Uber Movement website is launched

ROSEBANK – The new website will display the data from billions of Uber trips to allow for research.

October 3, 2017

Laura Pisanello 1 minute read

Uber Movement is a free public website that makes network data from Uber available to city leadership and urban planners.

Uber launched its new website, Uber Movement, in Rosebank on 26 September which will help urban planners, city leaders, third parties and the public to better understand the transportation needs of their cities and how best to invest in new infrastructure.

The three major cities, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane are part of Uber Movement and data has officially been launched and is now available.

Uber Movement shows data from the billions of trips that riders have taken with Uber, aggregated into zones covering the standard boundaries used by urban planners, for example, Census Tracts and Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs). This will enable them to more effectively evaluate where investment in transportation infrastructure should be made in their cities.

Head of public policy Uber South Africa, Yolisa Kani said, “Uber Movement is the next step to connecting further with our cities and having the opportunity to recognise its great transportation needs. With Uber Movement, we are able to further our mission in creating reliable transportation everywhere, for everyone.”

Uber signed an agreement with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in order to share information and experiences with Uber Movement.

“Transport planning is a data-intensive undertaking, and the required datasets tend to be expensive to collect and process. Having a platform that serves as a full-day transport network sensor, would certainly help with the monitoring of some of the pertinent network indicators,” said Dr Mathetha Mokonyama of CSIR.

Over time, Uber will be adding more information, for example, by automatically detecting potholes and utilizing telematics data. Uber said they have worked hard to protect the privacy of riders and drivers, which is why Uber Movement uses only aggregate, anonymous data and cannot be used to access any personally identifiable information.

“We look forward to reaching Uber Movement’s full potential, linking communities to their cities,” concluded Kani.