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A Data Analyst's Blog Is Transforming How New Yorkers See Their City

104 points by muraiki 12y ago

rcarrigan87 12y ago
I'm all for open-sourcing public data. However, the general public has a very crude understanding of causation vs correlation(I certainly struggle with it in areas outside of my expertise). I'm not totally sure how the conclusion of the MTA over-charging people was drawn, but to make that leap from the data is questionable. I would be impressed if government workers thought that hard about fare denominations. The reality is, Joe Blow government worker pulled the fare deposit amounts out of his ass. This isn't big oil or Wall Street... Now you've got citizens up in arms about what was probably just standard gov't laziness. Maybe instead of the incredulous spin, the headline I'd like to see: "Blogger working with MTA, helps riders save $50M." I have to say though, this guy is the man for popularizing no doubt what will become a major trend and push other local gov'ts to open up their data. TLDR; Teach more stats to the children! edit: typo
- Fuzzwah 12y ago
  The MTA charging tactics are obvious when you just look at the default options they present when people top up their cards: Here's the TL;DR: > Three quick options. But wait a minute. One button leaves you with the same $9.45 card, and gives a remainder of $1.95 after just three uses. The next one is even more frustrating: you end up with a $19.95 card, leaving a remainder after 7 uses of $2.45! That’s right, the nickel we were talking about earlier. The last option does not leave you much better off. You’ll get a $40.95 card, which leads to $0.95 on your card after you use 16 rides. So all three buttons presented leave quite a bit of “insufficient fare” on the card. http://iquantny.tumblr.com/post/96700509489/how-memorizing-19-05-can-help-you-outsmart-the http://iquantny.tumblr.com/post/96700509489/how-memorizing-1...
  - rcarrigan87 12y ago
    Hmm, very interesting, thanks for the link! I guess I meant for my point to be somewhat larger, "using public data for good instead of controversy" - or something like that. It's been awhile since I've been to NYC, does bus fare run the same as train fare? Would that throw this off at all?
- cpitman 12y ago
  You are underestimating the capabilities of one of the largest public transportation agencies in the world. Even far smaller agencies have employees dedicated to designing new fare tables, and they are sure to take advantage of their massive databases of ride data while doing so. They are modelling each change to figure out how it may affect the bottom line.
th0ma5 12y ago
You all should be starting something like this in your own town!
- minimaxir 12y ago
  This only works because of the law that makes such data available. I'd be interested in doing something like that for San Francisco but the only really significant data offered is crime data: http://data.sfgov.org http://data.sfgov.org
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    Then maybe considering making a similar law for the jurisdiction you are concerned with -- in California (both statewide and at the local level), laws can be enacted by citizen initiative without any involvement by legislators.
paulannesley 12y ago
> “The skinny data nerd …” Looks like a normally proportioned guy to me.
- iquantny 12y ago
  Yes. I can confirm that I am not skinny. They did not fact check that part.
  - dsjoerg 12y ago
    Maybe skinny data is the opposite of big data? And you are a "skinny data" nerd?
- hnnewguy 12y ago
  >Looks like a normally proportioned guy to me. Skinny by American standards?

104 points by muraiki 12y ago

I'm all for open-sourcing public data. However, the general public has a very crude understanding of causation vs correlation(I certainly struggle with it in areas outside of my expertise). I'm not totally sure how the conclusion of the MTA over-charging people was drawn, but to make that leap from the data is questionable. I would be impressed if government workers thought that hard about fare denominations. The reality is, Joe Blow government worker pulled the fare deposit amounts out of his ass. This isn't big oil or Wall Street... Now you've got citizens up in arms about what was probably just standard gov't laziness. Maybe instead of the incredulous spin, the headline I'd like to see: "Blogger working with MTA, helps riders save $50M." I have to say though, this guy is the man for popularizing no doubt what will become a major trend and push other local gov'ts to open up their data. TLDR; Teach more stats to the children! edit: typo

Fuzzwah 12y ago
The MTA charging tactics are obvious when you just look at the default options they present when people top up their cards: Here's the TL;DR: > Three quick options. But wait a minute. One button leaves you with the same $9.45 card, and gives a remainder of $1.95 after just three uses. The next one is even more frustrating: you end up with a $19.95 card, leaving a remainder after 7 uses of $2.45! That’s right, the nickel we were talking about earlier. The last option does not leave you much better off. You’ll get a $40.95 card, which leads to $0.95 on your card after you use 16 rides. So all three buttons presented leave quite a bit of “insufficient fare” on the card. http://iquantny.tumblr.com/post/96700509489/how-memorizing-19-05-can-help-you-outsmart-the http://iquantny.tumblr.com/post/96700509489/how-memorizing-1...
- rcarrigan87 12y ago
  Hmm, very interesting, thanks for the link! I guess I meant for my point to be somewhat larger, "using public data for good instead of controversy" - or something like that. It's been awhile since I've been to NYC, does bus fare run the same as train fare? Would that throw this off at all?
cpitman 12y ago
You are underestimating the capabilities of one of the largest public transportation agencies in the world. Even far smaller agencies have employees dedicated to designing new fare tables, and they are sure to take advantage of their massive databases of ride data while doing so. They are modelling each change to figure out how it may affect the bottom line.

th0ma5 12y ago

You all should be starting something like this in your own town!

minimaxir 12y ago
This only works because of the law that makes such data available. I'd be interested in doing something like that for San Francisco but the only really significant data offered is crime data: http://data.sfgov.org http://data.sfgov.org
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Then maybe considering making a similar law for the jurisdiction you are concerned with -- in California (both statewide and at the local level), laws can be enacted by citizen initiative without any involvement by legislators.

paulannesley 12y ago

> “The skinny data nerd …” Looks like a normally proportioned guy to me.

iquantny 12y ago
Yes. I can confirm that I am not skinny. They did not fact check that part.
- dsjoerg 12y ago
  Maybe skinny data is the opposite of big data? And you are a "skinny data" nerd?
hnnewguy 12y ago
>Looks like a normally proportioned guy to me. Skinny by American standards?