@article {Gershenson:2011a, title = {Self-organization leads to supraoptimal performance in public transportation systems}, journal = {{PLoS ONE}}, volume = {6}, number = {6}, year = {2011}, pages = {e21469}, abstract = {The performance of public transportation systems affects a large part of the population. Current theory assumes that passengers are served optimally when vehicles arrive at stations with regular intervals. In this paper, it is shown that self-organization can improve the performance of public transportation systems beyond the theoretical optimum by responding adaptively to local conditions. This is possible because of a {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}slower-is-faster{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} effect, where passengers wait more time at stations but total travel times are reduced. The proposed self-organizing method uses {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}antipheromones{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} to regulate headways, which are inspired by the stigmergy (communication via environment) of some ant colonies.}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0021469}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021469}, author = {Carlos Gershenson} }