Abstract
In the early ages of the mobile Internet, routing apps appeared as a viable tool for the few
motorists equipped with an in-vehicle navigation system or an aftermarket navigation
device. With market penetration increasing, and recent market consolidation, a few
companies are now the sole providers of driving directions to the majority of the
US population. Additionally, the emergence of large ridesourcing or transportation
network companies (TNCs) totaling up to tens of thousands of registered drivers in
single cities (all using the same routing app), there is further consolidation. Across
the US, this has led to new or increased congestion patterns that are progressively
asphyxiating local streets due to so-called “cut-through traffic.”
As neighborhoods have started to realize this, private citizens have begun to resist,
by trying to sabotage or trick the apps, or shaming the through traffic through
opinion articles, and news stories, and other methods. Municipal agencies/planners
are pursuing more institutionalized ways to handle the situation, adding stop signs,
speed bumps, and turning restrictions to make local traffic slower in the hope that
the apps will “learn” not to send through-traffic to their neighborhoods (since apps
systematically provide the route most beneficial to the user, not necessarily to the
community). In other countries, lawsuits from cities against these app providers have
already started, potentially forecasting similar approaches in the US.
