[OC] Where do the bikes go? Mapping the daily pulse of Mexico City’s public bike share

This map answers the question: Where are people mainly riding from, and where are they heading to at different times of day (08:00, 12:00, 18:00)?

How to read it:

• Red dots = bike stations.
• Green arrows point toward where trips tend to start.
• Blue/purple arrows point toward where trips tend to end.
• Longer arrows = stronger tendency. Arrows show directional pull, not exact routes.

The arrows were calculated by creating a grid over the city and measuring the average direction of trips starting or ending near each point. Each bike station acts like an “attractor,” and its influence decreases with distance. By combining all stations’ influences, the arrows show the predominant flow of rides, pointing outward where trips originate and inward where they tend to end.

Patterns: In the morning, rides flow inward from the edges toward the central area. Around midday, most trips circulate within that core. In the evening, the pattern flips: bikes flow outward again toward surrounding neighborhoods.

Code and animation: made with Python + Matplotlib https://gist.github.com/jjsantos01/db20667ef6aa6fb7462179d0e54b9d80