%0 Journal Article
%T Self-Organization Leads to Supraoptimal Performance in Public Transportation Systems
%A Carlos Gershenson
%J PLOS ONE
%D 2012
%I Public Library of Science (PLoS)
%R 10.1371/journal.pone.0021469
%X The performance of public transportation systems affects a large part of the population. Current theory assumes that passengers are served optimally when vehicles arrive at stations with regular intervals. In this paper, it is shown that self-organization can improve the performance of public transportation systems beyond the theoretical optimum by responding adaptively to local conditions. This is possible because of a ˇ°slower-is-fasterˇ± effect, where passengers wait more time at stations but total travel times are reduced. The proposed self-organizing method uses ˇ°antipheromonesˇ± to regulate headways, which are inspired by the stigmergy (communication via environment) of some ant colonies.
%U http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0021469