Pune: The city traffic police have become the first in the country to implement an online traffic management system in collaboration with Google India.“Last year, the state govt signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Google India, following which a traffic application — Trafficure — was developed. The app leverages Google Maps to identify real-time traffic congestion, slow-moving traffic, and other road-related issues across the city. It is fast and provides real-time updates to the police,” Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Monday.“Pune is the first city in India to implement such a project,” Kumar said.“Senior officers study real-time data on their cellphones or television screens and issue instructions to clear bottlenecks from their offices or visit the spot, if required. We are trying to decongest the city with the help of this application,” he added.Additional commissioner of police Manoj Patil said, “The city traffic police have divided Pune into 550 zones based on road networks and vehicular flow.”“Over the last two months of using the application, we have observed that the average vehicular speed has increased to 26.8 kmph from 20 kmph,” Patil said.“The application not only highlights current traffic congestion, slow vehicular movement and traffic volume on roads — whether highways or arterial — but also provides previous traffic data to police personnel at the click of a button,” he added.“This platform enables the police to study road conditions and take corrective measures. At present, the application has identified recurring traffic congestion in Hadapsar, Kalepadal, Navale Bridge and Katraj-Kondhwa Road. We are working on these stretches based on the data,” he said.Kumar said, “This is a technological intervention aimed at identifying traffic hotspots and providing relief to citizens.”“Soon, we will also implement an AI-based traffic management system in the city,” he added.
