As the year draws to a close, the final days of December traditionally provide a time for us to look back and reflect on choices made (or not made) and to dream about what could be for the year to come. Sometimes this self-reflection results in interesting insight, sometimes not. And so it is with cautious interest that we look at data published by ride-hailing company Lyft showing that the Mission's Tacolicious was the number one restaurant destination in the entire country for the company's riders. Wait, really?
The data, which was broken down both nationally and by city, demonstrates that Lyft riders really, really like tacos made for white people. But what, besides that somewhat unsurprising tidbit, can we glean from the data? Let's dive deep.
Lyft broke down its most popular San Francisco destinations by category: most visited restaurant (Tacolicious), most visited bar (Zeitgeist), most visited event space (AT&T Park), most visited transit stop (San Francisco Caltrain Station), most dropped-off workplace (Airbnb Office), and lastly, the top-searched destination (Haight-Ashbury).
What this information says about Lyft riders themselves is open to interpretation (please interpret away in the comment section), but it is what it says about the once-tough biker bar Zeitgeist that is perhaps the most interesting. Namely, that the beer garden nominally known for its mean bartenders and banning cameras has become the number one drinking destination for people who can't be bothered to ride Muni, let alone a motorcycle.
(That the bar now has something in common with Tacolicious and the offices of Airbnb is perhaps a claim to fame it wishes it could shrug off.)
As to the fact that the number one workplace drop-off for Lyft in 2015 was the offices of Airbnb, a company that has been repeatedly accused of contributing to the housing crisis? That information will come as no surprise to at least one tagger.
Lyft Billboard Hit With Anti-Gentrification Message In San Francisco #technews https://t.co/U7U2eOqksd pic.twitter.com/jYq7eQZiqj
— Noblues Reviews (@ifitfeelsnice) December 29, 2015
Related: Airbnb Is Now Selling 'Handcrafted' Tours Of The Mission