Eradicating Traffic Congestion in New York City

Edison , N.J.-- (Business Wire)-- Feb. 1, 2006

Technology may be the answer to New York City 's congestion crisis, according to global IT solution provider MajescoMastek Ltd., which developed the software for London 's successful congestion pricing project. "Congestion pricing for New York City is not only a function of charging consumers, but also providing alternative modes of transportation, rationalization on tolls, and a technology solution that is seamless and does not lead to traffic chaos - a holistic solution," said MajescoMastek CEO Sudhakar Ram.

http://www.majescomastek.com/leadership-team.php

The city of London faced these challenges when implementing a congestion pricing program in 2003. London suffered the worst traffic congestion in the UK and one of the worst in Europe . Drivers spent half their time in queues and lost an estimated 2-4 million pounds weekly. The entire project was awarded to Capita , UK 's leading professional and support services company, which contracted Mastek Ltd. ( MajescoMastek 's parent company) to develop thesoftware for the multi-channel customer interface and integrate several other components into the overall solution.

Key aspects of the solution included: -- Some 800 fixed and mobile cameras record the number plates of vehicles entering or moving in Central London .

-- An automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system interprets the live video stream, capturing and converting number plates into data, and storing it in a database.

-- Two databases (of vehicles entering the zone and of payments made by drivers) are compared daily to determine the fees accessed to drivers.

"It was a complex solution, but all the complexity was behind the scenes. For drivers, things couldn't have been simpler. There were no tollbooths, gantries or barriers - they didn't even have to slow down," said Ram.

The success of the initiative exceeded all expectations. Traffic inside the zone went down. Speeds increased by 10-15 percent while queues were reduced by 20-30 percent. The positive impact was also felt outside the zone.

For the case study, see:

http://www.majescomastek.com/itcasestudies/traffic-management-system.php

"From a purely IT perspective, a congestion charging pricing system can be implemented in New York, which might also have a cost advantage over London in starting a system because it has fewer entry points," said Subramaniam V, head of Solutions at MajescoMastek .

MajescoMastek executives are available for interviews

Ashish Jha
ashishmj@majescomastek.com
Tel-732.590.6442