Transport for London (TfL): re-imagining roadwork planning
Transport for London (TfL) is responsible for managing one of the largest and most complex transport systems in the world. This includes a fleet of 9,300 buses, over 500 trains and more than 360 miles of major roads.
As the home of the first underground railway, the innovators behind the traffic light system and the pioneers of contactless travel, TfL has always placed technology at the heart of its operations.
Therefore, it was only natural that Immense should help TfL solve its roadwork problem.
At a glance
- Rapid testing of roadwork impacts on transport, the economy and the environment
- Reduced costs and delays in roadwork planning and network operations
- Enhanced communication and collaboration with utility partners and stakeholders
- Safer, more inclusive approach to maintenance and upgrades
The background
Transport for London is committed to keeping the capital moving. But with over 30,000 roadworks every year, the city was facing major disruption, costing around £2bn annually and generating 3,000 hours of severe delays TfL set out to find innovative ways to plan and manage works more effectively, ensuring London’s transport system remains reliable, accessible and sustainable.
The mission
In conjunction with Plexal, TfL invited innovators to help transform roadworks in the city as part of London RoadLab programme. TfL specifically wanted to make roadworks:
- More inclusive – maintaining accessibility during maintenance and upgrades
- Safer – minimising the health and safety risks for workers and the public
- Smarter – taking advantage of new and untried solutions to minimise the impact
The solution
The Immense team worked with TfL to develop a digital replica of transport infrastructure, across several London regions.
This was enhanced with further data sources to create a digital representation of traveller and vehicle movements across the city.
By combining infrastructure, vehicle and traveller data, this virtual model enabled planners to design and test multiple roadwork scenarios. TfL could forecast direct and indirect congestion, assess air quality impacts, and communicate likely outcomes to stakeholders before works began.
The results
- Faster, smarter roadwork planning
- Improved resilience of London’s transport network
- Reduced disruption and knock-on delays
- Better insight for stakeholders and decision-makers
The future
Going forward, Immense will be helping TfL to expand this initiative across London. With wider data sets and integration into existing systems, Immense will support TfL and its partners to keep the city moving while reducing disruption, costs and risks.
Bringing in innovation from the market directly contributes in helping us to deliver the goals set out in the Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy. As such, we continue to share some of our key problem statements to bring in a wide range of innovators such as Immense through programmes like London RoadLab to test their solutions on our network.”
Rikesh Shah, Former Head of Commercial Innovation, Transport for London