Companies develop technologies to ease traffic congestion

Three technology companies, IBM, AccessKenya and Ericsson are developing solutions to ease traffic jams and save the economy huge amounts of revenue lost in congestion each day.

Nairobi’s traffic jam costs the economy Sh50 million daily, a recent study by IBM which monetises man hours lost in jams shows.

The study also showed that driving in Kenya is the fourth most painful traffic experience in the world. The long-hour traffic jams in towns like Nairobi and Mombasa have piled pressure on city planners to go back to the drawing board and solve the menace.

Tony Mwai, the IBM East Africa general manager, said Nairobi will soon be the first Smart City in the region, making it able to access appropriate technology to ease traffic jams.

“From the competition, the city has received a grant of $400,000 which consists of high-level expertise and appropriate technology to resolve the most pressing issues including traffic congestion,” he said, adding that "Nairobi applied for and won the Smarter Cities challenge, which is an IBM-led, global competition between cities.”

Reckless driving

IBM recommends use of special road licenses with chips with records of the driver to curb reckless driving.

Mobile phone density could also be used to pinpoint and predict traffic jams, leveraging on the large number of mobile phone users in Kenya.

This technique is already being used in Kenya by a local website overlap.co.ke. The portal which is powered by Ushahidi, uses crowd sourcing to allow users to report cases of reckless driving, speeding, overlapping and includes reports of traffic officers seeking bribes.

Mr Mwai said the grant will not only save the government on resources, but also will also boost the existing transport rehabilitation projects.

“The government already has an active plan in place to transform Nairobi’s systems and infrastructure in line with the Vision 2030,” he said.

IBM, however, said building a smarter city is not just a challenge for the central government but local authorities, the private sector, NGOs and civil society organisations also have important roles to play.

Internet service provider AccessKenya has installed a network of cameras in the major traffic hotpots in the country, providing its digital traffic surveillance data for free to individuals or corporate developers who seek to come up with solutions to prevent traffic jams.

“We have are keen to work with anyone who can use our data to provide solutions to the traffic situations,” said Mr Jonathan Somen, the group’s managing director.

The company’s website portal traffic, accesskenya.com, provides a network of cameras that are updated every six seconds. The cameras are also used by FM stations to provide traffic updates to listeners in the city.

“Our images are free-of-charge and we are aware of companies that want to use our data to create mobile applications and such initiatives are welcome.”

The ongoing long rains have worsened the traffic situation in major cities and more users are logging on sites like AccessKenya’s to get information on respective routes.

In developed countries, drivers use modern car systems to draw on real-time traffic congestion data and seek alternative routes to avoid high traffic areas.

Different approach

Honda has also taken a different approach to minimise the potential for traffic jams. The company developed a new technology designed to detect whether a person’s driving is likely to create traffic jams and encourage them to drive in such a way as to keep traffic flowing.

Ericsson Kenya last month launched a technological solution that makes commuters’ lives more bearable on the Kenyan roads.

Under its project dubbed “smart cities” it lays out a framework that leverages on the growing use of smart phones and internet connectivity to overcome the challenges of urbanisation.

“Nairobi, like many other cities in the world, is experiencing a high rate of urbanisation and with this growth comes the need for efficient service delivery,” said Mr Craig Hosken, Ericsson’s country manager.

“As the country gets better connected to high speed Internet, it is only right that service providers come together and take advantage of this to improve residents’ lives,” said Mr Hosken.

Previous initiatives in the last decade have done little to improve traffic jams. The City council has restricted matatus to specific designated points outside the city, banned hawkers in Nairobi’s central business district and parking fees all with little effect to end traffic jams.

City planners blame the increasing population and faster growing middle class contributing to high numbers of personal cars on roads.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of statistics shows that the total number of registered motor vehicles stood at 161,813 in 2009. Last year, the figure rose to 205 841, a 30 per cent increase.

While the number of vehicles on Kenyan roads grows fast, transport networks are expanding gradually. Majority of Kenyans believe that the traffic situation has grown worse in the last three years.

Analysts say in addition to these challenges, 74 per cent of commuters leave their homes at the same time and go back at the same time. Between 6-8am and 5-6pm traffic jams are worse in many towns.

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