The document details a mid-project presentation on a BART ridership visualization by a group of students, focusing on understanding BART traffic flows from 2006 to the present. It includes design strategies, mockups for interactive features, and an evaluation strategy aimed at transit planners and general public users. Challenges such as layout aesthetics and data complexity are also addressed, with a goal to create an intuitive and informative user experience.

1. BART Ridership
Visualization
Group 13: Kayu Chen, Shubham Goel, Robyn Perry
Mid Project Presentation

2. Motivation: Why Are We Doing This?
● visualization suited to complex urban systems
& data
● we’re curious about BART traffic flows & use
over time

3. Goals
answer our own curiosities
○ has ridership changed over the time period (2006-present) for particular routes (ie
increase from West Oakland due to more commuters to SF)?
○ just how frequented is BART?
allow exploration
○ compare passenger flows from each station AND over time
use the other super interesting data we have
○ BART trivia!

4. Available Data
Monthly ridership data from 2006-2014 Data from 2008 Station Profile Survey about
each station (income, gender, reason for travel,
traveling with children, etc.)

5. Design Strategy
● EDA in Tableau
● design aesthetic based on BART colors
● simple/minimalistic design
● route map abstracted, geometric shapes
● web-based, should fit most of the
content onto a single screen to avoid
scrolling
● exploratory actions should be intuitive
(minimal instruction)

6. Mockups (default map)
● selector changes dataset being
used
● time change function (slider or
brushing)
● emphasizes transbay travel
(showing water)

7. Mockups (station selected)
● station names appear on hover
● on click, map generates ridership
flows from source station in red
lines of varying thickness for
specific time period
● inspired (partly) by Minard’s
Napoleon’s March viz

8. Mockups (small multiples)
● small multiples show top 12-15
most interesting stations
● graphs dynamically change
depending on selected year
● presents a view over time of
specific stations

9. Mockups (potential layouts)
Larger small multiples, map fully fills space. This view makes the multiples smaller, and
allows more open space. Center will have
options/legend.

10. Overall Layout (default)
Current layout:
● map on left
● small multiples,
trivia, summary on
right.
● center for switching
datasets and key
● Trivia/small
multiples
dynamically change

11. Overall Layout (station selected)
Example:
Click Balboa Park &
weekday.
You see passengers travel
towards and exit in downtown
SF.
The trivia box populated with
in-depth info about Balboa
Park passengers (income,
gender, mode of accessing
BART, etc).

12. Current Layout (overlay)
Long view: total ridership data
from 1973 to present.
Possibility: click on 'total
ridership' for an overlay
showing change in total
ridership since inception.
Could instead do static graph
below the route map.

13. Demo time!
http://cl.ly/VFzv

14. Evaluation Strategy
● audience
○ transit planners analyzing current use
○ general public/BART riders
● revisions after discussing with Raymon
○ instead of using discrete bins for scaling ridership, scaled using range of pixel thickness
for lines
○ trivia into one box, instead of extraneous charts/graphs at the bottom
● asking friends/family who use BART to test it, and reaching out to
contacts in BART organization to assess usefulness

15. Work So Far
● extensive mockups that showcase layout, color theme, aesthetic
elements, overall mood/theme
● interactive/dynamic features we want to implement
a. selecting stations and seeing ridership from it
b. dynamically changing small multiples based on time
c. dynamically changing trivia based on station
d. change dataset from weekday to weekend
● map prototype using D3
● small multiples using sample data in D3
● basic layout in HTML/CSS
● mappings in order to implement graph traversal
● EDA in Tableau with station trivia to find insights

16. Issues to Consider
● layout/design aesthetics: cluttered? intuitive?
● overall ridership overlay: useful or arbitrary?
● small multiples - 15 too many? 3 x 5 grid or 5 x 3 grid?
● West Dublin/Pleasanton station ignored (opened in 2011)
● SFO station is tricky to implement, b/c riders at San Bruno can either go
San Bruno -> SFO -> Millbrae OR San Bruno -> Millbrae, which would
create a loop in our direction flow
○ Pretending you can’t get to MB from SFO (only runs weekday evenings/weekends, so not
missing much)
● time selection: slider or brushing feature using small multiples?