Processes used by Get on the Bus

The Get on the Bus team reviewed the datasets provided by all the 2020 CivTechSA Datathon partners, but - as can be expected - relied most heavily on the data provided by VIA. The team also reviwed numerous open data sources provided by various agencies. The three biggest sources of external data utilized by the team were VIA (on their open data resources website), the United States Census Bureau - especially the American Community Survey 5-year data analysis issued in 2018, and Bexar County. Information about the data utilized can be found at our data resources page.

Each member of the team performed individual analysis of selected datasets, then the team collectively compared notes and identified areas where the data was sufficient enough to provide insights within the timeframe alloted by the competition. As graduates of the Codeup Data Science program, the team members are all versed in Python. Python libraries used extensively include pandas, numpy, geopandas, matplotlib, geoplot, and seaborn. The team utilized Zoom, Slack, Google, Tableau, and GitHub heavily for collaboration.

As part of the competition, CivTechSA arranged opportunities for the team to meet with employees of VIA and other organizing partners. This enabled the team to share findings and identify areas of interest for VIA. This resulted in the inclusion of information about the Sales Tax referrendum that will be put to the voters of Bexar County in November. During the course of the competition, VIA CEO Jeff Arndt took part in an online webinar presented by the Rivard Report, which also indirectly provided helpful information for the team.

Metrics used by the City of San Antonio include population assessments based on the distributions of residents who are people of color and distribtuon of income. The team used this standard to help inform the decision on which direction to take the presentation.

While the team believes there are many worthwhile leads to follow in the volumes of data available at present, the team chose to focus on a few issues that could be effectively presented in the time alloted for this competition. Members of the team have already expressed an interest in continuing to work with VIA to produce continued actionable insights on an ongoing basis.