Bengaluru’s effort to manage one of India’s most congested road networks with data rather than guesswork has won national recognition. The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has received the Commendation Award in Urban Transport from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for its initiative titled “Data-Driven Traffic Management in Bengaluru”, The Hindu reported on October 25.
The award acknowledges how the city has put big data analytics to work across day-to-day traffic operations, congestion management and evidence-based transport planning.
ASTraM: one operational picture of the city’s roads
At the heart of the initiative is ASTraM, an integrated operations platform that combines artificial intelligence, big data and real-time traffic information. It pulls together feeds that have traditionally sat in separate systems, including traffic signals, CCTV networks, GPS data, incident and accident records, enforcement systems, maps and inputs from multiple government agencies.
Bringing these sources onto a single platform allows traffic managers to shift from reacting to jams after they form to anticipating and managing them, an intelligence-led model of traffic operations that many Indian cities are now trying to build through their command and control centres.
Adaptive signals at 169 junctions
A key building block is AI-based adaptive traffic signal control, now deployed at 169 junctions. Instead of running on fixed timers, these signals adjust in response to real-time traffic demand.
The platform also draws on data from more than 6,500 BMTC buses. It has handled over 2,400 emergency movements and supports more than 300 ambulances integrated through the ePath system, which helps clear priority routes across the city.
Measured gains on the ground
According to the award submission, the initiative has delivered:
- an average saving of 14 minutes in ambulance travel time;
- a 15 to 20 per cent improvement in average travel speeds; and
- an estimated reduction of around 2,600 tonnes of emissions every month.
Beyond live operations, the shared data layer is being used for planning. It helps authorities pinpoint congestion bottlenecks, assess the impact of interventions, prioritise infrastructure investment and coordinate better across agencies, while also supporting road safety and long-term mobility planning.
Feeding into Bengaluru’s Urban Mobility Mission
Congratulating the force, Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge said growing cities need stronger coordination between agencies and smarter, technology-driven approaches to urban mobility. He said the capability would strengthen the state’s upcoming Urban Mobility Mission, helping agencies plan together, respond faster and build safer, smoother mobility across Bengaluru.
For other Indian cities investing in smart signals and integrated command centres, Bengaluru’s recognition offers a useful benchmark: the value lies less in the cameras and sensors themselves and more in joining up data across agencies and tying it to measurable outcomes such as response times, travel speeds and emissions.
Image: Evening traffic at Ejipura signal, Bengaluru (representational). Photo: psubhashish, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.