On average, American commuters are spending a mind-boggling thirty-four hours delayed by traffic per year. In mid-Atlantic locales like Baltimore and Washington D.C., commuters idle in traffic for fifty and seventy hours each year, respectively. As a solution, innovative technology companies like Inrix, Inc. are using the amalgam of data available from GPS-equipped cell phones and cars to alleviate traffic flow concerns, quite literally crowd-sourcing congestion (White).
With an estimated 115 billion dollars of fuel cost and lost productivity resulting from the aforementioned delays (White), it is no surprise that technology companies are looking to capitalize on traffic reduction measures. Inrix, Inc., whose website claims that they “collect the highest-quality traffic information, from more sources around the world, than anyone else in the industry” (INRIX, Inc., About Us), appears to lead this tech market niche. Though founded only six years ago, their “unique Smart Driver Network aggregates traffic-related information from a growing community of more than 2 million GPS-enabled vehicles and mobile devices, traditional road sensors and hundreds of other sources” (INRIX, Inc., About Us). In other words, the company leverages the high fixed costs from its techonological infrastructure with the value added by crowd-sourced data. Commuters, then, serve as the most critical component of Inrix, Inc.’s business model.
Will this complicated application of modern technology really lead to a leisurely commute, though? Barring any difficulties in transforming their raw data into business intelligence, which hardly seems realistic, Inrix plans on using the information to “slice drive times by warning motorists to move out of a clogged lane, or slow down to avoid sudden stops that lead to more accidents and more delays” (White). However, the Texas Transportation Institute, whose 2010 Urban Mobility Report supplies the traffic numbers above (INRIX, Inc., Public…), argues that the main cause of cogestion is rather simple: volume (Texas Transportation Institute). It is the number of cars on the road, rather than how those cars are moving, that truly determines traffic conditions. Inrix’s technology, which focuses primarily on how people drive rather than how many people are driving, thereby hardly represents a comprehensive solution to the traffic quandary. Additionally, with the House GOP proposing large spending cuts to the “transportation, housing” category of the fiscal year 2011 budget (Hook and Boles), it is unlikely that the public sector will whole-heartedly embrace the costs associated with implementing Inrix’s techonologies.
As an alternative solution, the private sector should abate the productivity losses stemming from congestion by adopting more flexible schedules that embrace telecommuting. The Telework Research Network, a San Diego-based research firm, conducted a study that strongly favors replacing the typical commute with integrated collaboration environments and other telecommuting technologies. In fact, they posit “if everyone who could work from home -- about 40 percent of the work force -- did so half the time” (Chafkin), there would be 100 hours per person not spent commuting and $200 billion in productivity gains by American companies (Chafkin). Even if these numbers have a hefty margin of error, telecommuting would still help to combat the average American commuter’s thirty-four hours stuck in traffic. Not to mention, one can imagine that companies would save on overhead and other costs associated with operating an office.
Unfortunately for Intrix, their technologies seem frivolous when compared with the viable substitute of telecommuting. In addition to reducing traffic and productivity losses, further study would likely demonstrate a sizeable decrease in urban pollution with increased telecommuting. Crowd-sourcing may remain a clever solution to business problems, but all things considered, it is not the right solution to our nation’s traffic woes.
Works Cited
Chafkin, Max. Telecommuting by the Numbers. 2011. Mansueto Ventures, LLC. 6 February 2011 (http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100401/telecommuting-by-the-numbers.html).
Hook, Janet and Corey Boles. "House GOP Plan Would Require Big Cuts." Wall Street Journal 4 February 2011: A4.
INRIX, Inc. About Us. 2011. 6 February 2011 (http://www.inrix.com/companyoverview.asp).
—. Public Sector Solutions. 2011. 6 February 2011 (http://www.inrix.com/publicsector.asp).
Texas Transportation Institute. "What Causes Congestion?" 2010. Texas Transportaion Institute. 6 February 2011 (http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/report/congestion_cause.pdf).
White, Joseph B. "American Idle: On the Road." The Wall Street Journal 2 February 2011: D1-D2.
No comments:
Post a Comment