In an attempt to alleviate congestion, China is rolling out a mobile phone based traffic monitoring platform that enables the government to track where and how 17 million Beijing residents drive.
A bit over the top by the government you may think, but last year the Chinese capital experienced a 62 mile, 9 day traffic jam.
After this incident the government attempted to ease up congestion by expanding it’s highway, building a super-speed railway and the government has la
unched a new electric taxi service.
The mobile phone traffic monitoring project will be developed in partnership with China Mobile and will track in real-time the location of its people, in an effort to understand population flow at certain times of the day and in different areas of the city.
“By sending dynamic travel information to citizens, they can adjust their trip plan in downtown areas to effectively relieve traffic congestion,”said depty director of the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, Li Guoguang. “It is also fairly beneficial for population management. Information obtained through the mobile phone location is more thorough in terms of figuring out the population of a certain dwelling district.”
