Analysis of NYC CitiBike Trip Data Using Tableau
1️⃣ Overview of the analysis
Citi Bike is the nation's largest bike share program, with 25,000 bikes and over 1,500 stations located throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Jersey City, and Hoboken. Citi Bike is a fun and affordable way to get around town. It was designed with convenience in mind for quick trips. Citi Bike is frequently faster than other modes of transportation (particularly when traveling across town), and it is more convenient than owning a bike. Using Citi Bike instead of taxis can save you a lot of money. A year of Citi Bike is also less expensive than two monthly subway passes.
Kate is a tourist from Des Moines, Iowa, who recently visited New York. During her trip, she mostly used CitiBike to get around New York. She was amazed after the trip that she could save a lot of money on taxis and bus fares by using CitiBike, and that she could get around town without getting stuck in traffic. Her enthusiasm for the service prompted her to meet with an angel investor and try to persuade them that it would be a good idea to launch DesBikes, a service similar to CitiBike for the city of Des Moines.
Before deciding whether to fund the DesBikes project, investors could also learn more about the results of CitiBike in New York.
To gain a better understanding of the company's operations, we will use public data available from CitiBike's website and analyze it with Tableau.
2️⃣ Results
The data received consists of a CSV file for the month of August 2019. This file only contains 2.3 million records with information about the number of rides for the month, the start point, end point and ride duration. It also contains basic demographic data such as gender and age of the person renting the bike. The data does not contain any financial information, so our analysis is going to focus on the operational side of the business as we do not have any financial reports of the incomes and expenses generated by the 2.3 million rides.
Below are the worksheets generated using Tableau.
Worksheet 1: NYC CitiBike Basic Data
It shows that the data received contains 2,344,244 records of individual rides and there were 13,983 bikes in use during the month of August 2019. That is about 6 trips per bike per day.
Worksheet 2: Top Starting Stations
Map of the Stations with more than 10,000 trips in the month of August 2019. Top stations are concentrated in lower Manhattan.
Worksheet 3: Top Starting Stations by Number of Rides
Chart of the top stations. Each of the top 10 stations generated more than 11,500 rides.
Worksheet 4: Trip Duration
Duration per ride. Most rides have a duration of 30 minutes or less.
Worksheet 5: Trip Duration by Gender
Trip duration by Gender. The service is used predominantly by men at an approximate ratio of 3 to 1.
Worksheet 6: Number of Rides per Weekday
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the days with more rides.
Worksheet 7: Heatmap of Trip Time of the Day vs Weekday
There are two peak times during weekdays: from 7 am to 9 am (beginning of workday) and 4 pm to 7 pm (ending of workday).
During weekends the rides are more evenly distributed.
Worksheet 8: Hour of Start Time vs Gender vs Weekday
Men use the service more than women. Both genders ride bikes at about the same time of the day.
Worksheet 9: Heatmap of User Type vs Gender vs Day of the Week
Male suscribers are the main users of the system, followed by female suscribers. The rate of 3:1 is maintained.
Based on the number of 'Unknown' gender, the quality of demographic data among suscribed users is better than the quality of data of 'Customer' users.
Worksheet 10: Top Users by Age and Ride Duration
The 'Top 10' user group, by Ride Duration, ranges from 24 to 34 years. There is a spike of users of 50 years of age that looks odd. The data needs to be cleaned.
Worksheet 11: Summary Worksheet - CitiBike in NYC User Profile
- Gender: Male.
- Age: 24 to 34 years old.
- Rides mostly in the lower Manhattan.
- Based on the peak hours of the service, most riders use CitiBike to get to and from work.
- Rides last less than 30 minutes.
- Each bike is used an
averageof 6 times per day.
3️⃣ Summary
Based on the data, it appears that the CitiBike service in New York City is a successful venture, but can DesBikes succeed in Des Moines, Iowa?
The website BestPlaces.net compares the two cities using census data. The first line of information in the table below grabs our attention right away. Des Moines has a population of 212,312 people, while New York has a population of 8,253,213 people, making New York nearly 40 times larger than Des Moines (the exact figure is 38.9). In New York City, the number of rides per inhabitant is 2,344,244 rides / 8,253,213 inhabitants = 0.284 rides/inhabitant. If the same proportion is applied to Des Moines, the potential market would be 212,312 inhabitants * 0.284 rides/inhabitant = 60,305 rides per month, a far cry from NYC's 2.3 million rides per month.
The comparison of other factors is not conclusive. The median age in Des Moines and New York is very similar, and while the median income in Des Moines is 13% lower, the living costs in New York are much higher, so Des Moines residents are better off in relative terms than New Yorkers. It is worth noting that, according to BestPlaces.net, housing costs in New York are 287.8% higher than in Des Moines.
Data from BestPlaces.net (2022 Compare Cities Overview: Des Moines, IA vs New York, NY)
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The second consideration is geography. Des Moines, as shown in the image below, is much smaller than New York. The average commute time in Des Moines is 18.83 minutes (see table above), while in New York it is 40.78 minutes, so it appears that the city's size and relative fluid traffic in Des Moines make a bike share program less appealing than in New York.
Map of Des Moines superimposed on the map of New York (https://www.size-explorer.com/en/compare/cities/newyork2/desmoines2/)
Conclusion:
| The smaller geographical area of Des Moines in comparison to New York, as well as the shorter commute times, make the idea of investing in a bike share program for Des Moines less appealing. |
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4️⃣ NYC CitiBike Tableau's Story Visualization
The link below will take you to a visualization of the NYC CitiBike service's storyboard created with Tableau.
| (https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/peter.marrett/viz/2022-05-211458NYCCityBikeFinal/NYCCityBikeStory?publish=yes) |
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5️⃣ References
Module 14: Tableau Basics, https://courses.bootcampspot.com/courses/1145/pages/14-dot-0-1-tableau-basics,
Tableau Demo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR5Aiy5umvw
2022 Compare Cities Overview: Des Moines, IA vs New York, NY, https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/des_moines_ia/new_york_ny/overview
Size Explorer: Comparing the size of New York and Des Moines, https://www.size-explorer.com/en/compare/cities/newyork2/desmoines2/