Sheet 1 shows the total length of rides for users over a 7 day week (1 = Sunday, 7 = Saturday). What struck me as unusual right wasy was the popularity of Monday and the dip for both kinds of users on Friday. I was also surprised that both causal users and members had similar ride lengths over the week.
Sheet 2 shows another interesting finding. There are 3 kinds of bikes that are used by the service: electric, classic, and docked. Docked bikes are electronic by nature, so with that in mind, it seems that percentage-wise, classic bikes are far preferred by members. I felt that there was something to that data, but it wasn't sticking out quite yet.
Enter Sheet 3 with some answers finally.
While looking at ending locations separated by starting stations, I realized 2 giant clusters of the same color. Upon investigation, I realized the 2 colors were 900W Harrison St. to the north and 63rd St. Beach to the south. The clusters were both present in members and in casual users, so I figured this would be a good place to look into potential switches from casual to annual memberships. Upon looking up these two locations, it became very obvious to me why they existed. 900W Harrison St. is on the campus of the University of Chicago, specifically right outside of the subway station for UIC-Halsted. As UIC has a program that allows unlimited rides under 45 minutes with only a $5 membership fee. Being a large campus, it would also explain why so many of the ending locations are also on UIC campus. I would venture a guess that many students take advantage of this program and after leaving the subway station, biking the rest of the way to their class to cut down on commute time.
The data for 63rd St. Beach took me a bit more digging around to figure out. The ending locations were mostly near the lake, which I thought was strange. that location is a public beach, but the specific bike station is next to a basketball court with ample parking. Most of the end points for people starting from this location are along bike trails that follow the lakefront through public parks and beaches. Given that these are far more popular during summer months, I would say that people start here, travel up the coast for leisure and exercise, and then end usually around Hyde park to rest/ eat/ shop.
Sheet 4 was to confirm a hunch I had about casual users versus members. Selecting members shows two pronounced starting times during weekdays, 7-8am and 5pm. This would be when most people are going and coming from work. Weekdays have a more gentle curve over the day, staying consistently middle-high from 11am to 6pm. This is something reflected in the data when switching to casual members, though which curve pattern is more pronounced in flipped. There are little peaks on weekdays at 7-8am and 5-6pm while there's a gentle curve over weekends from 11am to 6pm.
This shows that a substatial amount of casual users are only using the service on the weekends. I would guess for the occational excursion with friends or to bask in nice weather during the months it happens. Members tend to use it for their daily commute, possibly due to benefits at their workplaces letting them use the service for cheap (as they have at UIC). This is reflected when selecting for our two favorite station locations, 900W Harrison and 63rd Beach. Members for 900W are mostly active on weekdays from 7am to 6pm with spikes at both ends of that spectrum while casual members (though mostly active on weekdays) follow the more gentle curve formation. 63rd, not being a major hub for anything outside of tourism and exercise, show more casual users through the week using the service there and the peaks being in the middle of the day.