An important aspect that needs priority in the efficient functioning of the transport ecosystem is the availability of real-time data.

In the era of advanced technological interventions in day-to-day lives, the necessity to develop the infrastructure to track transit information in metropolis cities is fundamental to the urban transport sector. The lack of data about city transportation and its nuances subsequently affects the ridership in the public transportation sector.

While funding has been provided for various Intelligent Transport Management Systems (ITMS) through Smart Cities Missions in the past and initiatives such as the ‘Transport 4 All Challenge’ by the National Institute of Urban Affairs, India still lags in maintaining a captive transport ridership database. More than 11 cities have established their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) with a combined cost of  Rs 1550 Crore, under the Smart Cities Mission. This centre collects functional information about all the departments and the public on a real-time basis which includes transport as well.

While some cities like Surat have leveraged this initiative by effectively utilising the collected data for better decision-making, cities like Kochi are yet to utilise real-time data collected. The data collected is not utilised or shared with various stakeholders to arrive at better policy-level decisions. 

Aid of Startups

Recent trends and initiatives have shown that cities have taken the aid of startups in integrating real-time data into transport systems. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Namma Metro have decided to release the real-time transit data of BMTC buses, and metros in the city for open access in June 2024. This is done by involving tech start-ups to deliver the required support in technology and transport integration.

This may help to create an efficient system of mobility in the urban area by connecting various modes of transportation and the data related to it. While this is a welcome move, often start-ups face challenges in scaling up due to policy-level challenges in aggregation.

Today, several online private bus, taxi, and auto aggregators like Citiflo, Shuttl, Uber, and Ola offer integrated information about the trips to their customers, which helps them plan their trips accordingly. This has made their services more reliable.

Various transport corporations and authorities in India have also introduced several mobile applications that transmit real-time information. For Instance, in Bengaluru, they launched an application called ‘Namma BMTC’ in 2023 to provide information on bus schedules, routes, etc. Similarly, Delhi has ‘One Delhi’, Mumbai has ‘Chalo’, Kerala introduced ‘Ente KSRTC’, and Hyderabad has ‘TGSRTC Gamyam’.

However, many applications are not really beneficial for users due to the lack of timely updates on bus schedules and fares and the lack of awareness among citizens about these online services. Additionally, these applications were observed to be lacking in the technical arena, as users raised issues related to the server and its inactivity from time to time.

The State Transport Undertakings (STUs) which established infrastructure for real-time data collection, need to focus on efficient market integration.

While some STUs have often quoted misuse of transport data being the key reason for hesitance in sharing transport data, it is a fact that only data-driven decision-making can lead to effective policy solutions. The importance of the association of STUs with private participants arises here.

Either by outsourcing or by releasing the data for open access, the corporations may utilise the data collected for the improvement of the transportation system. The corporations shall also address the necessity of developing a specific model that is peculiar to each city or region and the necessary policies that would help entrepreneurs support the transport sector. 

The government has officially adopted several measures to provide access to the data owned by various governmental institutions. The Economic Survey 2018-19 by the Ministry of Finance advocates for data as a public good and calls for a central welfare database, with ministries acting as data fiduciaries, and private companies accessing the database for a fee¹. Though the existing Digital Data Protection Act of 2023 mainly restricts only the sharing of personal data without permission, public data with the government is often denied in the name of privacy rules and shareability. 

An efficient market integration and funding assistance are necessary to ensure seamless integration of different platforms, including STUs and private operators. The government tends to operate in a fixed standard mode even when the market situation demands otherwise. Hence, a system that could leverage the potential of real-time data in improving the public transportation system is possible with the development of an ecosystem that marks the association of private transport aggregators with favourable policies.

Such data can be leveraged for proper planning, route rationalisation, designing, and implementing effective public transport. This would also prompt people to rely more on public transport and shift to sustainable means of transport.

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References:

1. https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/conomicsurvey/doc/vol1chapter/echap04_vol1.pdf ↩︎

Lizbeth Godwin is a Senior Research Associate and Mridula Lathan is a Research Intern at Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)

Views expressed by the authors are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the Centre for Public Policy Research.