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How prostitution and alcohol make Uber better

256 points by andrewljohnson 15y ago

0x12 15y ago
These guys have looked very hard at the okcupid postings. Interesting stuff, but it doesn't really show how prostitution and alcohol ended up making uber better in some tangible way. Only that there were some interesting correlations.
- johnrob 15y ago
  Uber is able to decrease the average wait time by strategically placing cars wherever alcohol and prostitution are prevalent, thus making the service better.
  - neilc 15y ago
    They imply that looking at crime data reduces average wait time, but they don't actually present any data to show that this is the case, or to quantify how much better their demand prediction model can do when given access to the crime data.
  - 0x12 15y ago
    That would require a 'before' and 'after' with some numbers that prove that they've managed to decrease the wait time in a statistically significant manner.
    - johnrob 15y ago
      Agreed, there could be more direct evidence. They are assuming that this correlation will hold true in most cities. Perhaps a less contested statement would be: "How Uber makes prostitution and alcohol better"...
  - biot 15y ago
    If they had alcohol and prostitution inside the cars they could increase the ride length. Or something... I think that came out sounding wrong.
networkjester 15y ago
Fun read; thanks for posting!
goo 15y ago
This is such a great look into data-- I've long felt that consumer companies like Uber (and Google and Apple and so on...) have the strongest ability to explore the fabric of today's culture through their data, and it's sweet to see that Uber has opened up some of that understanding to the public.
nhashem 15y ago
Am I missing something here? The article basically uses crime as a proxy for "social population density." I'm pretty sure you could also use "restaurant reservations" as a similar proxy, but then I guess you wouldn't get to use words like 'prostitution' in the title of your blog post. Then, Uber cab riders go to these areas that are densely social. I'm guessing they probably take other modes of transportation too. Then, something about certain crimes being more prevalent on certain days of the week, with some pretty huge leaps of faiths made in the reasoning and no actual testable data to back it up. I don't like to post too often on HN if I'm just going to stand there and drink some haterade, but this just seemed like such a sad attempt to put together something for pageviews that I couldn't help myself.
- lucasjake 15y ago
  I think the post was a decent attempt to do something similar to OKcupid's insightful blogs. The difference is that okcupid had data in their database that is deep, and the team has a bunch of MIT math guys, if I recall correctly. I'm not sure about Uber, but I'm guessing to write this post they had to go out looking for this information, rather than infer it from their primary data. Still a decent post, but realize the objective here was to market Uber, and the rest makes sense.
- joelhaasnoot 15y ago
  The whole article comes across very "nerdy and scientific" but indeed isn't at all. Just the difference between correlation and dependence are already something they should look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_and_dependence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_and_dependence
  - pork 15y ago
    That's because one of the side-effects of big data is the new definition "data scientist" = Ph.D. <graduate|dropout> in any field, no matter how unrelated to statistics or data mining.
  - seldo 15y ago
    To be fair, they were pretty clear that their data was a correlation, not a causation. But the stuff about prostitution on second Wednesdays is pretty crazily unsubstantiated, and controversial.
andrewcooke 15y ago
interesting, but wasn't there an article posted here in the last 24 hours on being too familiar? maybe they should read that. it was a pretty tiring read.
ataranto 15y ago
tl;dr: people take uber to and from bars. that's it. not sure why that took so many paragraphs and images.
pge 15y ago
Fun data, but one question - there is an implicit assumption that prostitution arrests are proportional to the committing of the crimes. I wonder if weekdays show more prostitution because the cops are busy with other crimes on weekend nights?
- tansey 15y ago
  That was the same question I had. It seems that CrimeSpotting measures police reports, which are skewed toward whatever crime the police are cracking down on.
- shashashasha 15y ago
  A fun anecdote from the Oakland Crimespotting data was that every couple weeks the cops would just do a "sweep" of San Pablo or other major streets for prostitutes, just start at one end then go to the other. I think Wednesdays are more a mark of police patterns than prostitute / john patterns.
  - windsurfer 15y ago
    Interesting theory! Do they have more crimes to deal with on the first Wednesday of every month? Is that why they aren't "sweeping"?
- biafra 15y ago
  Why is prostitution a crime in the US?
  - ovi256 15y ago
    That question and its history would need many pages to be properly explained. I'll just say that a country that looks very similar to yours can do some things in a surprisingly different manner.
civilian 15y ago
Here's a theory: They're only tracking the prostitution that is caught. (That's how crime data works, right?) Wednesday is close enough to the weekend for prostitutes to work, but there's not too many people around. On thursday/friday/saturday there are hoards of partiers & other night life so they can blend in and find johns easily. But on Wednesday they're more likely to be caught.
- qw 15y ago
  It's an interesting theory, but it doesn't explain why the second Wednesday has more prostitution. And following your theory, I would think that those Wednesdays have more people around because they have more money to spend.
jbigelow76 15y ago
Link title is too narrow in scope; prostitution and alcohol make everything better.
fomojola 15y ago
Very interesting. I wish they'd factor in gender: are they guys ordering or are the girls ordering?
MBlume 15y ago
"So before you go running off screaming about how the welfare state is subsidizing sexy times for retirees, chill out and keep that in mind." As subsidies go, this one seems pretty obviously positive...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
nhangen 15y ago
I was turned off by the style of the author's writing, and couldn't get past the "shut up" line. This post didn't match my feelings of the product at all. All in all, very strange.

256 points by andrewljohnson 15y ago

0x12 15y ago

These guys have looked very hard at the okcupid postings. Interesting stuff, but it doesn't really show how prostitution and alcohol ended up making uber better in some tangible way. Only that there were some interesting correlations.

johnrob 15y ago
Uber is able to decrease the average wait time by strategically placing cars wherever alcohol and prostitution are prevalent, thus making the service better.
- neilc 15y ago
  They imply that looking at crime data reduces average wait time, but they don't actually present any data to show that this is the case, or to quantify how much better their demand prediction model can do when given access to the crime data.
- 0x12 15y ago
  That would require a 'before' and 'after' with some numbers that prove that they've managed to decrease the wait time in a statistically significant manner.
  - johnrob 15y ago
    Agreed, there could be more direct evidence. They are assuming that this correlation will hold true in most cities. Perhaps a less contested statement would be: "How Uber makes prostitution and alcohol better"...
- biot 15y ago
  If they had alcohol and prostitution inside the cars they could increase the ride length. Or something... I think that came out sounding wrong.

networkjester 15y ago

Fun read; thanks for posting!

goo 15y ago

This is such a great look into data-- I've long felt that consumer companies like Uber (and Google and Apple and so on...) have the strongest ability to explore the fabric of today's culture through their data, and it's sweet to see that Uber has opened up some of that understanding to the public.

nhashem 15y ago

Am I missing something here? The article basically uses crime as a proxy for "social population density." I'm pretty sure you could also use "restaurant reservations" as a similar proxy, but then I guess you wouldn't get to use words like 'prostitution' in the title of your blog post. Then, Uber cab riders go to these areas that are densely social. I'm guessing they probably take other modes of transportation too. Then, something about certain crimes being more prevalent on certain days of the week, with some pretty huge leaps of faiths made in the reasoning and no actual testable data to back it up. I don't like to post too often on HN if I'm just going to stand there and drink some haterade, but this just seemed like such a sad attempt to put together something for pageviews that I couldn't help myself.

lucasjake 15y ago
I think the post was a decent attempt to do something similar to OKcupid's insightful blogs. The difference is that okcupid had data in their database that is deep, and the team has a bunch of MIT math guys, if I recall correctly. I'm not sure about Uber, but I'm guessing to write this post they had to go out looking for this information, rather than infer it from their primary data. Still a decent post, but realize the objective here was to market Uber, and the rest makes sense.
joelhaasnoot 15y ago
The whole article comes across very "nerdy and scientific" but indeed isn't at all. Just the difference between correlation and dependence are already something they should look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_and_dependence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_and_dependence
- pork 15y ago
  That's because one of the side-effects of big data is the new definition "data scientist" = Ph.D. <graduate|dropout> in any field, no matter how unrelated to statistics or data mining.
- seldo 15y ago
  To be fair, they were pretty clear that their data was a correlation, not a causation. But the stuff about prostitution on second Wednesdays is pretty crazily unsubstantiated, and controversial.

andrewcooke 15y ago

interesting, but wasn't there an article posted here in the last 24 hours on being too familiar? maybe they should read that. it was a pretty tiring read.

ataranto 15y ago

tl;dr: people take uber to and from bars. that's it. not sure why that took so many paragraphs and images.

pge 15y ago

Fun data, but one question - there is an implicit assumption that prostitution arrests are proportional to the committing of the crimes. I wonder if weekdays show more prostitution because the cops are busy with other crimes on weekend nights?

tansey 15y ago
That was the same question I had. It seems that CrimeSpotting measures police reports, which are skewed toward whatever crime the police are cracking down on.
shashashasha 15y ago
A fun anecdote from the Oakland Crimespotting data was that every couple weeks the cops would just do a "sweep" of San Pablo or other major streets for prostitutes, just start at one end then go to the other. I think Wednesdays are more a mark of police patterns than prostitute / john patterns.
- windsurfer 15y ago
  Interesting theory! Do they have more crimes to deal with on the first Wednesday of every month? Is that why they aren't "sweeping"?
biafra 15y ago
Why is prostitution a crime in the US?
- ovi256 15y ago
  That question and its history would need many pages to be properly explained. I'll just say that a country that looks very similar to yours can do some things in a surprisingly different manner.

civilian 15y ago

Here's a theory: They're only tracking the prostitution that is caught. (That's how crime data works, right?) Wednesday is close enough to the weekend for prostitutes to work, but there's not too many people around. On thursday/friday/saturday there are hoards of partiers & other night life so they can blend in and find johns easily. But on Wednesday they're more likely to be caught.

qw 15y ago
It's an interesting theory, but it doesn't explain why the second Wednesday has more prostitution. And following your theory, I would think that those Wednesdays have more people around because they have more money to spend.

jbigelow76 15y ago

Link title is too narrow in scope; prostitution and alcohol make everything better.

fomojola 15y ago

Very interesting. I wish they'd factor in gender: are they guys ordering or are the girls ordering?

MBlume 15y ago

"So before you go running off screaming about how the welfare state is subsidizing sexy times for retirees, chill out and keep that in mind." As subsidies go, this one seems pretty obviously positive...

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

nhangen 15y ago

I was turned off by the style of the author's writing, and couldn't get past the "shut up" line. This post didn't match my feelings of the product at all. All in all, very strange.