In last week’s talk, “Data Science and Transportation,” data guru Brandon McFadden of the grassroots organization Commuters Take Action discussed how statistics can be used to hold public transit agencies accountable. This discussion, co-sponsored by Chicago Transit Enthusiasts, was held at the Chicago Studies Urban Lounge, 1155 East 60th Street on the University of Chicago campus.
While working as a cybersecurity analyst for American Airlines, Mr. McFadden also serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Young Professionals in Transportation. Since June 2022, he has been publishing the CTA Rail Reliability Tracker. Commuters Take Action (CTAction) uses its reports to: their daily tweets About the percentage of scheduled “L” runs that were actually executed on each circuit on the previous day.
“But just collecting data isn’t all that helpful,” McFadden said during his presentation. “You can have all the data in the world, but if you don’t use it, it’s useless. It just takes up space. So it’s even more important to find ways to make it easier to digest. One way to get it is: “Publicly available information is provided via Twitter bots. Each bot provides the same information in an easy-to-understand format. and how often they are completed on time.”
McFadden then talked about complaints CTAction has heard from riders. Most importantly, he said, there is no reliable train tracking equipment at L stations, resulting in the terrifying “ghost train” phenomenon. “You’ll see a train coming, but the train won’t show up.” McFadden said the CTA still uses the GTFS static schedule, which he said is due to issues such as a lack of employees to staff the execution. You won’t be able to make adjustments if something goes wrong. Third-party tracking apps like the Transit App and Google Maps fall back to scheduled service when real-time data is unavailable. Additionally, buses and trains do not provide tracking data if they are not moving.
Dario Cruz Rodriguez, a Cal State sophomore and co-president of Chicago Transit Enthusiasts, said he was very pleased with the turnout for McFadden’s talk. Usually, only about half of the people who sign up attend events like this, but this time he was expecting around 30 people and 48 people showed up.
Cruz-Rodriguez added, “We wanted to target this event to policy and politics majors, especially data science and computer science majors, and to go beyond that.” “Double majoring is common in Chicago, for example, I double majored in data science and policy. I wanted people to know about it.”
According to Cruz Rodriguez, data science is a very new field and many people still don’t know how to use it. He said emphasizing that to data science majors could perhaps draw them into activist and more politically motivated fields. Alternatively, students in majors more connected to politics might start thinking more about quantitative analysis.
“So that crossover is the biggest draw of this event,” Cruz-Rodriguez said. “But it also teaches students how to interact with cities: the problems they have, what they do well, how to engage, respect our neighbors, and how we Regarding whether safety can be ensured. [advocating for improved] Transportation for everyone. This includes neighbors to the south, neighbors to the north, and neighbors to the west. ”
Attendee Davis Turner is an economics and urban studies major and a board member of the UChicago Transit Enthusiasts. He highly praised McFadden’s presentation. “The CTA definitely needs to improve its governance and transparency, and it needs to publish data more frequently,” Turner said. “They need to improve their own tracking systems and publish that data more frequently. They need to make that data more easily available. They also need to improve their hiring. No matter what we do, it’s not working. We don’t have enough data.” There is a shortage of bus drivers and train drivers, and this is clearly visible. ”
Did you appreciate this post? Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help keep Streetsblog Chicago published through 2025. thank you.
