Firms urged to share data to ease ORR traffic woes

By Atiya Firdos

Traffic authorities seek diligent sharing of real-time data from tech parks, companies; AI solution in progress to get better idea of traffic situation

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Traffic East called a meeting on Thursday to address the inconsistent data sharing by companies along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and plan better for future traffic trends. Some tech companies have failed to provide crucial vehicle footfall information over the past eight months. This data is essential for predicting and managing the heavy traffic congestion that plagues the ORR, especially in the tech park areas.

Aimed at improving traffic management efficiency and ensuring better collaboration between the traffic police and IT companies for a smoother transport system in the region, representatives from various IT companies and tech park heads held a review of the existing vehicle counting mechanisms and discussed the implementation of an automatic vehicle count system. The agenda included urging companies to provide timely data on vehicle footfall after 1 pm, as this information is crucial for predicting evening traffic patterns and implementing strategies like staggered departure timings or early stoppage of heavy transport vehicles (HTVs) to mitigate congestion.

DCP (Traffic East) Kuldeep Kumar Jain told BM that there is significant traffic congestion along the ORR stretch from KR Puram to Silk Board, and over the past year, they have developed several mechanisms to disseminate information effectively. “To make informed decisions, we need comprehensive data, particularly on traffic patterns. About eight months ago, we asked tech companies to provide real-time data on the footfall of vehicles in their tech parks or IT firms after 1 pm. If these companies consistently supply this data, it allows us to correlate with other information, helping us predict how traffic will unfold in the evening,” he said.

He further said that they use prediction models and study historical data along with new inputs to determine the capacity and to make informed decisions. “This might include stopping HTVs earlier or advising IT companies to stagger their departure times so we can manage the road situation better,” he said. He also encouraged the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to provide more feeder buses from Metro stations to tech parks, which will be motivating the public to use public transport to ease traffic.

AI-powered traffic management solution in progress
At the meeting, “FlowSense,” an AI-powered traffic management solution developed by CivicBridge, was demonstrated. This product is designed to meet the needs of the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) and was showcased to all stakeholders. It automatically tracks and updates the number of vehicles entering and leaving tech parks every minute, providing real-time data to the BTP dashboard. Previously, this process was done manually, which made it difficult to get accurate numbers.

If companies consistently supply data, it allows us to correlate with other info, helping us predict how traffic will unfold in evening ­–Kuldeep Kumar Jain, DCP Traffic East

CivicBridge is also collaborating with BMTC to support public transportation for the IT corridor. “A demo of FlowSense was presented to all the tech parks during the meeting. If the tech parks give their approval, we can implement this solution, which will greatly help in managing traffic more efficiently,” said a CivicBridge team member.