South Ferry turnstile data

[Keith Wiley]

Why is the South Ferry turnstile data sooooo much heavier than the other stops. Is this people commuting from New Jersey or something?  I don't understand why it's so much heavier than all the commuters coming in from the east.  It seems to be much heavier at all times than other stations in the system.  It totally dominates the turnstile data.

Just curious what's up?  I'd love any speculation on this.

Thanks.

[Aaron Donovan]

Keith, by heavier, do you mean the ridership is higher, or do you mean
that the data takes up more disk space?

According to our 2011 total ridership stats, the South Ferry (1) /
Whitehall St (R) subway complex had 9,073,709 riders, making it the
32nd busiest subway complex out of the 422 in the system.
http://mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_sub_annual.htm

The complex is made more busy with commuters using the Staten Island
Ferry. The station replaces an earlier station with a curved platform
that could accommodate just the first five cars of (1) trains and did
not offer a free transfer to the (R). With these capital
improvements, the station has experienced an increase in ridership in
recent years.

-Aaron

[Keith Wiley]

Yeah, I was just observing that the turnstile counts were incredibly high relative to other stations.  I assumed it was just really "heavy" commute traffic, but I was a little surprised that it completely overshadows the eastward traffic, but I guess the reason is that the eastward traffic is distributed across numerous stations while the south ferry is a funnel for traffic from the south, so on a per-station basis it dominates the turnstile counts.

Thanks.

[Keith Wiley]

If I may continue to explore this idea briefly, I can understand why the South Ferry station would have so much morning entry traffic (the turnstile data distinguishes entries from exits).  As you said, commuters living on Staten Island and in other southerly regions would use this station to commute into Manhattan.  However, I don't understand why the station has so much *entry* traffic in the *evening*.  Where are these people going?  They aren't getting on the ferry to go home to the south, that would be exits.

Any ideas why such a enormous number of people enter the South Ferry station in the evening?

[Michael B. Justice]

The ferries from Staten Island are far from empty in the evening.  All of those second-shift employees, nightlife seekers, and tourists are heading to destinations other than Lower Manhattan when they arrive at the Whitehall terminal.

MJ

[Aaron Donovan]

Michael, true, but Keith is correct to say that folks leaving
Manhattan via the ferry in the evenings would not register as swiping
into the South Ferry subway station. Keith, can you post some sample
data and some from comparison stations?

On May 8, 4:43 pm, "Michael B. Justice" <michael.b.just...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Michael Justice]

I don't think you understand my response (or maybe I didn't make my case clear):

Keith's query was as follows:

"However, I don't understand why the station has so much *entry* traffic in the *evening*.  Where are these people going?  They aren't getting on the ferry to go home to the south, that would be exits.

Any ideas why such a enormous number of people enter the South Ferry station in the evening?"

There is a "second wave" of passengers coming from Staten Island during the evening rush.  Enough to where it could account for the "heavy" turnstile data.  You don't have to take my word for it -- stand outside the Ferry Terminal at 5:00 on a weekday, particularly at the end of the week -- you'll see them in a timed pattern that matches the arrival of boats from St. George.

[Keith Wiley]

I've generated some very impressive data visualization from the NY MTA data.  Unfortunatley, at the current time, my employer hasn't decided whether to make that products of my data processing public or whether to fold it into a project of some sort.  I can't publish my current work until I sort out this issue.  I wish I could.  I'll try as hard as possible to get approval.  I would really love to show off my work.

Cheers!

[Aaron Donovan]

Michael,

Yes, I misunderstood in that I thought you were talking about people
making evening southbound trips on the Ferry, not northbound. Keith,
Michael's probably got the answer.

-Aaron