Using Insights and Incentives to End Rush Hour

You can think of rush-hour traffic as a fairly straightforward problem of supply and demand. The supply is the capacity on city buses, trains, and roads. The demand is the share of metro area commuters who want to ride transit or drive cars. Congestion at the morning and evening peaks is a sign of demand overwhelming supply: too many commuters trying to use buses and trains and roads at the same time.

That's how the founders of Urban Engines, a congestion-relief start-up making its public launch today, prefer to view the city traffic problem. It's also the key to the company's proposed solution. On one hand, they believe new data insights can help cities adjust the supply of transit vehicles and road space. On the other, they plan to use behavioral incentives to control commuter demand.