Moving Towards an Intelligent

Transportation System
IOT driven buses in Ahmedabad

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POWERED BY Data Driven Governance

URBAN
CASELETS SERIES
ABOUT TATA TRUSTS

Tata Trusts are amongst India's oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organisa�ons. Since its
incep�on, Tata Trusts have played a pioneering role in transforming tradi�onal ideas of
charity and introducing the concept of philanthropy to make a real difference to
communi�es. Through grant-making, direct implementa�on and co-partnership
strategies, the Trusts support and drive innova�on in the areas of healthcare and nutri�on;
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nurture a self-sustaining eco-system that collec�vely works across all these areas.

ABOUT DATA DRIVEN GOVERNANCE

The Data Driven Governance (DDG) Ini�a�ve of the Tata Trusts works with rural and urban
decision making systems to enable inculca�on of data as a way of life in the planning and
delivery of government schemes – thereby crea�ng significant impact for underserved and
marginalized communi�es. This has been demonstrated through deployment of inclusive
data and technology processes at district and city levels, through large scale partnerships
with governments, central planning en��es, founda�ons and philanthropies such as the
Ni� Aayog, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Tata Steel Rural Development
Society.

The Urban Engagements under the DDG Ini�a�ve of the Tata Trusts provides directed
technology and capacity building support to urban administra�ons at central and city
levels through effec�ve fore-grounding of city data policies, data standardiza�on models,
implementa�on of inclusive open data portals, improved civic engagement and skill
building of municipal officials in data and technology prac�ces
Data Driven Governance

URBAN
CASELETS SERIES

CASE STUDY 5 | JULY 2019

Moving Towards an Intelligent

Transportation System
IOT driven buses in Ahmedabad
Case Study 5| July 2019

Keywords: IoT, Big Data Analysis, Big Data,

Intelligent Transport Management System,
Smart Transport Management, Smart Cities,
Urban Local Bodies

Data Driven Governance at Tata Trusts seeks The objective of this series is to showcase
to provide directed technology, strategic and best performing data initiatives in Indian
capacity building support to strengthen rural cities, while promoting cross learning and
and urban decision making systems. The sharing of best practices across cities.
objective is to improve government planning
and delivery for inclusive development. This case study brings out how the city of
Employing data centric tools, technology and Ahmedabad, an identified Phase 1 Smart City
planning provides insights into quantitative in the state of Gujarat has successfully
and qualitative development indicators, deployed big data analysis and applied the
makes room for informed policy making, Internet of Things(IoT) approach to build a
measurable performance indicators, smart bus system (Intelligent Transport
facilitates meaningful collaborations and Management System) which is easy to plan,
improves overall governance. merge and grow along with the expanding
population of the city.
With the specific motive to create a ‘culture
of data’ in cities across India, Tata Trusts
launched the City Data for India Initiative in
partnership with Canada-based World
Council for City Data (WCCD). The initiative
seeks to empower Urban Local Bodies to
make data-informed decisions to improve city
planning, infrastructure investment and
operational performance management using
International Organization of
Standardization’s (ISO) standardized,
comparable city data.

ISO 37120 includes 100 indicators (46 core

and 54 supporting), structured around 17
themes, including economy, governance,
education, health, shelter, transportation,
environment etc. This exercise is currently
being implemented in 8 cities, including the
city of Ahmedabad.

As a part of the urban engagements within

the Data Driven Governance realm of work,
the Trusts are putting together a series of
caselets illustrating the meaningful use of
data in various city functions.
Case Study 5| July 2019

The Challenge
As one of India’s fastest growing scientific and
High
industrial hubs, the city of Ahmedabad was Poor route Excessive
operation
planning waiting time
among the first 20 cities selected for costs
government’s Smart City Mission. The thriving
economic environment of the city attracts many
individuals to the city, leading to an increased Lack of
Lack of Rough advertised
pace of migration to the city and urbanization. In transparency driving bus
order to ensure that all citizens of the city have schedules

equal access to services- education, employment

and safe environment and to avoid spatial
Poor
discrimination, it becomes essential to have an Bus- Stop customer
bunching skipping complaint
efficient transportation system at affordable management
prices.

Ahmedabad’s two major bus services Bus Rapid Figure 1: Challenges with the manual
bus operating system
Transit (BRT) and city bus Ahmedabad Municipal
Transport Service (AMTS) transport 0.8 million
passengers daily across the city1 . Despite
affordable ticket prices, the bus services were The Solution
underutilized due to customer concerns over
quality.
A. Intelligent Transport Management System
The previously manually operated system
suffered from poor route planning, lack of In recognition of the importance of an efficient
advertised bus schedules, bus-bunching, public transport, Smart City Ahmedabad
excessive waiting time, rough driving, stop Development Limited (SCADL) has partnered with
skipping, and inconvenient or inconsistent cash NEC. NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational
collection. provider of information technology (IT) services
and products. It provides IT and network
A lack of transparency also resulted in higher solutions to business enterprises, communication
operating costs and poor customer complaint service providers and government agencies.
handling. The city authorities were keen to
upgrade to a cashless, software-based bus service
system backed by advanced information and
communication technology to help reduce
expenses and problem-response time.
Case Study 5| July 2019

SCADL has partnered with NEC to upgrade the route and estimate waiting and arrival
city’s manually operated, often erratic bus times. Route and bus stop information is
transit infrastructure with a seamless, safe and also provided via on-board displays and
reliable intelligent transport management announcements.
system. Intelligently applied Internet of Things
(IoT) and big data analysis technologies can iv. Vehicle Planning Schedule and Dispatch
enable the city to build a smart bus system System (VPSD): Bus routes and schedules
that is easy to plan, merge and grow along optimized by analysis of bus travel
with its expanding footfall. Services offered performance and traffic volume.
span across 230 BRT buses, 158 BRT stations,
850 AMTS buses, 2500 AMTS bus stations. v. Depot Management System (DMS):
Allocate and optimize crew and overall
B. How was it implemented bus operations by automating the
management of vehicles, fuel, inventory,
The new Intelligent Transport Management personnel, and vehicle maintenance.
System (ITMS) improves the efficiency of BRT
and AMTS bus services using a cashless open- Incident management systems also
loop card system. In addition to automated enable operators to track incidents such
fare collection, the one-stop, IoT-driven as equipment failure and bus accidents
system manages bus resources, bus throughout the incident lifecycle.
maintenance, transport information, and Further, all buses and bus stops have
personnel. It also collects and analyzes data to CCTV cameras installed for citizen
help optimize resources, and boost ticket safety.
sales. The ITMS incorporates five smart
transport sub-systems:
Automated Fare
Collection Service
i. Automated Fare Collection Service (AFCS):
Quick and secure cashless payment via
prepaid RuPay card or smartphone
ensures greater convenience, passenger Automatic Vehicle
safety and ridership visibility. Location Service

ii. Automatic Vehicle Location System

(AVLS): Real-time visualization of vehicle Passenger Information
location via fitted GPS enables the city to System
calculate estimated time of arrival and
support bus operations from a central
command center to adhere to a planned Vehicle Planning Schedule
schedule. and Dispatch System

iii. Passenger Information System (PIS):

Provide real-time bus information via
Depot Management
mobile app, website and in-station System
boards to enable passengers to plan their
Case Study 5| July 2019

“Throughout this project, NEC Technologies ticketing, in-station and in-journey stages. The
India orchestrated a group of 20 vendors and information includes whether the designated
partners scattered worldwide because our travel routes are adhered to, the stops at
primary motivation is to build synergies, and which the bus stops, how long does the bus
leverage our transportation solutions portfolio stop for, number of passengers on each bus,
and ICT to create advanced social professionalism of the driver, driving of the
infrastructure, and improve India’s society,” driver, bus delays etc.
stated Shumpei Fujii, Head of the
Transportation Business Unit at NEC If the analysis reveals any shortcomings in the
Technologies India. The operation and operations, then an appropriate action is
maintenance of the buses are outsourced to a taken by human personnel at ICCC, according
private vendor. to the prescribed statement of purpose.
Usually, in case of a minor hindrance, the
All data collected in the buses through IOT driver is immediately contacted by ICCC. It is a
devices gets sent to the back end system on a two way communication and the driver too
daily basis. The backend system has been can contact the ICCC in case of any hindrances
developed in a standard interface format to in the operation.
interpret and understand data from different
devices and ensure standardization of all data If the issue can’t be resolved immediately then
collected. a complaint ticket id is generated through an
automatic ticket disclosure management
If data from any device does not get sent to system, and further action is taken by
the backend due to unforeseen technical coordinating with concerned Municipal
lapses, then the data gets stored in the device. Commission Department.
As soon as connection is restored, data is sent
to backend. Every 3 hours, the data gets “The comprehensive system offers the
automatically backed up from all devices and operator a plan-do-check-action optimization
is replicated at disaster recovery site. All of the cycle that not only executes specified plans
data collected is owned by Ahmedabad but also evaluates those plans by visualizing
Municipal Corporation. operation performance. Real-time
visualization of running buses and fare
Data from each service is analyzed at the revenue enables operators to easily detect
Integrated Command and Control Center irregularities and swiftly determine
against key performance indicators to create countermeasures,” explained Shumpei Fujii.
more efficient and dynamic bus service
operations, and a smarter, safer travel
experience for commuters, across the
Case Study 5| July 2019

C. Solution Enablers
i. The introduction of a software based
The operation and maintenance of the buses system makes the system more
are outsourced to private vendors and the transparent. Eg: Service contractors are
remuneration is on a performance basis. In the now remunerated on the basis of
pre-digitised era, fabrication of reports and concrete parameters like total kilometers
leakage of large sums of public money were driven, professionalism of the driver,
common practices, as all information adherence to route and safe driving
presented was manual and there was no ii. Efficient commuter management has
mechanism in place to validate the data that reduced ques and waiting time
was being presented. Since the adoption of iii. Innovative Vehicle Scheduling and
IOT devices, every single detail about the Dispatch System Software allows to
movement of the bus- the route followed, modify transit routes and dispatch
duration of stops, no of passengers on it in a vehicles according to need
day, professionalism of the driver, driving of iv. Geographical Information Management
the driver etc., all of it is recorded and can be System, by making data available, allows
validated. the government to save approx. Rs. 60
Lakhs per month
The new highly transparent system was v. Automated cashless payment system
initially resisted by the bus drivers and staff on keeps in check payment frauds and
ground as it hindered any payments for which makes it possible to track payments
there was no data available. Often the IOT vi. Analytical tools supports all levels of
enabled devices in the buses were hampered decision making
with, resulting in breakdown of devices. The vii. SCADL is now looking at developing
support of middle-top agents, especially the multi-modal travel services spanning BRT,
leadership of Municipal Commissioner and metro, railway, monorail, taxis, etc. and
CEO, Smart City was key to the offering seamless services supported by
implementation process. Along with this, integrated operation and ticketing
engineers were deployed on ground to ensure platforms
smooth functioning, random checks were
conducted.

Lessons Learned
The Impact
i. The use of real-time data can yield
tangible results both in terms of
Launched in 2017, the intelligent transport cost savings as well as driving
management system is already helping better performance for public
develop efficient and convenient bus transport services being offered by the
services. municipality.
Case Study 5| July 2019

The bus transit system in Ahmedabad is achieved, the better it is.

a case in point, and such use cases can
be extended to other cities as well as v. As the operations and maintenance
other services. of buses is typically outsourced to
third party private operators, it is
i. Bus systems are mostly used by very important that these operators
commuters for daily work and also are also taken on board in the early
students, and hence reach a sizeable stages by PTO. Since the private
population across the city. Efficient operators are the ones who will be
bus services further serve to using the ITMS/AFCS systems on a
encourage commuters to utilize daily basis, ownership by them is
public transport and can be an equally important.
effective way to bring down the
carbon footprint as well. While this
case does not specifically look at this
aspect, the linkages between
efficient public transport and better
air quality levels have been well
documented. Endnotes
1. The information used in the section
ii. Success of any ITMS implementation was retrieved from NEC’s website
depends on the ownership by the top 2. The information for this case study has
management of the Public Transport been developed with the support of
Operator (PTO) agency. Unless the NEC.
top management is involved in the
intervention, individuals involved in
other levels of management never
take it seriously.

iii. PTO, Project Management Consultant

(PMC) and vendor have to work as a
cohesive team to ensure timely and
successful implementation.

iv. Clarity on scope & objectives of ITMS

implementation and agreement by all
stakeholders is the most critical
aspect for successful
implementation. The quicker it is
Case Study 5| July 2019

Abbreviations

AFCS Automated Fare Collection Service

AMTS Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service
AVLS Automatic Vehicle Location System
BRT Bus Rapid Transit
DMS Depot Management System
ICCC Integrated Command and Control Center
IT Information technology
ITMS Intelligent transport management system
NUIS National Urban Innovation Stack
PIS Passenger Information System
PMC Project Management Consultant
PTO Public Transport Operator
SCADL Smart City Ahmedabad Development Limited
VPSD Vehicle Planning Schedule and Dispatch System
WCCD World Council for City Data

Related Content
Other Cases URBAN Caselets Series:

1. India’s First City Data Officer-Recounting our Learnings & Experiences from Pune(link)
2. Pune’s Open Data Story – The What, Why and How of Open Data in Indian Smart Cities (link)
3. Developing Resilience Scenarios and Strategies through Participatory Simulations – Case of
Metropolitan Chennai (link)
4. Improved & Mechanized Door to Door Waste Collection – Learnings from Ahmedabad (link)
5. Monitoring Air Quality through Smart Poles – Case of Bhopal Smart City (link)

Report:

Open Data for Urban India – Framework and Implementation Guidelines (link)
AUTHORS

Poornima Dore Shru� Parija Simrat Swani

Head Program Officer Intern
Data Driven Governance Data Driven Governance Data Driven Governance
Tata Trusts Tata Trusts Tata Trusts

Suggested Cita�on:
Dore,P, Parija,S, Swani,S. 2019. “Moving Towards an Intelligent Transporta�on System - IOT driven buses
in Ahmedabad ”. Urban Caselet Series. Tata Trusts. July 2019.

© Tata Trusts, 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publica�on may be reproduced or transmi�ed in
any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any informa�on storage and
retrieval system
© Tata Trusts, 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publica�on may be reproduced or transmi�ed in
any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any informa�on storage and
retrieval system