Skip to main content

Solution to traffic woes - Game Theory

An old thought gets its due today -

I have wasted numerous potentially productive hours stuck in the pathetic Hyderabad traffic.Traffic congestion, caused by several players trying to achieve a common (?) goal while they make choices that potentially effect the interests of the other players. This is a classic case of game theory problem. Yes, the same theory that John Nash proposed in a bar!
When in a perfect competition, a player must do what is beneficial not just for him but also for the group. Game theory has been applied to politics, wars, marketing and even biology. I think it should even be applied to traffic situations like roundabouts, traffic lights etc. This will lead to a simplified study of what causes these congestions and how to avoid them. Individual players should be forced to make choices that are beneficial to the group.
Having said that, there are two princiapls that are outside the purview of game theory and are imperative for solving traffic issues -
  1. Enforcement - possibly today's traffic rules are an outcome of game theory analysis. But, the enforcement of these riles leaves a lot to be desired.
  2. self discipline - no or minimum enforcement mechanism will be needed if the players (commuters) show some discipline.
Possibly we need to remind everyone of the story of two wise goats we heard when we were kids.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RSS - an answer to the caste discrimination

One of my old post on Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh drew a comment today. It posed a few question about the stand RSS takes on the issues of caste system in our contry. The reader also asked if RSS could be a possible solution. And this, my dear readers in the fuel for this post. Let me put forth some facts about the organisation called RSS right at the beginning. RSS is a social organisation. There is no formal registration and participation is completely voluntary. It is not a political, religious or profit making orgnisation. There are no posts, there are only responsibilities (in fact that what they are called). These facts make it clear that this is a place where entry and exit is pretty easy. There are no costs involved with either. Which means there is no-one who can tell you that he will get you registered with the RSS and do you a favour. RSS is for everyone. In my opinion it is a perfect place where caste ism cannot exist. There are no reservations for a certain community. T...
9 comments
Read more

The oscar for dilemmas

As I was travelling from Goa to Pune in a Bus, I overheard some conversation and could see a lot of dilemma on the face of a fellow passenger. As the story evolved, I could connect with him. Thus it went: They were a couple, he was with his fiance/wife/girlfriend (a non-ma/behen relationship). There was another girl (pretty) who wanted to a lady's seat. She could get it only if this gentleman would give up the company of his travel mate as there were no other female passengers on the bus. I have been through similar situation and have said no and felt guilty about it till the society at large did something equally unjust to me. But this incident in the bus the other day, sparked off some more such dilemmas that I have come across quite often. I thought of having a golden globe of dilemmas; put them on the blog and see which is the most common dilemma. First being the one above, the second dilemma that comes to my mind is of cheating in exams. No No. Me cheating is taboo enough! It ...
2 comments
Read more

A Beginners guide to working from home

I just switched jobs a month ago. Along with other things, my new employer is a huge supporter of working from home. While my previous employer wanted me to be in office for 9 hours 15 minutes (I know, it's a weird number!), now I am pretty much by myself. This is a drastic change in work environment, schedule and methodology. Not just for me, but for my family as well. It has it's merits and demerits though. On the positive side, I save time and money on commute, get freshly cooked lunch, can help my wife with chores and plan my evenings better since I know when I will be home from work(!). On the flip side, there are challenges like being taken for granted, assuming your availability all the time, domestic distractions (kids, food, sleep, guests, salesman, TV etc.), infrastructure issues (electricity, Internet and telephone) and personal lethargy. I badly wanted to overcome the challenges because I began to feel that my productivity while working from home was worse than wh...
6 comments
Read more