Taxi Shift-Change Hackathon: Event Recap

The NYU Rudin Center joined forces with NYC's Taxi and Limousine Commission to help resolve the taxi shift-change issue- when taxis are unavailable between 4 and 6 p.m. due to driver handoffs of vehicles. The hackathon took place on April 11 at the Rudin Center, under the sponsorship and technical guidance of Google.

Data scientists, civic hackers, graphic designers, analysts, government policymakers, and statistics hobbyists gathered to discover solutions to the taxi gap, which is estimated to miss out on about 11,000 rides daily.

We'll post some of the solutions soon (the hackers are still hacking!), but in the meantime, here are some pics of the event:

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NYC TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi kicked off the event, sharing the challenges and concerns of her agency; NYU Rudin Center Director Mitchell L. Moss discussed the importance of taxis to mobility in NYC; NYC TLC Director of Research and Evaluation Rodney Stiles presented the event-related data and the shift-change issue specifics.

The 40 hackers plugged away all day long, sharing results along the way.

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Participants were treated to a Q&A with current taxi drivers, who added the on-the-ground perspective to this work.

[caption id="attachment_2237" align="aligncenter" width="474"]NYC taxi drivers respond to participant questions at the NYC TLC Shift-Change Hackathon on April 11, 2015. NYC taxi drivers respond to participant questions at the NYC TLC Shift-Change Hackathon on April 11, 2015.[/caption]

 

The NYU Rudin Center is thrilled to have hosted this first event of its kind. We hope that in the future we can help connect the public sector with smart, thoughtful individuals to work toward  solutions for civic issues.

Thanks to our participants, the NYC TLC and Google.