Steer clear of traffic jams

Steer clear of traffic jams

Preethi J

Bangalore Transport Information System, a Rs 350-crore project, has been launched to help commuters save on time and temper.

Law enforcers have also been armed with Blackberry mobiles to enable them to issue spot fines.


How the process works

Bangalore’s motorists are finally getting a helping hand from the Government. The State Government has tied up with telecom operator Bharti Airtel and two city-based firms, map provider Mapunity Information Services and mobile application developer TeliBrahma Convergent Communications, to set up the Bangalore Transport Information System (BTIS) — a Rs 350-crore project to tackle traffic woes.

Law enforcers have also been armed with Blackberry mobiles to enable them to issue spot fines. Part of the BTIS project is a Web site, www.btis.in, offering a street-level map of the city, directions, traffic updates, choice on if you want to avoid traffic clogged roads, safety instructions, etc. It also brings an SMS service that will beep real-time updates on traffic to your cell-phone. You can obtain directions by SMSing to the short code 54321 or to 9845027222 (for non-Airtel subscribers). The short code for Airtel users is being offered free as a pilot for the first month, after which it will become a paid service.
How it works

How does the information pour in? First, existing cell towers pick out the number of cell-phone users within their range. This number is correlated with that from the cheery red micro towers that have been set up by Airtel at major traffic junctions to ensure non-road users are eliminated. This gives the congestion on roads in that location. Users within the range of nearby towers are scanned minutes apart to find moving clusters. By continuously running this routine, Airtel obtains the estimated travel time and traffic jams.

Airtel has provided the capital expenditure for setting up the micro towers. “We hope it makes a difference to citizens and will replicate it in other cities,” informs Sanjay Kapoor, President, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel.

Mapunity’s computer algorithm processes information from the towers sent by Airtel to determine the route that avoids the worst of the traffic jams.

Information is collated and put up on the Web site. It is also sent to an SMS server that shoots out real time updates to mobile users. FM radio channels and LED screens will also be used to distribute information.
Fines in a jiffy


The Bluetooth printer.

Meanwhile, traffic policemen themselves are being armed with BlackBerrys so they can slap a fine within a minute on traffic rule offenders. With TeliBrahma’s BTP application, the inspector can just flick this mobile out, type in the DL number (or licence plate number if it’s a runaway case) and voila! the entire case history, as well as name and address of the driver, appears on the screen.

The inspector selects vehicle type, point of offence, type of offence (from a dropdown list, which includes the newly added law on helmets). He then prints it out using a small, wireless, hand-held printer. The printer uses Bluetooth, a wireless data transfer method that has a range of 10 metres. So the inspector can leave the printer in the car and walk up to the lawbreaker, issue the print command from the Berry and walk back to the car with him/her in tow, to find the receipt ready. Within 5-10 seconds, the print of the ‘police notice’ is done. If the motorist dodges or is unable to pay the fine on the spot, the transgression is still logged. The fine can be paid at a police station later.

Data on more than two million cases is available and can be accessed by the policeman in less than two minutes from the Berry. More than 60 per cent of vehicle ownership information in Bangalore city is stored at the Automation Centre located in central Bangalore, informs Prabhakar, ACP Automation Centre, Bangalore Traffic Police.

Between 2004 and 2006, the traffic police were using the Simputer, a bulky hand-held computer. But problems abounded. As Prabhakar says, “Information on the Simputer was not up to date. We had to collect information from the centre every morning before going out on the road. On the Blackberry, information online is transferred immediately.” The Simputer was also ridden with hardware problems, and was costly. The final blow was the missing convenience factor. So the 30 Simputers were discarded and 280 Blackberry phones, on Bharti Airtel’s network, are now being tested.

The traffic policemen use a set containing Blackberry (model 8700g) and a Bluetooth printer; each set costs around Rs 40,000.

TeliBrahma spent six days training the policemen, of the level of sub-inspector and above. Says Narasimha Suresh, Chief Executive Officer, Telibrahma Convergent Communications, about the experience, “I didn’t feel like I was working with a government body. The ROI of the solution was evident and acceptance quick. Of course, we still had to do a lot of convincing. The advantage was that the Blackberry is a phone, and so is easier to learn — it’s not a Simputer or a complicated hand-held PC. The Symbol devices being used in other industries (airlines use it for printing boarding passes and some coffee outlets for bills) are costly and their ruggedness is not a high priority. Most cell-phones have the same ruggedness,” shrugs Suresh.

Around 50 cases per Blackberry user have been lodged in the first week. Prabhakar says that the policemen are still to get accustomed to the Blackberrys. With the printer, which has been imported by Bharti Airtel, they are encountering an unexpected hurdle. The ‘thermal’ paper used does not retain ink beyond six months, and could be a liability when a court case is being pursued.

While BlackBerrys have been used on the police’s insistence on security, other smart phones too can be used. “The application works on any Java, Windows, Palm or Symbian smart phone,” says Suresh. The Blackberry offers encryption, and ensures the police’s database and servers are not exposed to the external network. “The Berry makes you follow international security standards,” says Suresh.

Drawbacks in the current system of traffic enforcement include the inability to track repeat offenders, ineffective enforcement, waste of manpower and time, non-availability of data, lack of accountability and audit hassles. But now, as Suresh warns, “The law will catch up with you.” Similar projects will be rolled out across the State and in around 15 cities in the country by the end of the year. Delhi and Mysore are in the pipeline. Other States are also looking at this set-up. In the future, says Narasimhaiah, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Planning, Bangalore Traffic, voice and camera too could be included to improve traffic management. Steer clear of traffic jams

Preethi J

Bangalore Transport Information System, a Rs 350-crore project, has been launched to help commuters save on time and temper.

Law enforcers have also been armed with Blackberry mobiles to enable them to issue spot fines.


How the process works

Bangalore’s motorists are finally getting a helping hand from the Government. The State Government has tied up with telecom operator Bharti Airtel and two city-based firms, map provider Mapunity Information Services and mobile application developer TeliBrahma Convergent Communications, to set up the Bangalore Transport Information System (BTIS) — a Rs 350-crore project to tackle traffic woes.

Law enforcers have also been armed with Blackberry mobiles to enable them to issue spot fines. Part of the BTIS project is a Web site, www.btis.in, offering a street-level map of the city, directions, traffic updates, choice on if you want to avoid traffic clogged roads, safety instructions, etc. It also brings an SMS service that will beep real-time updates on traffic to your cell-phone. You can obtain directions by SMSing to the short code 54321 or to 9845027222 (for non-Airtel subscribers). The short code for Airtel users is being offered free as a pilot for the first month, after which it will become a paid service.
How it works

How does the information pour in? First, existing cell towers pick out the number of cell-phone users within their range. This number is correlated with that from the cheery red micro towers that have been set up by Airtel at major traffic junctions to ensure non-road users are eliminated. This gives the congestion on roads in that location. Users within the range of nearby towers are scanned minutes apart to find moving clusters. By continuously running this routine, Airtel obtains the estimated travel time and traffic jams.

Airtel has provided the capital expenditure for setting up the micro towers. “We hope it makes a difference to citizens and will replicate it in other cities,” informs Sanjay Kapoor, President, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel.

Mapunity’s computer algorithm processes information from the towers sent by Airtel to determine the route that avoids the worst of the traffic jams.

Information is collated and put up on the Web site. It is also sent to an SMS server that shoots out real time updates to mobile users. FM radio channels and LED screens will also be used to distribute information.
Fines in a jiffy


The Bluetooth printer.

Meanwhile, traffic policemen themselves are being armed with BlackBerrys so they can slap a fine within a minute on traffic rule offenders. With TeliBrahma’s BTP application, the inspector can just flick this mobile out, type in the DL number (or licence plate number if it’s a runaway case) and voila! the entire case history, as well as name and address of the driver, appears on the screen.

The inspector selects vehicle type, point of offence, type of offence (from a dropdown list, which includes the newly added law on helmets). He then prints it out using a small, wireless, hand-held printer. The printer uses Bluetooth, a wireless data transfer method that has a range of 10 metres. So the inspector can leave the printer in the car and walk up to the lawbreaker, issue the print command from the Berry and walk back to the car with him/her in tow, to find the receipt ready. Within 5-10 seconds, the print of the ‘police notice’ is done. If the motorist dodges or is unable to pay the fine on the spot, the transgression is still logged. The fine can be paid at a police station later.

Data on more than two million cases is available and can be accessed by the policeman in less than two minutes from the Berry. More than 60 per cent of vehicle ownership information in Bangalore city is stored at the Automation Centre located in central Bangalore, informs Prabhakar, ACP Automation Centre, Bangalore Traffic Police.

Between 2004 and 2006, the traffic police were using the Simputer, a bulky hand-held computer. But problems abounded. As Prabhakar says, “Information on the Simputer was not up to date. We had to collect information from the centre every morning before going out on the road. On the Blackberry, information online is transferred immediately.” The Simputer was also ridden with hardware problems, and was costly. The final blow was the missing convenience factor. So the 30 Simputers were discarded and 280 Blackberry phones, on Bharti Airtel’s network, are now being tested.

The traffic policemen use a set containing Blackberry (model 8700g) and a Bluetooth printer; each set costs around Rs 40,000.

TeliBrahma spent six days training the policemen, of the level of sub-inspector and above. Says Narasimha Suresh, Chief Executive Officer, Telibrahma Convergent Communications, about the experience, “I didn’t feel like I was working with a government body. The ROI of the solution was evident and acceptance quick. Of course, we still had to do a lot of convincing. The advantage was that the Blackberry is a phone, and so is easier to learn — it’s not a Simputer or a complicated hand-held PC. The Symbol devices being used in other industries (airlines use it for printing boarding passes and some coffee outlets for bills) are costly and their ruggedness is not a high priority. Most cell-phones have the same ruggedness,” shrugs Suresh.

Around 50 cases per Blackberry user have been lodged in the first week. Prabhakar says that the policemen are still to get accustomed to the Blackberrys. With the printer, which has been imported by Bharti Airtel, they are encountering an unexpected hurdle. The ‘thermal’ paper used does not retain ink beyond six months, and could be a liability when a court case is being pursued.

While BlackBerrys have been used on the police’s insistence on security, other smart phones too can be used. “The application works on any Java, Windows, Palm or Symbian smart phone,” says Suresh. The Blackberry offers encryption, and ensures the police’s database and servers are not exposed to the external network. “The Berry makes you follow international security standards,” says Suresh.

Drawbacks in the current system of traffic enforcement include the inability to track repeat offenders, ineffective enforcement, waste of manpower and time, non-availability of data, lack of accountability and audit hassles. But now, as Suresh warns, “The law will catch up with you.” Similar projects will be rolled out across the State and in around 15 cities in the country by the end of the year. Delhi and Mysore are in the pipeline. Other States are also looking at this set-up. In the future, says Narasimhaiah, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Planning, Bangalore Traffic, voice and camera too could be included to improve traffic management.