Data link roundup (week of March 15, 2013)

The week's top data analysis links...

This week's theme: transportation!


PASSENGER RAIL RIDERSHIP

Passenger rail ridership is growing faster than any other mode of travel. "Amtrak ridership grew by 55 percent since 1997, faster than other major travel modes, and now carries over 31 million riders annually," according to a new report released by Brookings. Ridership is concentrated in the northeast and western corridors, and 90 percent of Amtrak's ridership is generated by major metropolitan areas.

Brookings' interactive map has more details.

Source: Brookings

MYTH OF THE COMMUTING CRIMINAL

A new planning text, Crime and Planning, suggests that transit stations are not nearly as crime-prone as people fear.

FLYING THE FRIENDLY SKIES (for a price)

While airline fares have increased in recent years, they are still far lower, in inflation-adjusted terms, than they were three decades ago.

Source: Washington Post

BEST CHART MAP OF THE WEEK

On any given day there may be more than 19,000 flights over the United States. Aaron Koblin turns FAA data into a visualization of a day's air traffic patterns...