Using technology to ease commuter pain

More than personal stress, road congestion has a negative impact on the economy, hurting productivity and wasting precious resources – to say nothing of the harm to the environment.  It is not just the individuals who are affected but there is a cost for businesses and also for the cities. My personal interest in this issue is not confined to the traffic and its effect on our workforce, but also to understand driver behaviour and attitudes.

An observation:  there are cultural differences in commuters. In certain European cities, the level of transit usage is much higher, and people walk more to work, whereas in Los Angeles or some other cities, the behaviour may be different. A Swede might be more patient about waiting for pedestrians to pass, while US drivers might prefer a route that avoids having to deal with pedestrians, even if the trip takes a little longer. Bangkok drivers can be a mix of both.

Another observation:  people try to escape congestion by moving over to an alternate route thinking the other street would be better. But, in most cases, traffic flow quickly adjusts to even out the load.

So, what is the most frustrating part of commuting? IBM Commuter Pain Survey of 8,192 motorists in 20 cities indicates that start-stop traffic is most frustrating, followed by aggressive/rude drivers, unpredictable journey time, and lastly, slow speed.  

Big-city traffic is never pleasant. But there's hope as some high-tech traffic strategies are currently under construction. Taking Beijing as an example. China’s capital has invested in adding to its transport infrastructure and subway system. Although the city topped the list, most commuters in the Chinese capital said the situation was improving after rapid growth in the city caused enormous congestion.  

Another example is Singapore. The Land Transport Authority there has implemented a system that helps report traffic in real time. The backbone of its system is traffic prediction software that combines historical data and real-time traffic reports, road segment by road segment, to estimate what a commute will look like as the commuter continues down the road. The system was put to a successful test a couple of years ago. It can accurately predict anywhere up to 60 minutes into the future and tell you what the speeds and volumes will be on each of the links that you have the information from. Those predictions can be distributed to commuters via electronic bus-stop signs or mobile devices to let them know when the bus is really going to arrive, as opposed to when the schedule merely claims it will be there. The software can even fill in gaps in regional traffic data, although those gaps are likely to fade as GPS-based traffic monitoring takes hold.

So, in Singapore, simply giving commuters and transit managers accurate information about the delays that are just ahead in “Real time” can be too late. If you can get ahead of the curve, where you can predict very accurately a little bit into the future, then you can proactively manage these networks.  

Traffic jams are just as stressful in Asia. Big cities influence a variety of living conditions for citizens. Despite the constant grind of traffic jams, poor air quality and increasing health risks, people continue to choose to live the city life. It is hoped though that with time, as more programmes – such as aggressive infrastructure investment in some of the most rapidly growing economies or the increased willingness to use public transportation and technology to improve the commute – will be implemented, more problems will be solved to continuously help improve living conditions for those in metropolitan areas.  

Roadway traffic is a big problem, and solving big problems requires a system-wide perspective. 

 

Parnsiree Amatayakul is managing director of IBM Thailand. Her article is published every third Friday of the month.