Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is using live images from drones to help it manage congestion and incidents on its network and inform the public.
TfWM also plans to trial an automated drone, launched from the roof of Walsall Bus Station in collaboration with drone safety specialists Skybound Rescuer, which the WMCA said would be the first urban trial in the UK of a remote-operated drone system.
A TfWM drone team has been deployed to key locations across the region and the live panoramic overview provided is already making a difference in how congestion is managed.
The team first flew its drones over the Digbeth area of Birmingham city centre on a particularly busy day, which coincided with a rail strike. The drone images highlighted traffic building up to the RTCC duty manager, who was then able to deploy Transport Safety Officers to divert motorists away from congestion.
Using drones allows live images to be relayed back to a command centre, filling coverage gaps at a fraction of the cost of using CCTV cameras, allowing traffic to be better managed around incidents and more accurate and timely advice to be given to the public.
The drones could also be made available to emergency services during incidents.
TfWM’s Regional Transport Coordination Centre (RTCC) brings together a range of transport authorities, agencies and operators during major events and incidents. But despite receiving images from more than 2,500 fixed CCTV cameras covering the West Midlands there are gaps in the coverage TfWM hopes to close by the use of the drones.
TfWM is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), whose chair, West Midlands mayor Andy Street (right of picture), said: ‘Since it was launched three years ago, our Regional Transport Coordination Centre has been at the forefront of innovation in transport management - playing a major role in the success of last summer’s spectacular Commonwealth Games.
‘Now we’re building on the existing provision of hundreds of CCTV cameras covering our road, rail and tram networks by bringing drone technology into our repertoire to further improve coverage.’
Five members of staff, including transport safety officers and members of TfWM’s network resilience team, have been trained to pilot the new drones.
Kerry Blakeman, accountable drone manager for TfWM, said: ‘We are constantly looking to develop the capacity and improve the quality of information available to our transport coordination centre.’
