Rela%onship between Efficient Means of Transporta%on and Taxi Trips in New York City Luisa Quispe, Ma. Elena Villalobos, Ma. Leonor Zamora

ABSTRACT The boom of Big Data has allowed the analysis of complex urban pa:erns that were unmanageable before. These technologies allow the discovery of improvement opportuni=es in urban planning for more sustainable and be:er ci=es. Taxi trips analysis suggests this opportunity exists for alterna=ve means of transporta=on,

walking

up to 0.5 miles 1 min/block

0.05 miles/min

biking

up to 2 miles 0.25 min/block 0.2 miles/min

taxi sharinng

same distance same =me

be:er use of resources

INTRODUCTION In “the city that never sleeps” New Yorkers have many alterna=ves for their daily transporta=on: MTA Subway system, MTA Bus system, bike rides, taxis or simply walking. In this study we wanted to analyze complex interac=ons of taxi trips. In par=cular, we focused on trips that could have been performed by more efficient means of transporta=on because of their characteris=cs. Would it have been be:er to take the alterna=ve ride? What other elements like weather or demographics could influence the choice of taxi over other op=ons?

CONCLUSION There is strong evidence in taxi trips analysis that suggests that there is poten=al for more efficient means of transporta=on on short distances (less than 2 miles), which represent more than 50% of the total trips. Most of these occur in Manha:an, especially in zones with high income and ages between 25 and 34 years old. There also seems to be opportunity for taxi sharing in trips of all lengths.

REFERENCES MacKay, David J C (2008). Sustainable Energy (First ed.). UIT Cambridge limited. p. 128. NYC Taxi Data Dic=onary – Yellow Taxi Trip Records September 28, 2015 NYC Taxi Data Dic=onary – Green Taxi Trip Records September 28, 2015 American Survey - Metadata by dataset

DATA •  Green and Yellow taxi trips – NYC data •  Demographics – American Community

Survey •  Weather – NYC data JFK sta=on •  Borough and Zip code polygons – OpenGov March 2015 and Semester 1 2015

WHAT is the propor*on? WHERE are they located?

WHO takes them?

walking distance trips

Most short distance trips occur in Midtown Manha:an during weekdays

taxi trips by distance type

There are approximately 13.7 million monthly taxi trips.

COULD it have been be6er?

WHAT is the opportunity? taxi sharing

duration and velocity

Each bubble represents a match in pickup and drop off zip codes for the same hour of the day. The size is the number of trips in that combina=on. Also no=ce that most trips have only one passenger.