School runs undoubtedly contribute to urban traffic congestion. Now that schools are closed and many residents are abroad for their summer holidays, motorists enjoy reduced commute time.
There are lessons that can be drawn here to understand the changes in traffic flows during school days and school holidays. Khaleej Times spoke to urban planners and transportation experts who shared practical solutions and proposed measures that can be implemented so residents can enjoy less traffic not only during summer.
Dr Monica Menendez, associate dean of Engineering for Graduate Affairs at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), noted: “Having traffic fluctuations that follow school patterns is typical everywhere across the world. When school is on, traffic tends to be worse than when school is off and kids are on vacation. This is also true for the weekends, when the traffic patterns change, as most people don’t commute to work.”
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“In the UAE, the (positive) effect of the school holidays is even more pronounced during summer, since many people leave the country. As a result, congestion goes down significantly, travel times drop, and moving around some typically congested areas of the city becomes a breeze,” she added.
The NYUAD professor of Civil and Urban Engineering told Khaleej Times: “Maintaining these low traffic levels all year round is very hard once people come back into the country and kids start normal school.”
“As school opening times in the morning tend to be very similar around the city, most families with kids need to commute at the same time. This – compounded with the fact that many people have a similar working schedule – can lead to a lot of traffic,” explained Dr Menendez.
Explore flexible working hours
One solution Dr Menendez suggested is to explore the potential impact of flexible working hours and remote working arrangements.
“Encouraging this additional flexibility could alleviate congestion – as it would spread the traffic peaks in a way that the available road capacity is used more efficiently throughout the day,” she underscored.
“Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, for instance, is conducting a survey to explore the potential impact of flexible working hours and remote working arrangements.”
Use big data to predict traffic
Another solution suggested by the NYUAD professor, who is also director at Research Centre for Interacting Urban Networks, is the use of big data for traffic management. She noted: “With all the data that is being generated across a multiplicity of devices, it is now possible to predict traffic much better than before.”
A study published by Dr Menendez and her colleagues has shown that urban mobility patterns – at the aggregate level – are quite reproducible from day to day. The patterns “could help transportation authorities to be more proactive when it comes to managing traffic and reducing the likelihood of traffic congestion,” she added.
Emirati traffic safety researcher Dr Mostafa Al Dah said AI (artificial intelligence) and other predictive tools can provide solutions to mitigate traffic. He explained: “We can use AI to draw out complete data for example to profile what type of people – their jobs, nationality, age group – who usually go out of the country during summer. Then we compare the data when traffic is high and create a computer model to interpret the data.”
Out-of-the-box solutions
Al Dah said the data can be used to create a trend as to the number of people who leave or don’t use the roads during summer “then we can have better traffic mitigation or come up with out-of-the-box solutions.”
For instance, one solution can be is to give incentives to people who will stay off the road at certain times of the day to minimise the number of cars on the roads, noted Al Dah, who is also the founder of MA Traffic Consulting.
Another solution is to enhance pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and implement safety education to encourage active commuting options or the use of public transportation.
Home-schooling can also be encouraged, added Al Dah, noting “it is counter-productive for students to spend two hours daily on the road going to and from school.”
Adjusting daily routine is another solution, such as flexible work and school time to alleviate traffic congestion.
More solutions
Urban planner and architect Aileen Llagas noted that “it may seem difficult to reduce traffic congestion but there are strategies to control and lessen its severity”. She suggested the following:
- Upgrade and expand road infrastructure to handle increased traffic volumes more efficiently and allocate parking areas strategically.
- Improve traffic management with the use of real-time traffic monitoring and smart traffic signal systems to optimise traffic flow and reduce wait times at intersections.
- Try to implement minimal congestion charges to discourage driving during peak hours. Congestion charges, which are intended to reduce traffic, refer to money motorists must pay in order to drive in areas of the city.
- Encourage carpooling and the use of school buses. By creating high-occupancy vehicle lanes, it will reduce the reliance on individual cars for students and residents.
- Adopt flexible schedules for businesses and schools by applying online classes, remote working, and staggered start times to lessen peak-hour traffic and cut down on commuters.
- The most popular one among sustainability advocates is to encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation like public buses, trains, bicycles, and walking.
Be the solution
Llagas reiterated: “Innovations and smart technologies are now being used to solve the challenges of traffic congestion. All we need are suitable programmes and public awareness campaigns to have a more efficient transportation system even during peak hours when classes resume and people return from vacation.”
For her part, she said: “I always check the real-time traffic situation and plan my trip ahead of time by using alternative routes and avoiding highly congested areas. While waiting for all the major changes to happen, let’s not be part of the problem but rather be part of the solution.”