Mixed-Effects Modeling of NYC Subway Ridership Using MTA and Weather Data

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Curtis, Zoe, Haines, Jake
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Curtis, Zoe
Haines, Jake
author_facet Curtis, Zoe
Haines, Jake
contents This study investigates monthly trends in New York City subway ridership throughout 2023 by integrating Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) origin-destination data with weather data from Weather Underground. Using a longitudinal mixed-effects modeling framework, we assess how origin borough, seasonal variation, and weather, particularly maximum gust speed, influence average monthly ridership. The dataset was processed using an automated ETL pipeline built with Apache Airflow and PostgreSQL to handle over 115 million records. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce multicollinearity among weather covariates. Our findings indicate that origin borough, especially Manhattan, plays a dominant role in ridership levels, while maximum gust speed significantly reduces ridership, primarily for trips originating in Manhattan. Further analysis reveals that December's ridership drop is largely explained by gust speed, suggesting wind-related confounding. These results underscore the nuanced impact of borough-specific and weather-related factors on public transit use, offering insight into commuter behavior and resilience of subway systems to environmental conditions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_02990
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mixed-Effects Modeling of NYC Subway Ridership Using MTA and Weather Data
Curtis, Zoe
Haines, Jake
Applications
This study investigates monthly trends in New York City subway ridership throughout 2023 by integrating Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) origin-destination data with weather data from Weather Underground. Using a longitudinal mixed-effects modeling framework, we assess how origin borough, seasonal variation, and weather, particularly maximum gust speed, influence average monthly ridership. The dataset was processed using an automated ETL pipeline built with Apache Airflow and PostgreSQL to handle over 115 million records. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce multicollinearity among weather covariates. Our findings indicate that origin borough, especially Manhattan, plays a dominant role in ridership levels, while maximum gust speed significantly reduces ridership, primarily for trips originating in Manhattan. Further analysis reveals that December's ridership drop is largely explained by gust speed, suggesting wind-related confounding. These results underscore the nuanced impact of borough-specific and weather-related factors on public transit use, offering insight into commuter behavior and resilience of subway systems to environmental conditions.
title Mixed-Effects Modeling of NYC Subway Ridership Using MTA and Weather Data
topic Applications
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.02990