Skip to main content

IBM advises Lagos on future transportation system to aid growth

A team of IBM experts completing a month-long pro bono consulting assignment has presented recommendations to Nigeria's Lagos State Government to ensure that private traffic and public transportation flows more efficiently in Africa's most populous city, Lagos. Working with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority and the Lagos State Ministries of Transportation, Works and Infrastructure, Science and Technology, the IBM team of experts proposed technology-driven strategies to make travel easier.
June 17, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A team of 62 IBM experts completing a month-long pro bono consulting assignment has presented recommendations to Nigeria's Lagos State Government to ensure that private traffic and public transportation flows more efficiently in Africa's most populous city, Lagos.

Working with the 7133 Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority and the Lagos State Ministries of Transportation, Works and Infrastructure, Science and Technology, the IBM team of experts proposed technology-driven strategies to make travel easier.

The recommendations included better coordination between agencies responsible for traffic management, police, fire and medical care to provide more accurate and up-to-date information to help transport management agencies better manage the city's traffic flow.

Also on the list of suggestions was a single, integrated e-ticketing system for all modes of transportation, similar to New York City's Metro Card or London's Oyster card system, and integrated fare management. The introduction of roadway toll rates based on traffic density was proposed to encourage the use of public transportation. The state was also advised to create a single platform for all its traffic and transportation-related data so each agency and mode of transport is integrated, helping passengers interconnect seamlessly.

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola said: "The need to deploy innovative approaches that address civic challenges in Lagos State has never been greater. Technology is the key to the future, and we welcome IBM's support in this regard."

The team's recommendations took advantage of existing infrastructure, and suggested ways that projects could be self-funded.

"IBM's set of recommendations address our key transportation challenges and clearly enhance our ongoing efforts to fix the myriad of issues faced by our fast developing state," said Kayode Opeifa, Lagos State commissioner for transport. Further confirming this point of view, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Lagos state commissioner for works and infrastructure, said the state's "blueprint for transforming our struggling infrastructure into a modern ecosystem driven by data intelligence and efficient resource management has been further authenticated by these set of recommendations from IBM."

Related Content

  • Bronx benefits from mesoscopic-microscopic modelling
    January 7, 2014
    Michael Marsico, Andrew Weeks, Keir Opie and Murat Ayçin explain the application of hybrid traffic simulation to a planning study in New York City. Traffic modelling, particularly mesoscopic-microscopic hybrid simulation, has played a key role in planning for the future of one of America's shortest interstates, the 1.3-mile Sheridan Expressway. New York City has just completed a two-year, interagency study federally funded by a TIGER II grant on how to improve the Sheridan Expressway and its surroundi
  • Congestion pricing: the time to act is now
    August 20, 2024
    New York may have thrown a curveball on congestion pricing, but it is a proven global strategy for traffic management which cities should adopt, argues Wes Guckert of The Traffic Group
  • São Paulo unifies traffic data and services
    September 9, 2014
    The Agência de Transporte do Estado de São Paulo (ARTESP), which oversees public transportation for the State of São Paulo, Brazil, has opened its Information Control Centre, designed to help ensure the quality of service provided by local operators of the state's highways. The centre will unify traffic data, incident management and service delivery through the use of advanced analytics to help ensure safer and more efficient travel for a population of 20 million across 271 cities. The new system, built
  • The growth of ITS service solutions providers
    July 26, 2012
    Econolite's new subsidiary Aegis ITS has been set up to address the increasingly complex and exacting needs of agencies in the ITS sector. Chief Operating Officer Doug Terry talks about the evolution to service solution provider. A few very notable and honourable exceptions notwithstanding, it is these days becoming increasingly rare to find a public agency which develops its own traffic management systems. Indeed, most now rely on specialist manufacturers and suppliers to fulfil their needs. This has the h