Data will enable authorities to decipher average vehicle speed and look at other factors of road traffic movement
The Traffic Police are banking on a time-based data that Uber will provide them to know speeds of vehicles on city roads. This will enable the traffic authorities to decipher the average speed of vehicles plying during any time of the day and also look at other factors of traffic movement.
The authorities had requested Uber to come with such data-driven information, and Uber, in turn shared its first data on an important stretch of an arterial road.
The Traffic Police will be using this data tool provided by Uber along with their own mechanisms of CCTVs, vehicle counting software and congestion identifying system. They claim that they can not only manage the existing traffic, but also plan diversions looking at the real-time data.
The data, which can be stored for years together, can help town planners and experts to plan public transport projects. For instance, the average speeds on Western Express Highway between Kalanagar and Dahisar is 20kmph, which was 11kmph when Metro work started. So in the near future, traffic management on roads could see improvement as diversions can be planned accordingly.
"This will surely act as an important tool as we can understand the average travel time of a commuter on different roads," said Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
The data will show them only vehicles operated by Uber. But then it will be a sampling size which will tell them how and where vehicles are moving at a particular time. Currently, there are 30 lakh vehicles in Mumbai of which only 59,000 are tourist taxis (mobile aggregators) registered at the four RTOs.
"We can predict traffic patterns during festivals, national holidays and long weekends. Together with the government, we aim to contribute towards urban planning and traffic management," said Prabhjeet Singh, Regional General Manager, Uber India & South Asia.
HOW IT CAN WORK
Mrinal Tai Gore flyover : 1.2 km connecting Ram Mandir near Jogeshwari and SV Road in Goregaon
- The software compared the traffic in January 2016, pre-flyover, and in June 2016, a month after its inauguration
- Avg travel time dropped by 60.3 per cent
- Previously 19 minutes 42 seconds (avg), and later 7 minutes 49 seconds (avg)
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