Fun Maps: A Day in the Life of the Citi Bike System in 2015

Todd W. Schneider is a software engineer who has been analyzing the New York City’s open data in his spare time, documenting the results on topics as varied as Citi Bike trips, Uber v. Taxi pickups, and non-city oriented topics like the 2016 election. With Citi Bike topping 10 million rides in 2015, Schneider decided to take a deep dive into the transportation system’s open data. One of the most fun maps he’s created in the bunch is an animation of the rides taken on September 16, 2015. The day is random (albeit a weekday) but Schneider uses it to show general trends in Citi Bike usage.

Each blue dot (animated and posted to YouTube above, but you can see the embedded map directly on Schneider’s blog for higher resolution) represents one Citi Bike trip. Light orange dots on the map are Citi Bike stations. He uses all the trips logged, except for the trips in which bikes leave and return to the same station for a total of 47,969 trips, and has to make the assumption that people follow the recommended Google Map instructions.

General trends he notices: commuter trips between outer boroughs to Manhattan peak in the morning, and the reverse is true at the end of the work day. He highlights the most popular roads (again assuming cyclists follow Google Maps) – 8th and 9th Avenue, 1st and 2nd Avenue, Broadway and the West Side greenway.

Schneider also finds that Citi Bike is more heavily used on weekdays, and during weekdays during commute hours. On weekends, afternoons are busier. Check out the full post for more fun analysis on Citi Bike data by gender, temperature, snow cover, and many more factors.

Next, check out our guide to biking in New York City by a bike messenger and Untapped Cities contributor.