Study claims reduction in congestion at Delhi borders

NEW DELHI: An independent study of vehicle congestion at 13 entry points of Delhi using cloud-based technology showed a 25% reduction in traffic congestion on Saturday morning as compared with average congestion of the past four Saturdays at the toll plazas.
From Friday midnight, mandatory RFID system for paying civic toll came into effect at these borders. Vehicles without these tags have to pay double the amount to enter the city.
The live-traffic monitoring by Bulleye Technologies, a start-up entity which has also been roped in by Delhi Traffic Police for a pilot project to track congestion at entry points, showed that the average traffic queue at Tikri Border in the past four Saturdays (11 am) was 432 metres on each lane. But on August 24, the queue was only 152 metres. “The congestion could be less also due to Janmashtami. But the impact of vehicles either using RFID tags or bypassing Delhi cannot be ignored. As the penetration of RFID tags increase, the congestion will be less,” said one of the IT experts involved in this study.
Citing the live data captured from 13 entry points, the expert said the situation was more chaotic on August 17, which was the first deadline announced for installing RFID tags. The average increase in traffic queue at the MCD toll points was 31% compared with the historical monthly vehicle pile up and it was worse at Tikri Border. The deadline had to be extended amid reports that tags were in short supply.
The real-time traffic data collected at these entry points show that commercial vehicles wait for longest period at Tikri Border followed by Shahdara Border.
Meanwhile, some of the technology players in the smart tag sector TOI talked to said there was need to have one RFID tag to make payment at all toll plazas.