Smart mobility in Istanbul with “IBB CepTrafik”

Abstract

Substantial population growth, inadequate transport infrastructure, poor integration of public transport modes and insufficient space for constructing new roads have all combined to present major obstacles to resolving existing traffic problems in metropolitan cities in recent years. With a population in excess of 14 million, Istanbul is one of the most crowded metropolitan cities in the world and is suffering severe consequences from traffic congestion. The daily home-work commute between two continents by many citizens is responsible for long queues at the bridge crossings, causing bottlenecks and logjams in urban traffic. These daily trips result in lost time, increased use of fuel, reduced productivity and psychological stress. Having accurate, realtime information about congested areas and options for alternative, more advantageous routes to reach destinations is of great importance for the city's daily commuters. This study presents information about a mobile application developed by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in multiple mobile application platforms (iOS, Android and Windows Phone) and downloaded by millions of users. The mobile application uses colours to indicate the traffic status of roads and provides information from live traffic cameras, announcements and other sources about road works and events affecting traffic. It presents online weather information and estimated traffic conditions up to an hour ahead, enables hearing-impaired citizens to obtain up-to-date traffic information by making in-app video calls, and offers services to the public across multiple channels. Online traffic data from real-time traffic measurement sensors is used in the application, along with data collected from floating cars and mobile application users.