Uber, the on-demand taxi app embroiled in a national debate about what it means to be an employee, tracked where New Yorkers went out last weekend and revealed the top 15 nightlife destinations riders requested to go to. Putting aside the mild creepiness of the fact that Uber wants to know where you like to party, the data is a peep into the night lives of New Yorkers, and it’s a sordid sight. Turns out, people who take Ubers to go clubbing in New York take them to some of the more questionable clubs in the city.
The number one club on the list—which to reiterate, is a lineup of the clubs that people get their Uber drivers to take them to, not what Uber thinks are the best going out destinations in the city—is Up & Down in the West Village. It’s the kind of place you might bump into Rihanna and Leo in the early hours of the morning; or, if you’re Joey LaBeija, get kicked out of for playing music that’s “too hard.”
Videos by VICE
Marquee—the club whose dancefloor is mainly dedicated to a VIP section and the price of the drinks will leave little in your bank account to pay the return Uber fare home—is number 7, and Lavo, a club in Midtown (that’s all you need to know), is number 2.
Contrary to what you might expect, however, the list isn’t totally dominated by the cultural void of the Meatpacking district—although that might be because all the finance bros are taking private cars. Williamsburg takes numbers 4, 5, 6 and 10 for Brooklyn Bowl, Baby’s All Right, Output, and Freehold respectively. Output—being one of the few clubs in the city explicitly designed for dance music—is legitimately one of the top nightlife hotspots in the city, so it’s no surprise to see it on the list as a lot of clubgoers from across the city flock to it. What was a pleasant surprise, though, was the mention of Greenpoint’s reasonable priced and deftly programmed Good Room, at the number 13 spot. The other three boroughs don’t feature at all.
A couple of decent bars also found their way onto the list. Although snotty and steeply priced, Employees Only makes undeniably killer cocktails, and The Wren is a refreshingly chilled for a bar that’s on Bowery. It does speak volumes, however, that a list of 15 supposed nightspots includes run-of-the-mill bars among the mega clubs.
The riding share has released this kind of data before, but this tranche was published to highlight that while going out in New York is expensive, “at least your ride is more affordable” because Uber dropped its prices by 15% last weekend.
Maybe this data is a good thing, however. Wouldn’t it be cool if Uber released it in real time, though? That way you could see if the banging spot you want to hit up is rammed with über-dorks and change your plans.
More
From VICE
-

Robin Williams (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Images/Getty Images) -

(Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images) -

Seinfeld (Photo by FILES/AFP via Getty Images)
