ITS Challenges in India

Indian ITS scenario needs a unified focus on the following segments:

• Enforcement systems (red-light, speed, lane violation, etc).
•  Traffic management systems – a combination of Area Traffic Control (ATC) and V2I (Vehicle to Infra) communication systems
• Electronic Tolling Systems
•  Incident Management Systems
•  Passenger/ Traveler Information Systems
•  Smart Vehicles

Traffic management is an investment intensive and cannot be traded against advertisement rights.

– Nilanjan Chakravortty

There is a need for single data framework underlying these technologies and that is where technologies like big data play a major role. The implementation authorities need to understand that this framework creation is of paramount importance. Isolated implementation of the individual segments and as-is deployment of available technologies may prove fatal, if we are not consciously looking at the broader framework. There has been an increased awareness about available ITS technologies but deployment has been sporadic and fragmented.

There should be a more traffic engineering based approach to ITS deployment in the country. Specifically, there should be a clear picture of traffic demand and a plan of how a multi-modal transport network is going to fulfill that mobility demand. There should be an informed decision about how technology is going to help achieve that mobility plan and safety requirements and, ITS systems should be designed and deployed based on that plan. Internationally, this step is often captured in a Concept of Operations document. Moreover, there should be a structured approach to how ITS systems are designed, configured and operated.

Dr Rajesh Krishnan, CEO, ITS Planners and Engineers Pvt Ltd, stated, “ ITS design are often paid scant attention and a lot of details were left to the system integrator or the vendor during installation and configuration stages. System configurations will sometimes need to be informed by transport modelling, and this is almost always not done in our country. Lastly, the size and capabilities of the team who will operate the ITS system and achieve the desired traffic outcomes should be determined at the planning stage itself, and proper budget allocation should be made for the operational phase. I feel that many ITS systems in our country operate at sub-optimal levels of efficiency because of lack of upkeep, which in turn results from lack of knowledgeable manpower to operate the systems.”

The ITS policies and standards should be reviewed and updated to bring in consistency across the country.

– Dr Rajesh Krishnan