Taxi & Public Transportation Ridership Impact on Policy
Business Use Case:
There are several ways that commuters and tourists can get around the city of Chicago,
including but not limited to CTA (“L” trains and buses), Divvy bikes, rideshare programs like
Uber and Lyft, and taxis. Publicly available data about these different transportation options can
help to inform where CTA could invest in new stations/bus routes (or potentially any stations that
should be closed?), which CTA stops may benefit from more police presence, and which areas
may be more profitable pick-up locations for rideshare drivers. By combining data on traffic
congestion and “L” ridership, we can draw conclusions that can inform operational decisions
made about transportation options available to Chicagoans.
Chicago Transportation (CTA) can use this data to reduce traffic congestion and for that they
need to understand where and when the traffic congestion happens, and if the current available
“L” stops are enough to support the public. If not, CTA would need to analyze potential locations
and if these locations will lessen the traffic congestion.
Additionally, Chicago and NYC can analyze public transportation ridership in Chicago and New
York City by comparing taxi trip data from 2019 and 2023, providing a pre- and post-COVID
perspective. As both cities work to reexamine the pandemic’s impact on urban mobility, they
have implemented subsidies to support taxi drivers and encourage public transportation use. By
examining changes in ridership demand, patterns across regions, and peak travel times, this
analysis will help determine how effectively these subsidies have fostered demand recovery and
supported ridership growth. Insights in this finding will equip city authorities with insights to
adjust subsidy policies, enhance transportation infrastructure, and develop targeted strategies
for improving urban transit.
Chicago and New York have been making efforts to promote public transportation by providing
subsidies to taxi drivers. This project aims to analyze the ridership data of both cities to
understand how transportation demand has recovered post-COVID, how ridership patterns have
changed across different regions, and whether demand is concentrated during specific times or
days. This information will enable city authorities to adjust subsidy policies, make decisions
regarding transportation infrastructure improvements, and develop strategies to optimize
transportation services.
Data sources:
The following data is historical. You can find most recent data as well.
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https://data.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/Taxi-Trips-2019/h4cq-z3dy/about_data
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https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/2019-Yellow-Taxi-Trip-Data/2upfqytp/about_data
https://data.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/Taxi-Trips-2023/e55j-2ewb/about_data
https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/2023-Yellow-Taxi-Trip-Data/4b4ivvec/about_data
https://data.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/CTA-List-of-CTA-Datasets/pnau-cf66
https://data.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/CTA-Ridership-L-Station-Entries-DailyTotals/5neh-572f
https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/chicago-traffic-tracker-historical-congestion-estimatesby-segment-2018-current
https://data.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/Chicago-Traffic-Tracker-HistoricalCongestion-Esti/ef4k-dci7