OK, we’re talking about bus routes, not networks, but congestion is the bane of both and you’ll forgive me the liberty if you’ve read “Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. In this fascinating essay, Dubner describes the hellish Manhattan bus commute he and his daughter were enduring every morning to get her to school, and the counterintuitive solution that has granted them a large measure of relief.
In a nutshell: They bypass the nearest bus stop, a choke point if ever there was one, and walk 250 yards in the direction opposite of their intended destination, where they encounter a much more reliable (and civilized) boarding process. Dubner challenges his audience to consider why more of the embattled commuters at the nearer stop don’t do as he and his daughter do. Here are the four possibilities he offers, while acknowledging there are others as well:
1. Walking 250 yards doesn’t seem like a worthwhile investment to improve a short, if miserable, experience.
2. Having just gotten off the subway, the Point A passengers are already broken in spirit and can’t muster the energy to improve their commuting lot.
3. Perhaps some Point A passengers simply never think about the existence of a Point B, or at least the conditions thereof.
4. There is a herd at Point A; people may not like being part of a herd, but psychologically they are somehow comforted by it; they succumb to “herd mentality” and unthinkingly tag along – because if everyone else is doing it, it must be the thing to do.
Dubner also asks for other examples of “herd mentality” trumping what would appear to be self-interest. Here is mine, which I offer somewhat reluctantly given that I do not want anyone else following my lead:
Each morning I enter Rte. 495 northbound one exit south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. The traffic is invariably heavy and often at a slow crawl. Just as invariably, the fastest lane – and the one in which I stay planted – is the right-hand, so-called slow-speed lane.
My theories: More commuters expect the center and “high-speed” lanes to move faster, thus more commuters crowd into them. In addition, more commuters expect the right-hand lane to be packed with all of those cars destined to be exiting onto the Turnpike, which for those unfamiliar with this terrain is the single east-west thoroughfare running across Massachusetts.
Herd mentality saves me a few minutes of drive time every morning. … Please don’t tell anyone.
And now share your examples.
