Picture of Purva PURVA
KAPSHIKAR

she / her

Experience Projects Interests
Picture of Purva PURVA KAPSHIKAR

she / her

Hi!

I'm Purva. I recently graduated from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with a masters degree in urban and regional planning. Prior to that, I studied electrical engineering & computer science and statistics at UC Berkeley.

I'm currently a transportation planner at Fehr & Peers, contributing to diverse projects including traffic operations analyses, travel demand forecasting scenarios, and land use planning to create safe, equitable, sustainable and efficient transportation systems in the Bay Area.

Projects


UCLA

Bay Area transit access and disconnectedness

An analysis of Bay Area residents' travel behavior, assessing the impact of transit network disconnectivity. See paper.

A portion of the map showing Bay Area traffic analysis zones and transit stops.

Carbon analysis

Report estimating CO2 reductions from the California I-880 High-Occupancy Toll Express Lanes, describing methods, assumptions, and key findings. See project.

A model associating average speeds of vehicles with their CO2 emissions

AC Transit real-time info

Combining demographic, ridership, performance, and real-time delay data to determine which bus line would benefit most from real-time info displays. See website.

Two maps showing transit access in the tracts surrounding the AC Transit lines of interest.

Removal of the Embarcadero Freeway

Spatial analysis of how the removal of the Embarcadero Freeway affected land use, open space, active transportation, and transit infrastructure in the area. See paper.

A historical photo of the old Embarcadero Freewayph.

Public transit route evaluation

Analytical memo on the service characteristics of the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus 17 line and potential for improvements. See memo.

A section of the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus 17 line route

Ridehail equity

Policy brief assessing ridehail use before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic and opportunities for integration in a more equitable transportation system. See project.

A bar chart showing ridehail use by demographic characteristics

Fare-free transit

Memo delineating the benefits and costs of unlimited transit access for UCLA undergraduates. See memo, see slides.

A clustered bar chart showing changes in transit agency efficiency indicators after unlimited access was implemented

L.A. Al Fresco Dining Program

Memo urging the dining program be made permanent, with parking requirements converted into parking recommendations. See memo, see slides.

The outdoor dining setup at The Hermosillo, a bar and restaurant in L.A.


The Daily Californian (Data Projects Department: GitHub, Website)

Berkeley rent & legislation

A scrollable timeline that highlights the relationship between Berkeley median rent prices and legislation over the years. See project.

A scrollable timeline overlayed with newspaper clippings

Police stops in Berkeley

An article on disparities in law enforcement, including where and when traffic stops happen and associating outcomes with race and ethnicity. See project.

An interactive map showing locations, types, and times of police stops

Prereq map

A map of prerequisite classes for UC Berkeley departments using D3.js's interactive force-directed graph layout. See code.

A force-directed graph layout connecting classes with their prereqsuites




UC Berkeley

  • A replication of Elizabeth O. Ananat’s “The Wrong Side(s) of the Tracks: The Causal Effects of Racial Segregation on Urban Poverty and Inequality”.
  • A regression analysis of airplane seat reclining opinions and policies.
  • A time series analysis of a stocks dataset.
  • A research paper on the Volkswagen Beetle, considering the influence of visual representation when analyzing how gender interacts with advertising and consumption.
  • A brief vignette on the ethics of data visualizations.
  • A research paper considering how gender, race, nation and health interact with climate change.
  • Interests

  • Puzzles, board games
  • Data journalism
  • Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee
  • Reading, currently:
    • The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power (Deidre Mask)
    • The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams)
  • Houseplants
  • Rubber stamp carving