3 Ways in Which Entrepreneurs Could Create Smart Solutions to Mitigate the Urban Commute Issue in India Redefining the urban commute and actually developing smart solutions

With India rapidly growing, so are its cities which now house opportunities that were not till long ago seen as unachievable. Now, when it comes to people leveraging these opportunities in Indian urban markets, there has also been the problem of intra-city transportation and now having raised its ugly head in almost all tier-1 (and even some tier-2) urban centers.

Solving the urban commute problem requires smart entrepreneurial models for which the onus now is on the new-age entrepreneurs to drive change and create solutions for solving issues plaguing urban commutation. Here, it is worth noting that these issues go well beyond the conventional traffic gridlocks; the brevity of the situation is now such that people are confused on which would be the best means for smart commutation with their cities.

In this regard, experts readily believe that the new-age startups have within them what it takes to drive smart change as far as mitigating these issues is concerned. In a bid to offer comprehensive guides for entrepreneurs to drive smart urban commutation solutions, Entrepreneur India interacted with RK Shenoy who is Senior Vice-President for Embedded Solutions at Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions.

Predictability of public transportation would make it smart

"Effective implementation of BRTs and On-board smart telematics units connected to advance Passenger information systems, city apps would enhance the predictability and make public transportation more reliable," states Shenoy.

Now, this is in line with making public transport systems viz buses smarter such that citizens find meaning in using these. Also, reliability of such systems would be a notch higher than the current systems which mostly require human interventions to be driven.

According to Shenoy, there would also be a greater degree of safety within smart and connected public transportation.

"Public transport needs to become more predictable with real time information and also be more safe & comfortable," he adds.

Hence, you could take the onus of developing intelligent data-driven models which could crunch data so as to effectively ensure that public commutation systems reach people; this is apart from the dynamic bus monitoring systems which are already in place in many Indian cities.

What entrepreneurs have in store?

Apart from developing connected transportation models, entrepreneurs could also look at aspects such as intelligent parking management, traffic management systems, and automated challan system with ANPR for traffic violations; all of which would add to the smartness factor of urban commuting.

This is where disruptive technology comes into picture.

"Data Scientists (and Entrepreneurs) should leverage applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data analytics, and Machine Learning to enhance user experience through better service by effective and efficient operation for public transport (through better predictability and decision making)," observes Shenoy.

Entrepreneurial models to extend beyond metro rail

With the metro rail concept fast catching up in India; and with all major metros now covered by the system; the mode is generally looked upon as smart by commuters. Here, it is worth noting that metro services are a mode of transportation which has a long way to go when it comes to this turning into means of transportation.

In this regard, Entrepreneur India checked with Shenoy on laying emphasis even outside of the metro stations, for bridging the ever elusive last-mile connectivity gaps.

"The focus has been on Last/fast – mile connectivity through shared bicycle & e-bike services at strategic location across the major cities till now. However, BRT concept with priority lanes would greatly help in areas beyond metro," he believes.

The key takeaway for entrepreneurs, desirous of developing suitable commutation solutions, would be to focus on seamless multimodal ticketing or an aggregator model to make multi-modal commuting effective.

Shenoy believes that the above aspects could also potentially connect with investors when it comes to raising venture capital investments.

"The Bosch DNA (Discover, Nurture, and Align) startup accelerator program, is an Open Innovation Platform helps to identify and engage with startups, where we intend to collaborate with them to co-create the solution or partner with them to go-to-market together. Smart City, New Age Transportation, Intelligent Traffic Management, Connected Car Ecosystem are part of the DNA program," he says when asked about Bosch's willingness to actually take smart entrepreneurs into their fold to locally develop solutions.