Visualisation: What 9.5 million Auckland rail trips look like

Opinion

Data blog post and visualisation by Aaron Schiff.

The visualisation works best on desktop and tablets. See the visualisation full screen by clicking here.

After stagnating in the 1990s, patronage on Auckland's rail network has grown rapidly since the opening of Britomart station in 2003. Total trips are up from around 3 million per annum at that time to over 12 million in 2014. This data visualisation shows the aggregate travel patterns created by over 9.5 million rail trips made by passengers using HOP cards between July 2013 and June 2014.

A little over half of these trips (5.4 million) began or ended at Britomart station. The next busiest station is Newmarket with 1.1 million HOP trips beginning or ending there. Waitakere, at the end of the Western line, had the least activity, with around 52,000 HOP trips.

A significant amount of rail travel is not to or from Britomart. On the Western line in particular, it's common for people to make local trips of a few stops, with New Lynn and Henderson being popular local destinations.

Cross-town trips, defined here as involving a change of line, are also more common than you might think. Sylvia Park and Glen Innes stand out among such trips. Trips were recorded between every pair of stations on the network, including 94 trips between Waitakere at the end of the Western line and Pukekohe at the end of the Southern line.