annotated line graph from Uber

Oct 31

With the email that hit my inbox earlier this afternoon, Uber has impressed me twice in the past week. The first time was in response to a simple comment that accompanied my '3' numerical rating (the lowest I've ever given): "With the world series game today, should have avoided stadium area." I had an email in my inbox from Uber's customer service within the hour agreeing that was a silly route given the Giants' game and reducing the price to what it would have been without the crazy traffic. Amazing.

And now they've done it again, this time via effective data viz. The annotated line graph below shows expected Uber demand over the course of the evening and into the wee hours of morning. This is one of those rare cases where they can get away without showing the y-axis values at all, since the relative peaks and valleys are more interesting (and meaningful) than the absolute numbers.

Nice job Uber. Though I must say this makes me happy to report that kiddie Halloween in my neighborhood is on foot, so no need to even think about surge-pricing here!

Speaking of which, I find it impossible to publish a post on Halloween without couple pics of my superhero family.