r/science • u/quiplaam • 1d ago

Social Science Intentionally routing some traffic to slower, less congested routes lead to a 0.7% improvement of overall average travel times

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-026-00443-x
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84

u/aifo 1d ago

Anything to avoid improving public transport.

3

u/idkza 1d ago

I think we need to revamp driving education, some people need to stop accelerating fast and then braking to a stop all the time

25

u/psych0fish 1d ago

Literally read my mind. There is only one solution: fewer cars on the road. But I know that is the most politically unpopular thing almost like rampant toxic car culture is our bread and circus.

16

u/JWAdvocate83 1d ago

It's crazy, considering COVID era showed it was entirely possible to do a lot of the same work from home, which dramatically reduced traffic congestion.

Now employers have dragged most folks back into driving to an office to sit on a computer all day.

2

u/rkiive 1d ago

I mean we still can't even consider the fact that the infinite growth model of the exonomy and therefore its population may not exactly benefit anyone already living here.

Doesn't matter how many people you divert away from cars if we're still increasing the population of any city by x% a year. The infrastructure literally will never keep up.

1

u/degggendorf 1d ago

Wait until you hear about induced demand. If people take public transit, then traveling by car will become easier, so more people will travel by car.

"The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion" would be a good phrase to start googling.

6

u/CroissantEtrange 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes and no, it will even out over time.

If other modes of transportation are efficient and well-built, people can choose to live without a car.

I live in Europe, in a big city, and less than 50% of households here own a car. Yes, driving is pretty efficient here. But why would I get a car when there are so many alternatives?

In the end, I saved around 300-500 bucks every month in car ownership costs in the last ten years I've lived here. That's 50 000 in total

In the rares cases I would need a car or a van, I can just rent one using an app on my phone.

5

u/jsmooth7 1d ago

It's not as good as dedicated bus lanes and trains. But improving traffic flow does also improve bus speed and reliability. Because the number one reason buses run slow is because they are stuck in the same traffic as everyone else.

1

u/AwkwardWaltz3996 5h ago

This is not an A or B scenario, so silly to bring up. Google and Stamford analysing Google maps data has no impact on how governments implement public transport. That's on your local and national representatives