1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:11,120 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Voge obamb here. Imagine it's Saturday afternoon, 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: and due to a number of questionable choices that you made, 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: either in this or a past life, you have a 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: few necessary errands to run at the mall. So it 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: seems does everyone else. The mall parking lot is crowded. 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: So where should you park your car if you're trying 8 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: to save time at the first spot you see, no 9 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: matter how far away from the entrance, or should you 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: prowl for an elusive spot closer in there's a scientific 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: study for that. It was published in September nineteen and 12 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: the Journal of Statistical Mechanics and in it, Physics Professor's 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 1: Sydney Rendner from the Santa Fe Institute and Paul Kravitzky 14 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: of Boston University applied their mathematical prowess to pinpoint the 15 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,520 Speaker 1: best parking spots search strategies. Here we define the best 16 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: spot as the one nearest to the mall entrance. Some 17 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: people might favor a spot on a top floor of 18 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: a parking garage, for example, to prevent their harv of 19 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: getting dinged, but that's another story. Rednar and Whisky divided 20 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: parking personas into three categories, meek, optimistic, and prudent as 21 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: they define them. Meek drivers immediately settle for the first 22 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: spot they find, which may leave spots near the front unfilled, 23 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: a plus incur a long walk. Optimistic drivers aren't afraid 24 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: to hunt, certain that eventually they'll triumphantly land their primo spot, 25 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: no matter how many times they have to circle the 26 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: lot to find it. Prudent parkers, meanwhile, are a bit 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: more aggressive than meek drivers by passing the low hanging 28 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: fruit in hopes of a closer spot, but are unwilling 29 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: to circle several times to get just a bit closer 30 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: to their destination. They may end up backtracking to a 31 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: spot that a meek driver would have claimed initially if 32 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: they don't find something better immediately after identifying their categories, 33 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: the scientists created a simulation using processes such as probability 34 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: theory and rate equations. The researchers found that the prudent 35 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: strategy was the best and that it cost drivers least 36 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: amount of time, followed by the optimistic strategy and then 37 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: the meek strategy. Redner is quick to point out that 38 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: this particular exercise is purely mathematical, he said via email. 39 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: We try and hard to minimize the number of free 40 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: parameters by judicious choices, such as assigning the same speed 41 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: for walking and driving, and of course they couldn't account 42 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: for every variable. Quote. The main complication was the inherent 43 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 1: many body nature of the parking process, and namely, one 44 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,799 Speaker 1: doesn't know in advance which spots are free, and the 45 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: game is whether to pick the current spot or try 46 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: another spot which may not be open closer to the destination. 47 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: They also omitted real world variables like drivers speed, intense 48 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: competition for spots, or the irrationality of harried human beings. Okay, 49 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: so that's the mathematical side of the story. But is 50 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: there a parking lot strategy that better accounts for the 51 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: quirks of real people. We also spoke via email with 52 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: Andrew Velki, an associate professor of psychology at Christopher Newport 53 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: University in Virginia. He said, it is important to note 54 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: this simple fact. The success of my parking strategy is 55 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: in part dependent upon which parking strategy the other drivers select. 56 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: It's an excellent application of game theory e g. The 57 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: prisoner's dilemma. My best strategy is only better if enough 58 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: other drivers select one of the alternative strategies. If everyone 59 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: tried to play the same parking strategy, it would no 60 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: longer be optimal. Velki also notes ideal parking spaces like 61 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 1: right in front of your final destination, are usually unavailable. 62 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: Quote time and perceived scarcity are the two biggest factors 63 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: that affect parking strategies. People will spend time looking for 64 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: a parking space and incur a time travel cost from 65 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: their vehicle to the final destination after they've parked their car. 66 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: It appears that people are often attempting to reduce the 67 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: time travel cost and often incur a greater acquisition time 68 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: cost as a result. It's most interesting to note that 69 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: people will try to get a parking spot that's closest 70 00:03:58,040 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: to the door of the gym or exercise club that 71 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: there are about to enter. To answer our parking lot question, 72 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: Vilki referred to paper published in the journal Transportation Science 73 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: in which the researchers determined that the best strategy was 74 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: to randomly pick a row and park in the closest 75 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: apparent space in that row, or rather than to drive 76 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: up and down multiple rows searching for a closer spot. 77 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: In other words, the time saved in finding a spot 78 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: made up for the longer time spent walking to the 79 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: front door. It wasn't a huge time savings though. In 80 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: that model, the expected time to the front door from 81 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 1: the spot using the pick a row method was sixty 82 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: one point three one seconds. With the multiple row method 83 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: it was seventy point seven seconds. Velki says those few 84 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: times when we do score spot at the front become 85 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: very memorable to us, but quote perhaps even more memorable 86 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: are the times when we park our cars and come 87 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: across a space right in front on our way to 88 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: the entrance of the destination. We will employ a counter 89 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: factual if I had only driven around more process when 90 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: we noticed the spaces we missed. As a result, people 91 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: will overpredict both the likely availability of these spaces and 92 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: their own likelihood of obtaining these spaces. Parking strategies are 93 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: one thing, but parking lot design also dramatically affects efficiency 94 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: and space consumption. A British mathematics professor insists that lots 95 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: with diagonal spaces dramatically reduce congestion and improve traffic flow 96 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: compared to those that use grid patterns. Today's episode was 97 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: written by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain 98 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 99 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: Promoin this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, 100 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,480 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com, and for more podcasts from 101 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 102 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.