CITMS: a mathematical solution to the traffic management crisis

In 2002, Md Ashraful Alum was a fourth-year student at the Department of Architecture of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He lived in Dr. MA Rashid Hall, with his roommate Shuvo, a junior from the same department.

Despite the age difference, they had a friendly relationship.

One day, Ashraful received a call from Shuvo’s number, but there was someone else on the line. The voice said, ‘He died in a traffic accident. You can identify him as you were the last person he spoke to. Please come to the morgue.’

A courier van passed through Shuvo in the Jatrabari area of ​​the capital.

This incident left a deep impression on Ashraful. He promised himself that he would work on traffic accidents for at least a year. He would conduct a root cause analysis of the problem.

Ashraful complied. He took to the streets. He started observing the movement and behavior of vehicles on the roads. In this way about two and a half years passed. He witnessed first-hand the full extent of the capital’s deadly traffic system.

Issues such as mechanical defects in vehicles, unskilled drivers and frequent violations of the law came to the fore.

He identified some typical reasons behind traffic accidents between two signals. This includes setting up shops or parking vehicles on the road, stopping vehicles in the middle of the street, carelessly crossing pedestrians and the competitive attitude of public transport drivers.

“I noticed that the drivers had no feeling whatsoever about the accidents. It is a systemic failure of our society,” Ashraful told The Business Standard.

“To understand the importance of solving a problem, we must first realize how much damage it causes. I believe that traffic jams and traffic accidents are silent killers of our economy. But since we do not directly see the damage they cause, we fail to feel it.

As a result, we are learning our lessons at the cost of huge losses,” he said.

We need to look at the traffic problem from a mathematical perspective. It must be solved using numbers and data. Our system has enormous business potential. If we charge only Tk30 monthly in exchange for full traffic alerts, I think around 10 lakhs people will pursue this.

Although he did not provide any solutions at the time, Ashraful initiated some awareness activities such as organizing photo exhibitions, providing advanced training to drivers, etc.

Afterwards he was busy with his career as an architect. Although he was driven by a sense of responsibility to work on this subject, he took a long break and separated himself from road safety initiatives. Instead, he focused on his career.

In the meantime, however, something remarkable happened. Ashraful identified 20 black spots along the Savar-Manikganj highways and shared his report with the Superintendent of Roads and Highways Department. Just a month later, the infamous accident that killed Mishuk Munir and Tarek Masud took place at one of those places.

The year 2017-2018 marked a turning point.

He delved back into road safety – or perhaps the matter found its way back to him. He heard about a project from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). At the time he proposed a modernized signal system.

He continued to work on the issue again.

Fast forward to the past few years, Ashraful assembled a team and through his company TrafFix, came up with an integrated, artificial intelligence-based solution that they call CITMS, short for Customizable Integrated Traffic Management System.

How CITMS works

The core idea is to keep everyone informed about traffic situations so they can work together seamlessly. That’s where data comes into play.

“We want to involve the public in our system. Anyone can help by providing traffic information through our system. If there is serious traffic jams or any disruption on the road, they can take a photo or video and send it to our system. team will then try to reach the spot to address the problem,” Ashraful said.

There are three major parts of the CITMS solution: signal, camera and control.

The signaling system will be fully automated. Each signal will be equipped with cameras that provide a real-time view. Traffic police officers can enter information into the system from their respective locations. If a road is closed due to an accident or repair, everyone is informed in advance so they can avoid the route.

It can also serve as a communication medium between traffic police officers, replacing walkie-talkies. No internet connection or electricity is required.

“The system can record the activities and efficiency of traffic police officers, making them more accountable,” Ashraful said.

In 2023 alone, 7,902 people lost their lives, according to data from Bangladesh’s Jatri Kalyan Samiti. A survey by the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) last year found that a Dhaka city resident wastes about 276 hours a year stuck in traffic jams.

“We have to look at the traffic problem from a mathematical angle. It has to be solved with the help of numbers and data; otherwise we cannot find any solution,” Ashraful said.

TrafFix consists of 16 people, including four founders. Most of them are experienced software engineers.

Ashraful said there have been experiments to implement three to four systems in Dhaka, investing hundreds of crores, but all of them failed.

However, CITMS is future-proof, meaning it is designed as ‘open architecture’ to meet future requirements. For example, the team has worked tirelessly to upgrade the system in recent years.

As the word ‘integrated’ in the name suggests, the center of the solution is a mobile application. The app has various modules to bring together different stakeholders, including the city corporation, police, BRTA, journalists and government agencies.

Artificial intelligence will perform tasks such as assessing traffic flow, monitoring the average speed of vehicles, understanding the effectiveness of signal timing, automated data analysis of traffic light efficiency and vehicle license plate identification.

In addition, it will perform tasks such as detecting and filing cases for traffic signal violations, illegal parking, illegal lane changing and speeding, and data analysis of traffic congestion, etc.

“Our system has huge business potential. If we charge only Tk30 monthly in exchange for full traffic alerts, I think about 10 million people will pursue this.”

The solution has an affordable price because the raw materials are purchased locally. While it may vary, the device, lamps and accessories cost roughly Tk25 lakh to Tk50 lakh – almost a tenth of the price of imported ones.

Ashraful believes we can even export the system to other countries. If the government invests in this, it will yield a return within two years.

“We have shared our project with experts and a few stakeholders, and they see it as a robust and sustainable solution. However, we are currently waiting for discussions with officials of the new interim government,” Ashraf concluded.

TrafFix wants to work with the government for two years to implement its solution and strengthen the government’s capacity. After that, the government will take control and keep them as shadow consultants.