Civil Hacking:


Analyzing Bus Routes:
Focusing on the equitable distribution of bus resources across demographics.

April 2021:

Check out our paper in The Journal of Science Policy and Goverance!

Improving Bus Route Design Using Stop Balancing and Community-level Data

J. McKetney, E. Trujillo, M. Tabbutt, B. Baur   doi.org/10.38126/JSPG180109

One of the most interesting and important results from the paper was the analysis of the discrepencies in departure time for work based on race. Seen below is a figure that I made from data obtained from the 2010 US Census for Wisconsin. While most people leave for work at 7am, the distribution of “non 9-5” shifts are skewed to non-white races disporpotionatly from what you would expect based on the race distribution of the state. This skew should be considered when analyzing bus routes for cities as lower off-peak service can affect races differently.

Demographics of Departure Time to Work

February 2021:

The Capital Times writes an article about Data Science in Madison with Tyler Caraza-Harter!

‘Data Science in Madison’ class offers UW students ‘real world’ projects

Abigail Becker | The Capital Times | Feb 15, 2021 | data-science-in-madison

Preview:

  • “’In the classroom we’re giving people data and often the data is clean and easy to work with,’ Caraza-Harter said. ‘Whenever you start working with real data, you find they’re messy.’ Students learn how to work with imperfect data and still extract meaningful conclusions.”
  • “Megan Tabbutt, 28, recommended changes to city bus routes to maximize the benefits of the future Bus Rapid Transit project while minimizing cost and increasing accessibility. Now, Tabbutt is expanding on this topic through research with Catalysts for Science Policy, a group on campus for graduate and postdoctoral students interested in science policy. Tabbutt said the class and paper writing process, in addition to the protests over racial injustice this summer, emphasized the importance of acknowledging where assumptions fail. ‘You’re trying to redo the bus route,’ Tabbutt continued. ‘It’s hard not to re-optimize for you.’”