Queuing Safely for Elevator Systems Amidst a Pandemic

Sharing Elevators During COVID

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"Columbia Engineering researchers design a method to safely manage elevator queues during the pandemic"
https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/press-release/elmachtoub-sharing-elevators
February 09, 2021

How can we use elevators safely after COVID-19? This was the goal of the research team  from IEOR, which includes Professors Clifford Stein & Adam Elmachtoub as well as IEOR PhD students, Sai Mali Ananth & Yeqing Zhou: how to better manage elevator lines, trying to drastically reduce the waiting time and length of lobby queues. Their research focused on the performance of two different techniques - Cohorting vs. Queue-splitting - testing on a simulation of a 25-story building “Our interventions basically reduce congestion by explicitly or implicitly trying to get people going to the same floor to travel together,”  says Professor Elmachtoub. This research is in collaboration with Charles C. Branas, Gelman Professor and chair of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, who worked with the team to translate their algorithms into safe and practical interventions.

To find out more, click to access a video about the research as well as the full paper and contact details! You may also refer to the article by Columbia Engineering. We are grateful for the IEOR techniques that can be used to improve our daily lives and make us safer.