Data Crunching the Uberization of New York City

2015-08-12T12:59:00-04:00

The recent debate between Uber and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over whether the ride-for-hire company was exacerbating Manhattan congestion was fueled by incomplete, misleading data. There was no way of knowing exactly where Uber cars and taxis pick up passengers, and so the city agreed to a study of Uber’s effects last month as part of its detente with the company. Now, thanks in part to a Freedom of Information Law request, we have data. A lot of data...

The folks over at FiveThirtyEight processed a nearly-overwhelming amount of data on Uber usage in New York City and got some pretty interesting (if not entirely surprising) results. At the top of the list, their research verifies the ride-share company's claims that their doing a better job in serving the city's Outer Boroughs than traditional cabs. "Of the 4.4 million Uber rides for which the data shows a pickup location, 22 percent started outside of Manhattan, compared with just 14 percent of the 88.4 million yellow and green taxi rides," they note.

Some other findings include:

63% of all Uber rides start in Manhattan south of 59th St. (the most traffic-congested area in the city, as well as the part best-served by the subway).
Uber is particularly well-used in the affluent NW Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale, as well as the NE Queens neighborhoods of Little Neck and College Point, while traditional taxis remain dominant in the regions of Queens closest to Manhattan.
In general, man...

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Data Crunching the Uberization of New York City