Xastol – Visualization

For the data visualization of Healthy Ride Pittsburgh, I wanted to figure out the specifics of the bikes used. I wanted to figure out, “What’s the most popular bike used?”

 

Given the data for Quarter 1 of 2016, I used Excel and D3 to solve this question. Using Excel, and its formulas, I was able to deduce what bike was taken for the most rides. I then divided the data between the two user types: Subscribers and Customers. After creating these two separate files, I totaled the data for each user type and then concatenated it into a final file. Using this final information, I then used the bl.ocks example for Pie Charts and Bar Graphs (http://bl.ocks.org/NPashaP/96447623ef4d342ee09b) to represent the information.

 

After observing the data, I found that the majority of 61 rides, using the most popular bike (Bike ID: 70342), were initiated by customers (36:25 for customer:subscriber). This ratio seems to be applicable to the entire Healthy Ride Pittsburgh system. Additionally, I found that the bike had a lot of minutes on it compared to most bikes. This is primarily because it is the most popular bike. However, this bike also had one of the longest trips accounted for in the entire system (initial Healthy Ride Pittsburgh Q1 2016 Data).

 

From this quantitative data, I then began to question more about the bike:

Does it have the most comfortable seat out of the surrounding bikes? Does it ride the smoothest? Are there certain aesthetic qualities that make it more appealing to most bikes? Is it just by chance that this bike has become the most popular bike and is it actually identical in quality to others?

Only further research of the bike’s physicality can help me answer this question. I hope that one day, if I do find myself using Healthy Ride Pittsburgh, that I’ll come across Bike 70324 and determine for myself if its popularity is based on chance or fact.

 
github link: https://github.com/xapostol/60-212/tree/master/70342%20BIKE%20DATA%20-%20xastol