The custom used to be that when you got tired of waiting for a bus or train, you'd take out a cigarette and light it. Just how this caused the bus or train to suddenly appear is one of those mysteries that have never been adequately explained.
Now so many people have given up smoking, other ways to make the bus appeared have been tried and found wanting. Many lose patience and decide to walk to the next stop. That option doesn't work as science has discovered.
Lazy option is best when waiting for the bus
Scott Kominers, a mathematician at Harvard University, and his colleagues derived a formula for the optimal time that you should wait for a tardy bus at each stop en route before giving up and walking on. "Many mathematicians probably ponder this on their way to work, but never get round to working it out," he says.
The team found that the solution was surprisingly simple. When both options seem reasonably attractive, the formula advises you to choose the "lazy" option: wait at the first stop, no matter how frustrating