January 2006

I’ve been toying with running a contest lately. I think about it every time I find myself waiting for, or on an elevator.

What would an elevator algorithim look like? How would you measure it? How to get the highest customer satisfaction (for transit; not elevator music) possible? Some thoughts:

• Please the most people in transit. This might include skipping floors for single riders.. Upside: You’ll please the masses. Downside: Individuals will hate you.
• Pick up the floors where the most people are waiting. Assume you have a way to count passengers-in-waiting. Upside: You’ll please the masses. Downside: Individuals will hate you.
• Change directions to satisfy the first bullet. Upside: Doing so will make it possible to drop off the groups in order of size, increasing customer satisfaction. Downside: Everyone will hate you, because you’ll be making them ill.
• Change speeds over extended transit to satisfy the first bullet. Upside: You’ll be able to drop off the groups faster. Downside: Everyone will still hate you, because you’ll be making them ill even faster.

Of course, you’ll need some sort of service-level agreement in place for the one poor sod who gets caught up in ‘the system’. This person will wind up riding up and down, up and down, potentially never being in the largest group until there’s no one left on the elevator but him.

How would you do this?