AI data set to help Essex County Council reduce school run congestion
The data has been created by HomeRun
AI has been used to analyse the morning rush of over 200,000 pupils in Essex.
The goal is to reduce journey times and congestion during the school run, with a data set that can allow Essex County Council to make better decisions.
HomeRun, a UK-based tech startup that's transforming the school run through innovation, has created STEP, the UK's first intelligence platform for the school run.
Their CEO, Pooya Kamvari, in interview with Greatest Hits Radio Essex, said:
"The school run is the single biggest factor in the morning rush hour traffic and, of course, on top of that, you have air pollution and the emissions too."
He said that there is "no robust data set" on how pupils travel to school.
"What we do with the AI is is three things. We in essence use it to model every journey to school. And we've done that as a pilot across the whole of Essex. So that's about 220,000 pupils and how they travel to school.
"And we also then understand what other options they may have. So fine, you may be driving, but do you have other options or is that just not practical for you? And then what we can do is show the Council which schools and which areas have the biggest potential for that impact.
"Saying if you provide services in this space, people will be able to adopt them. Whether that's better walking, infrastructure, crossing points, cycling infrastructure, bus journeys wherever it may be.
"And finally, we also show them local issues that may be holding families back like is there a busy road that needs a crossing?
"Really it's giving them that intelligent view, which means they can go ahead with evidence based solutions to help families across Essex."
Essex County Council's Head of Sustainable Transport Tracey Vickers, said: “with STEP, we finally have an evidence base of meaningful data to plan and justify our initiatives and enable families to take healthier, more active, journeys to school."
The council has also used the data to inform a major funding bid for 30 new "School Streets". The county currently has none.
Pooya also said:
"We've identified around 60,000 pupils who could travel more sustainably, reducing car trips. Now, of course, that doesn't mean everyone's going to do that, but it means we know the size of the prize.
"Just to give you an example of what that would mean, if that did happen, there would be 28 million fewer peak time car trips across Essex.
"That's a huge number. Basically, the roads would feel like half term all year round."
He also added:
"We're not anti-motorist. We understand that people need to find ways to get their children to school, get to work and everything else. We're looking at what's practical and meets the requirements of families to therefore travel better."
"This is the beginning, so we are going to be plugging in lots more data sets to understand individual barriers and areas that we ,in the future, can identify a specific roundabout, a specific crossing, that will have a huge impact."
He said that the Essex transport team are "passionate about the people of Essex" and "they're going to make great strides with this."