City has best Intelligent Transport System

If you think traffic jams are a serious problem in Mumbai,here is something to ponder. The city has been awarded for having the ‘Best Intelligent Transport System Project’ from the Ministry of Urban Development,Government of India,for the implementation of the Area Traffic Control system. The Rs 72-crore project,which is being implemented at 253 traffic junctions across the city since the past two years,is a part of the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project

The project has been undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on behalf of the Mumbai Traffic Police. Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said under the ATC project,253 pre-programmed traffic signals have been brought under the ATC,by means of which the traffic light timings can be adjusted remotely to adapt to the requirements at that time.

“There are times when there is too much traffic on one lane,and at such a time it is important to change the traffic lights timings in a way that would clear the traffic fast. The ATC detects such a situation and helps change the timing of linked traffic signal posts through the control room in the traffic police headquarters,” he said.

It centrally co-ordinates traffic signals using real time data collected through detectors. The major benefits derived from the system so far are reduction of time cycles at signals,10 per cent increase in speed,and reduction in electricity consumption by 30 percent due to LED signal heads. The project is being carried out by a joint venture of an Indian software company and a Spanish transport management company.