Today, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) unveiled a new interactive Data Hub that allows the public to visualize and understand the data the TLC collects about taxis and app-based services with the click of a button. The Data Hub creates a user-friendly tool that anyone can use to identify transportation trends in New York City.
Data Hub users will be able to break out the data further at the neighborhood level – whether that’s Union Square in Manhattan, St. George in Staten Island, Saint Albans in Queens, or Hunts Point in Bronx. There are two video tutorials to help the public get the most out of the app.
The TLC is a worldwide leader in data it collects about the industries it regulates. The agency uses these data to develop innovative policies to fight congestion, ensure app-based drivers earn a fair living, combat dangerous fatigued driving, and ensure accessible service for people with disabilities.
The TLC has long made an aggregated version of these data available to the public via NYC’s Open Data Portal. These data are extremely popular among researchers, businesses, planners and journalists. The new Data Hub democratizes access to these data by allowing anyone to visualize and analyze them with a simple point-and-click, menu-driven approach.
“New York City is a worldwide leader in data collection for taxis and app-based services which they have used to develop and implement key policy solutions to keep our streets less congested and protect drivers,” said Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin. “This new Data Hub increases transparency and gives access to a wealth of metrics on how New Yorkers get around.”
“TLC’s new Data Hub will bring TLC data to life for everyone who wants to better understand how New Yorkers get around,” said Acting Commissioner Bill Heinzen. “Whether you are a student, an entrepreneur, an advocate, or a policymaker, users can customize what information they want to see about forhire transportation by area, date, and by industry sector.”
Using the Data Hub, you could discover the following trends between Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2018:
- Trips in all TLC-licensed vehicles went up 11%, an increase of
more than 2.9 million trips. - Shared trips citywide went up 39%.
- Northern Crown Heights had the greatest number of shared trips, at
almost 120,000 in Dec. 2018, followed by Bushwick South, the East
Village, Stuyvesant Heights, and Bedford (in Brooklyn).
The data hub also features an industry metrics section, where users can quickly look up the number of:
- Yellow taxis;
- Green taxis;
- Vehicles dispatched by HV FHV bases (Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno/Gett);
- traditional black cars and livery cars;
- luxury limousines;
- shared app trips.
The industry metrics’ section helps users quickly build colorful, customizable graphics to illustrate trends, such as average trips per day each month, and average trips per year.
The Data Hub also includes a data bank, where you can visualize and interact with a range of data sets, such as unique vehicles, pick-ups, and drop-offs.
The hub was created under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Rodney Stiles by TLC’s Data Analytics Manager Fausto Lopez and Policy Analyst Nikita Voevodin.
About the TLC
Created in 1971, the TLC licenses and regulates taxicabs, for-hire vehicles, commuter vans, and paratransit vehicles. Its board consists of nine members, including eight unsalaried Commissioners. The Chair / Commissioner presides over regular public commission meetings and heads the agency, which has a staff of about 600 employees.
TLC-licensed drivers complete over 1,000,000 trips a day. To drive professionally in New York City, licensees undergo a rigorous background check, must have a safe driving record, and complete 24 hours of driver education. TLC-licensed vehicles are inspected for safety and emission standards at the agency’s Woodside Inspection Facility.