Price of Anarchy in Traffic Systems

I came across an interesting article on the Price of Anarchy in transportation/traffic design.

http://www.informationpress.net/Environment/the-price-of-anarchy.html

The article discusses how drivers generally make decisions based upon what route/driving stratagy is going to bennefit them the most. Unfortunatly, this attitude is what leaves to traffic...the price of anarchy.

Resurch has shown that by limiting the number of choices a driver has the less traffic occurs. A great example of this is occured in Korea a few years ago where a 6 lane highway was converted into a public park--while one would think that having less paths for cars to take would increase traffic, it was actually the opposite. This was determined to be because when it was easy to drive to work everyone did so, however when a super highway was no longer availibul mass transportation became a better option so the number of cars driving was reduced and traffic decreased as well.

I think that this effect can really be seen in LA. I spent winter quarter living just outside the city and it was by far the worst traffic conditions I have ever seen. Even though most of the highways are 6 lanes wide traffic would come to a standstill every day. This is due to the fact that LA's Mass transit system is very poor so everyone drives. By this articles reasoning, by improving the mass transit system in LA and reducing size of the highways traffic flow could be greatly improved

Does the mass transit system get clogged though? I'm from Long Island and traffic to the city is horrendous, not to mention our trains and subways are really overcrowded and its hard as heck to find a parking spot at a train station. The trains and subways however, I think are in fine condition and don't see a way for them to be improved that much. So what to do? I guess forgo that nice salaried job in the city//

An interesting thought though. And one that leads to a greener environment I'm sure--maybe an incentive for cities like Chicago who is greening their city to be an Olympic prospect...

I wonder what that means traffic will be like if we ever get flying cars. Will this hold true like in Back to the Future where cars fly in specific routes and traffic is still a problem, or will each person find their own way and get there faster?

A better question in Seoul is not whether or not traffic decreased, but what became of the average commute time. Sometimes driving in traffic beats public transportation, sometimes not. I think the main point for comparison should be how fast you get there, though.

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12202559
An article from The Economist explores the same story about reducing traffic by closing down roads. The article also mentions how having multiple routes will eventually create a Nash equilibrium. The researchers in this article looked at traffic routes in Boston, London, and New York. The paradox that "adding extra capacity to a network can reduce its overall efficiency" is called the Braess paradox. The article concludes by saying that closing certain streets did reduce the price of anarchy.

This article calls into question the analysis on games we have done in class.

"Perhaps the most poignant aspect of anarchy on the roads is that people will act selfishly, even when presented with evidence that their decisions may not guarantee the best outcome."

It seems like this is more than just the price of anarchy. People aren't just hurting society as a whole with their decisions, they are hurting themselves directly. In the case of Korea, people initially used the highway when public transit would have been a little better. Rationally, some people should take public transit to work but continue to drive. But with the park in place and no highway, mass transit is not only the better option, it becomes much better, so people use it. This shows the in games, we should not only factor in outcomes in calculating what people do, but what they are used to. To get people to take the mass transit to work, it takes a push like converting a highway into a park.