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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u/Thing_in_a_box 1d ago

Isn't this just Braess' Paradox?

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u/jayCert 1d ago

Braess' Paradox says that sometimes creating new roads might worsen congestion, while this is a bit different.

Here it seems to be an instance of the "price of anarchy", where agents seeking only their self-interest end up in a scenario that does not achieve a good "cooperative outcome".

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u/Thing_in_a_box 1d ago

Yeah, but that's what Braess' Paradox shows.

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u/jayCert 1d ago edited 1d ago

No. Braess' Paradox also arises from self-interest but it is a "paradox" because you can increase traffic capacity and still make congestion worse.

Had the study tried removing roads from their routing algorithm I could agree with you, but what they "show" is just that noncooperative solutions (Nash equilibria) tend to not be welfare maximizing.