Shailesh Sinhas website tells you how to stay ahead of the traffic and avoid delays For most of us,driving on the city roads is a race against time. Tired of the constant delays while commuting by road,28-year-old entrepreneur Shailesh Sinha thought,why not help people avoid getting into that miles-long jam by keeping them informed of the traffic scenario? Six months ago,Sinha set up an online initiative,thetrafficpeople.net,which relays real-time information on the traffic situation across major Delhi roads. By looking at the various bottlenecks across the major city routes,one can save time travelling. Though one cannot predict the sudden jams that crop up due to unforeseen circumstances,it is often helpful, explains Sinha,the founder-director of The Traffic People,an agency with over 50 employees dedicated to providing information about road traffic,anywhere in Delhi. The site lists major bottlenecks at various intersections,with detailed maps and a list of areas where construction activity is going on. We also get updates about VIP movement,but we are careful about posting such information on the Internet, he says. A graduate in personnel management from Hansraj College,Sinha,like any other Delhiite,felt helpless each time he got stuck in harrowing traffic. We are constantly flooded with news about Bollywood,politics,health and international affairs,but there was no dedicated news service about traffic, says Sinha,whose website gets over a thousand hits a day. With over 30 dedicated reporters across the city,the information is updated on the site every 10-15 minutes from his office in Karol Bagh. To ensure the information is reliable,the group also collects data from Delhi Traffic Police constables. Apart from an Internet radio facility on the site,there is also a provision for SMS updates on a yearly subscription basis. It all began in early 2000,when Sinha began producing and giving voice-overs for traffic news segments on All India Radio. After the birth of private radio stations,he began working as a consultant with a few stations,producing traffic news bulletins for them. Then,in 2006,he founded his company,The Traffic People,for providing content to news channels. After an initial investment of Rs 10 lakh in setting up his company which runs the website as well,Sinha is satisfied with how his business is doing. For now,I am able to make a little more than my operational costs. Though it is not very profitable yet,I see a future in this, he says. Next,Sinha plans to launch a radio station that alternates traffic news updates with songs.
