One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
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Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#2This is hardly new. Back in 2001 I almost ended up working for an Italian company, based in Florence, which successfully implemented a different routing for public buses in Rimini (another Italian city) using linear programming and genetic algorithms.
The field has been explored, and a number of solutions have existed for at least ~25 years.
What's impressive in this article, instead, is the amount of savings; $5M is not small change.
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#3This is hardly new. Back in 2001 I almost ended up working for an Italian company, based in Florence, which successfully implemented a different routing for public buses in Rimini (another Italian city) using linear programming and genetic algorithms. The field has been explored, and a number of solutions have existed for at least ~25 years. What's impressive in this article, instead, is the amount of savings; $5M is…
Having done some work in truck route optimization in the retail / wholesale petroleum delivery space I'm a little shocked that their inefficiency was so bad to begin with. (There are some really fun problems in this space. Traveling salesman meets bin packing, just for starters.)
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#4Here’s an article about some MIT folks who tried to do this and were shut down by annoying rich people.
My greatest frustration is that they complain about black box algorithms when in fact it is a perfectly clear, ambiguity-free optimization function.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/joi-ito-ai-...
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#5Here’s an article about some MIT folks who tried to do this and were shut down by annoying rich people. My greatest frustration is that they complain about black box algorithms when in fact it is a perfectly clear, ambiguity-free optimization function. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/joi-ito-ai-...
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#6Here’s an article about some MIT folks who tried to do this and were shut down by annoying rich people. My greatest frustration is that they complain about black box algorithms when in fact it is a perfectly clear, ambiguity-free optimization function. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/joi-ito-ai-...
The OP article is also about the Boston bussing system changes, before it was cancelled.
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#7This is hardly new. Back in 2001 I almost ended up working for an Italian company, based in Florence, which successfully implemented a different routing for public buses in Rimini (another Italian city) using linear programming and genetic algorithms. The field has been explored, and a number of solutions have existed for at least ~25 years. What's impressive in this article, instead, is the amount of savings; $5M is…
Having done some work in truck route optimization in the retail / wholesale petroleum delivery space I'm a little shocked that their inefficiency was so bad to begin with. (There are some really fun problems in this space. Traveling salesman meets bin packing, just for starters.)
These are often done by hand, I'm really not surprised.
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#8Here’s an article about some MIT folks who tried to do this and were shut down by annoying rich people. My greatest frustration is that they complain about black box algorithms when in fact it is a perfectly clear, ambiguity-free optimization function. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/joi-ito-ai-...
It was a good article but my main takeaway was that the city botched the marketing of the planned change. Had they communicated what was being planned and why ahead of time, as well as providing the tool/simulation to make it more tangible to residents, they might have had less objection to the change. If not, they at least would have likely had more support from the majority who stood to benefit to counteract it.
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#9The end of the article notes the whole plan was scrapped based on parental feedback.
More background:
https://www.media.mit.edu/articles/what-the-boston-school-bu...
Re: One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm
#10Here’s an article about some MIT folks who tried to do this and were shut down by annoying rich people. My greatest frustration is that they complain about black box algorithms when in fact it is a perfectly clear, ambiguity-free optimization function. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/joi-ito-ai-...
It's the same system and it's mentioned in the OP.