Diurnal pattern of transit ridership: a case study of the New York City subway system

We study the diurnal pattern of subway ridership in New York City. Our study complements the existing line of research that looks at the dynamics of a place by studying the socio-demographics of its visitor population. It also points out an important omission in ridership research on the time of day dimension. The study results identify five main classes of the diurnal patterns and demonstrate that station ridership’s diurnal pattern is closely related to the local built environment.