Efficiency = do more with less
From Mauldin Economics
Fewer Miles = Fewer Drivers
There’s a classic math exercise called the Traveling Salesman Problem. The goal: find the shortest
path through a series of cities before getting back to where you started.
Sounds simple, but it’s maddeningly complex. Even a short
itinerary can have millions of possible routes. Finding the fastest one is
hard.
Local school officials in Boston recently realized that this
problem was costing them big money: to be precise, a whopping $120 million a
year to transport students. Looking to save money, the school system offered a
$15,000 prize to whoever could figure out the most efficient bus route map.
Two doctoral students at nearby MIT won the contest. The
algorithm they designed eliminated 75 bus routes while still delivering all the
students. It will save the school system $5 million a year—a whale of a return
on $15,000 invested.
Part of that windfall comes from reducing bus driver positions.
The new scheme saves a
million bus miles per year, and fewer miles means fewer
drivers.
Note how this works. Boston doesn’t need fancy new self-driving
buses to cut bus driver jobs. The routing algorithm doesn’t just replace jobs;
it eliminates them.
Having done so in Boston, it can now do the same in other places.
Even the bus drivers who keep their jobs may not be safe for long.
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