Additional Notes on the Elevator
The Elevator Algorhythm:
there is a more complicated logic that is widely used today but the old way of determining where the elevator should stop followed a rather logical formula:
Continue travelling in the same direction while there are remaining requests in that same direction.
If there are no further requests in that direction, then stop and become idle, or change direction if there are requests in the opposite direction.
During my individual observation I was shocked at how frequently people used the elevator to travel short dstances. This seemed particularly common on the upper floors of the Tisch building. (From the 12th floor to the 10th for example)
Although I did not launch into an extensive calculation i did notice that most people were willing to wait for anywhere from 3-5 minutes in the lobby for the elevator. I recognized quite a few ITPers in those numbers.
Once on the floor it was interesting to watch people's interaction with the eelevator. Although few people waited for more than 15-30 seconds for the down elevator almost everyone checked to see if the elevator was there. Would they lick out and catch the elevator at the right point in its buggy code?
