Traffic. It is maddening. It is protracted. It is increasingly harmful — by every conceivable measure — to individuals and businesses alike. Every year, traffic wastes 58 supertankers of fuel.

So, what can you do? Build smarter transportation, which means better systems for rail, air, public transit and freight. These can improve our cities, economy and daily lives. All in all, smarter transportation means advanced traffic management for air, land and sea. It is optimised around the traveller’s experience, is connected across all elements of the system, and communicates its status in real time. It fluidly interacts with the other systems of our planet — from healthcare, public safety, commerce and more.

In the future, smarter transportation will even apply advanced modelling to something as previously unpredictable as, say, the flow of volcanic ash across the Atlantic Ocean. All of this and more is possible today, or soon will be. The progress of technology is only accelerating. Cities everywhere are battling an increasing demand and an inability to build sufficient infrastructure to cope with.

A recent IBM commuter pain study paints a grim picture of metropolitan-area commuters in many cities struggling to get to and from work each day, often with negative consequences. For example, 57 per cent of all respondents say that roadway traffic has negatively affected their health, but that percentage soars to 96 per cent in New Delhi and 95 per cent in Beijing.

According to the survey, New Delhi's drivers have the fifth most painful commute among 20 global cities. Almost all of Delhi's respondents said that traffic had negatively affected their health and half said that driving makes them angry. The commuter pain survey polled 400 drivers in each of 20 major cities in six continents. Based on the results, it compiled a commuter pain index that ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city on a scale of one to 100 along 10 indicators, including commuting time, driving-related stress and the impact of traffic on work. If it's any consolation, Beijing, with a score of 99 on 100 is much worse than Delhi as is Mexico City. Johannesburg (97), Moscow (84) and New Delhi (81) complete the list of the five worst.

Nearly all of Delhi's drivers — 96 per cent to be precise — said traffic negatively affected their health. Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) said traffic negatively affected their work or academic performance. Among those interviewed, 30 per cent of respondents reported increased stress from traffic; 27 per cent increased anger; 29 per cent reported that traffic has harmed their performance in work or school; and 38 per cent reported having cancelled a planned trip due to anticipated traffic. We know the enormity of this problem – both in its objective and subjective dimensions. Traffic congestion does not just add stress to our already-stressful lives; it impedes economic development while increasing air pollution.

What is the solution?

More fuel efficient cars, more public transportation, more ridesharing, more telecommuting are all good steps – but hardly enough. And it is clear that the traditional remedies for road congestion – adding a lane or building a new road – have proven to be just a temporary fix.

Traffic is not just a queue of cars stuck back-to-back on a road. It is a web of connections. A real solution will look at relationships across the entire road network and all the other systems that are touched by it: our supply chains, our environment, our companies, the way people and communities live and work.

And, technology can help. Although the basic modes of transportation technology – road, rail, air, water – have evolved, the rapid spread of information and communications technologies into every facet of life is driving change in the global transportation ecosystem. Intelligent technologies are emerging to enable transportation networks and users to communicate with each other, improving system performance, safety and convenience.

Also, digital and physical infrastructures are now converging. As a result, we are now able to understand large, complex systems that previously resisted investigation – systems as diverse as waterways, oilfields and transportation networks. Transportation officials are now able to collect real time data on traffic conditions and instantaneously analyse that data and deploy strategies that minimise delays and congestion.

Thanks to the proliferation of data-gathering devices on our roads and recent advances in business analytics, large volumes of data can be quickly synthesized and actionable insights extracted that allow for active management of our transportation networks to keep people moving more efficiently.

Building new roads and new lanes often just isn't possible any longer, but building intelligence into the roads and the cars — with roadside sensors, radio frequency tags, and global positioning systems — certainly is.

A number of estimates suggest that in both developed and in developing cities, traffic congestion costs between 1 and 3 per cent of GDP. That’s big – and it’s only going to increase. In the cities of emerging markets – such as India – car ownership rates are skyrocketing. What if they reach the 75-90 per cent we see in OECD countries? Think of the strain on transport infrastructures. We have no reason to believe that in the near future the number of cars on the road will decrease.

Changes in signal timings, dynamic toll adjustments, incentives to change mode of travel,

incentives for changing time of travel, among other things, can result in smoother traffic flow, reduced emissions and reduced delays. Around the world, governments are relying on this kind of technology, in addition to traditional methods, to make big improvements in their transportation networks.

For example, consider traffic controllers receiving real-time data through sensors to model and predict future traffic flows with perfect accuracy. For sure, smarter transportation is coming to life across the world, helping us solve some of the key challenges, as below:

n Helping to predict demand and optimise available capacity: A smart card system has enabled Singapore Land Transport Authority to develop optimal routes and schedules, reducing congestion, increasing the appeal of public transit and cutting fare leakage by 80 per cent and the cost of fare processing by 2 per cent.

n Enhancing the end-to-end traveller experience: Air Canada developed applications for smart phones that allow travellers to download electronic boarding passes, check in, get flight status and book rental cars. There was a 60 per cent increase in mobile check-ins, and 93 per cent of Air Canada passengers say self-service improves their travel experience. By the way, the app also saves 80 percent of the check-in cost.

n Improving operational efficiency while reducing environmental impact: France’s SNCF manages passenger and freight railways, as well as city buses and trams operate 14,000 trains per day, including the high-speed TGV and segments of the Paris and regional transit systems. A predictive maintenance system using intelligent sensors is helping SNCF prevent accidents, reduce delays, and cut maintenance costs by an estimated 30 percent.

n Ensuring safety and security: DHL’s RFID-based system monitors the temperature of pharmaceutical shipments at various points from departure to arrival—helping its customers keep products fresh and generating a new source of revenue growth.

Beyond easing traffic congestion, such smarter transportation systems can help reduce accidents, improve emergency response times, lead to cost savings, and increase community livability by promoting increased use of public transit. In addition, intelligent transportation projects have the potential to drive sustainable economic development through the creation of new jobs, technologies and businesses.

A smarter system would need to connect the vehicles, pathways and terminals, the government agencies and regulators, the freight and logistics carriers, the vehicle and infrastructure manufacturers, and the travel-service providers.

The writer is vice-president, public sector, IBM India and South Asia