USA Times Data Desk
The USA Times Data Desk is the newsroom’s data and investigations unit. It collects prices, fees and public records directly from the source, verifies them item by item, and builds the charts and tables behind USA Times investigations. Every figure it publishes is traceable to a named, dated source.
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The NYC Taxi Medallion Lost 93% of Its Value in Five Years. The Debt Didn’t Shrink With It.
A NYC taxi medallion cost $1.3 million in 2014. Today it’s worth about $100,000. We charted the full boom and bust and the debt crisis it left behind.
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NYC Restaurant Health Grades Vary Sharply by Cuisine. Published Research Says Bias Is Part of Why.
NYC restaurants earn an A health grade 76% of the time citywide. We pulled the DOHMH inspection data ourselves and found the rate ranges from 53% (Indian) to 96% (Donuts) by cuisine — and checked what published research says actually explains the gap.
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Esports’ Biggest Prize Pool Ever Hit $40 Million in 2021. Two Years Later It Had Collapsed by 92%.
Dota 2’s The International hit a $40 million prize pool in 2021, the biggest in esports history. Two years later it had collapsed 92%. We charted the full boom and bust, cross-checked across multiple prize-pool trackers.
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NYC Rat Complaints Just Fell Below Pre-Pandemic Levels for the First Time Since the 2021 Surge
NYC rat complaints just fell below their 2020, pre-pandemic level for the first time since the surge began. We pulled the raw 311 data ourselves, checked it against the city’s trash-containerization claims, and broke it down by borough.
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NYC’s Congestion Toll Didn’t Just Cut Uber and Lyft Trips by 6%. It Cut Shared Rides in Half.
The TLC’s own numbers on NYC’s congestion toll look like a wash. A peer-reviewed difference-in-differences study using the same public trip data found total Uber/Lyft trips down 6% — and shared rides down by roughly half.
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The Long Jump World Record Grew by Centimeters for 90 Years. Then One Jump Added Half a Foot, and Physics Still Can’t Fully Explain It.
The men’s long jump world record grew by 1-15 centimeters at a time for 90 years. In 1968 Bob Beamon added 55. We pulled the full record progression, checked the peer-reviewed physics on how much of it was altitude and wind, and found the numbers still don’t fully add up.
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Every Screen on Earth That Can Show The Odyssey in True IMAX 70mm — All 41 of Them
The Odyssey is the first film shot entirely on IMAX 15/70 film, and demand for the 70mm presentation has stunned IMAX. Only 41 screens worldwide can show it in 1.43:1 — here is the complete, verified list.
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Uber and Lyft Now Keep Roughly a Quarter of Every New York Fare — But Not the Way You’ve Heard
New York’s trip-by-trip records show Uber and Lyft’s cut tripled since 2019 to ~23–24%. But the “50–80% take” claim? True on about one ride in thirty — we tested it against 20 million rides.
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New York Makes Apps Confess When an Algorithm Priced You. We Caught DoorDash Disclosing It — and Found the Carve-Out That Shields Uber and Lyft
Since Nov. 10, 2025, New York requires apps to state “this price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.” We found DoorDash disclosing it — and a carve-out that leaves Uber and Lyft ride fares largely untouched.
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New York Says Uber Eats and DoorDash Used ‘Design Tricks’ to Cut Delivery Workers’ Tips by $554 Million
A city report found the two apps buried the tip prompt — and tips cratered to $0.76 a delivery while rivals held at $2.17. It’s the worker-side mirror of the delivery economics we’ve been documenting.