
But what else can this data show? We put it through Urban Engines’ space-time engine – the same one used by transit agencies, logistics companies, and other organizations to understand and optimize performance.
Definitions
Dataset: This analysis uses open data from SF Muni schedules and real-time arrivals for a given bus, archived and analyzed by our system
Arrival delay = Difference, in seconds, between actual and scheduled arrival time at a given stop
Average trip delay = Average of all arrival delays for a given bus run
On-time = A bus that arrives no more than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late compared to the published schedule (note: Muni’s metric is 4 minutes late)
On-time percentge = Number of stops where bus is on-time for one run / total number of stops in the bus run
In this inaugural issue of Urban Mobility Insights, we put iconic San Francisco events head-to-head. Is it better to send thousands of runners through or around the city (clothing optional)? Does Apple’s or Google’s developer conference draw bigger crowds? Did Beatles’enthusiasts have a “Hard Day’s Night” getting to the symphony or did bus delays send Marty McFly fans dreaming of hoverboards? These answers and more are here, using Urban Engines’ space-time engine to create some fun conversation starters with a lighthearted look at what public transit data can tell us about the cultural pulse of San Francisco.
San Francisco Marathon course
Bay to Breakers course
On Your Mark, Get Set... Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have a number of amateur sporting events drawing drawing tens of thousands of participants and spectators. What wreaks more havoc on the city’s public transportation system – the San Francisco Marathon with 25,000 runners who circle the city, or Bay to Breakers with 50,000 runners going right through the city?
Urban Mobility Insights | August 20152
Figure 1: 30-40% higher average delays than a normal weekendTaller bar means longer delays at each stop
Average delay for Muni bus runs from 4 a.m.-2 p.m. during Bay to Breakers and the SF Marathon, compared to a typical weekend between May 23-July 25, 2015
Total delays for Muni bus runs from 4 a.m.-2 p.m. during Bay to Breakers and the SF Marathon, compared to a typical weekend between May 23-July 25, 2015
Average delay at first stop for Muni bus runs from 4 a.m.-2 p.m. during Bay to Breakers and the SF Marathon, compared to a typical weekend between May 23-July 25, 2015
Figure 2: 5 days worth of trip delays during the racesTaller bar means greater delays throughout the bus run
Figure 3: More delays for trips starting during Bay to BreakersTaller bar means longer delays at the first stop on the bus run
A closer look shows that trips starting during Bay to Breakers had slightly higher average delays compared to trips starting during the marathon, indicating there was more traffic during the 100+ year old, 12-kilometer race.
What caused the increase in traffic – more crowds coming to watch the spectacle / cheer on the participants? More unfamiliar detours due to road closures? More public transit riders choosing to drive? (More fear of sitting next to nudists on the bus?) Share your theories with us on Twitter.
In fact, if you add up all the delays in the system during the races, it is more than 5 days worth for just a few hours of fun and excitement!
Both increased average delays on Muni bus trips during the race hours compared to a typical weekend:
Typical weekend Bay to Breakers (17 May 2015)
SF Marathon (26 July 2015)
1.2minutes
1.6minutes
1.7minutes
Typical weekend Bay to Breakers (17 May 2015)
SF Marathon (26 July 2015)
3.4days
5.5days 5.2
days
Typical weekend Bay to Breakers (17 May 2015)
SF Marathon (26 July 2015)
14secs
1minute
45seconds
Urban Mobility Insights | August 20153
Route Name
12 27 30 45 8 8AX 8BX 91
= =
Battle of the GeeksThroughout the year, Moscone Center hosts large tradeshows and events, including two popular developer conferences: Apple WWDC and Google I/O. How do these tech leaders compare when it comes to challenging our transit system?
But on the whole, Google’s delays were smaller. WWDC actually had the higher cumulative delay for 5 of the 8 lines, meaning that when delays occurred during WWDC, they were longer:
At first, it looked like Google I/O had the bigger impact compared to a regular weekday near the Moscone Center, lowering the on-time arrival percentage for routes going through the area.
Figure 4: During Google I/O, on-time performance dropped 6%Taller bar means better on-time performance
Figure 5: Total delays were higher for more routes during WWDCTaller bar means better on-time performance
Google I/O28-29 May
Average weekday WWDC8-12 June
77.48%71.30%
77.70%
On-time percentage for Muni bus runs going through a selected region near Moscone Center on the event dates compared to a typical weekday between April 27-July 27, 2015
Average daily total of all delays for Muni bus runs going through a selected region near Moscone Center on the event dates
Plotting these delays on a map confirmed that there were, in fact, longer delays on the streets during the WWDC morning hour, particularly around the Marina District – perhaps indicating that WWDC attendees prefer to stay close to the two Apple stores in the city?
Figure 6: Higher delays near the Marina District during WWDC
Figure 7: Delays during Google I/O between 8-10 a.m.
Apple store, Chestnut Street
Apple store, Stockton Street
Moscone Center Moscone Center
Urban Mobility Insights | August 20154
Now Playing...In July, the San Francisco Symphony had several pop culture concerts in its lineup, playing popular songs from Back to the Future, James Bond, Star Trek, and the Beatles. We looked at Muni routes during two Saturday performances, and compared the average delays to a typical weekend as a proxy for the fans’ travel experience going to Davies Symphony Hall to enjoy the music of the Beatles or Back to the Future.
Both increased average delays on Muni bus trips during the race hours compared to an average weekend:
Average delay along road segments for Muni routes 47, 5R, 6, 7, 7R, 90, F, K-OWL, L-OWL, T-OWL for a typical weekend between April 27-July 27, 2015, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Figure 8: Average road delays during a typical weekend for bus routes traveling near Davies Symphony Hall
Urban Mobility Insights | August 20155
Interested in analyzing your own movement data to uncover trends and insights?
Contact us at:https://www.urbanengines.com/mobility/contact
175 S. San Antonio Rd. Suite 100 Los Altos, CA 94022
About Urban EnginesUrban Engines improves urban mobility — making it easier to get where you’re going — by using information from the billions of trips that people and vehicles make each day. Our mapping, visualization, reporting, and analytics platform creates actionable insights — for companies, cities, and commuters — from the increasing amounts of movement data generated by the Internet of Moving Things.
On a typical weekend, riders on the 5R experience average delays of 3.5 minutes. But riders going to see the Back to the Future and Beatles concerts actually had smoother trips – especially fans coming from the Richmond.
On the other hand, fans coming from the northeast neighborhoods had unusually long delays. The 47 had higher-than-normal delays on both concert days, especially painful for Beatles fans who experienced up to 13+ minute delays in some segments. Back to the Future concert-goers who had to ride the F to the concert had nearly 7-minute delays.
Did you attend these events, and/or take Muni on these days? How was your travel experience? Let us know on Twitter.
Average delay along road segments for a subset of Muni routes going near Davies Symphony Hall on July 25, 2015
Average delay along road segments for a subset of Muni routes going near Davies Symphony Hall on July 18, 2015
Figure 9: On the day of the Beatles concert, route 47 experienced 13+ minute delays
Figure 10: Fans riding the F line to Back to the Future had nearly 7-minute delays
