SURAT: Indian Urban Data Exchange (IUDX) is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide a data exchange platform to Indian Smart Cities. The platform which was developed by the Smart Cities Mission in partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, was introduced in Surat for testing from October 2020.
Surat Smart City already has a comprehensive Public Transport System including BRT Buses, City Buses and High Mobility Corridor Buses with the current ridership of around 2.4 lakhs. The Bus Occupancy Use Case organises and onboards data on IUDX from sources such as Intelligent Transit Management System, Surat Money Open Loop Smart Card, QR code-based ticketing, and Google’s bus-related real time data. This data is used to derive the actual time of bus arrival and the numbers of passengers on board in real time, helping the citizens better plan their travel.
A recent report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said that lakhs of commuters in Surat Smart City are now using a mobile app of IUDX that provides actual time of bus arrival and real time occupancy of seats. The platform has minimized waiting time of the users at Bus stations/stops, gives options for selecting the bus as per the seat availability, etc. Moreover, it is helping city administration in analyzing 7935 daily trips and schedule 750 buses as per demand.
The public bus sector in cities in India operates nearly 25,000 buses, which carry roughly 10 million people per day. The testing phase in Surat exhibits promise of benefits from such data-driven smart mobility with the help of this platform for cities all over India.