Students having to walk long distances to bus stops early in the morning might have been “algorithmically correct” because it satisfied the objectives and constraints of the algorithm under Kentucky law, “but in reality parents would not want their kids walking that far at 6 a.m.,” said Aaron Schecter, a professor of information management systems at the University of Georgia.
AlphaRoute’s Hanlon is the former chief operating officer of Boston Public Schools and has emphasized the company’s origins as a partnership between MIT researchers and the school district. However, Boston only ever used routing software in a limited capacity and has no relationship with AlphaRoute today, district spokesperson Max Baker said.
“You can’t have world-class schools without world-class infrastructure, and that includes transportation,” she said.