Traffic Congestion 1

1. Introduction

The report comprises of an analysis of a complex system based on the given problem. A system is

such a collection of things in which each and every item does its job and together with the help of

combined jobs, the main purpose of the system gets defined over an interval of time. Wherever

there arises a problem in complex systems, it becomes very essential to evaluate and analyze it.

There are various methods of evaluating a complex system depending upon its nature. This report

comprises of the problem statement which is complex and having some issues in its working

structure. The problem will be analyzed using one of the techniques to evaluating complex systems

and after that, the suggestions will be given on how to improve it.

2. A complex system

A complex system has three characteristics in major. The first one is that the entire system

comprises of the numerous parts. This means that there are various components of the system

which help it to work properly. Second, the purpose of the objective of a complex system is not

defined in a simple way rather it is equivalent to a summation of all the job roles of its components

on which it relies. Its purpose gets defined after some time. The third characteristic of the complex

system is that it exhibits hierarchical self-organization under selective pressures (Bar-Yam, 1997).

3. Problem statement

The problem which is to be addressed in this report is “Dealing with traffic congestion in a major

city”. The traffic problem has become a havoc in many areas. This is due to multiple reasons. It is

the need of the hour to find the solutions related to traffic situations in various large cities in order

to avoid the bottleneck situations which occur in a rush hour. The aim here is to analyze the traffic

system of a major city and suggest certain steps in order to make it better.
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4. How traffic system is a complex system

In the light of traffic system, it is very essential to define how the traffic system is a complex

system. The traffic system is a very vast system which comprises of numerous factors. The

important factors on which traffic system depends on including the vast network of roads, traffic

management staff which itself comprises of thousands of professionals, the vehicle which travel

of the roads, the people who drive these vehicles, the system of signals and signs which control

the flow of traffic and many others. The traffic system which we see now a day works when all

these components of this system work and support each other. Cars are driven by the drivers and

these run on roads in order to cause congestion later on. This shows that all the main characteristics

of a complex system are fulfilled by traffic system so it is a complex system and any problem

associated with it such as traffic congestion or traffic accidents are complex problems since these

are functions of complex problems.

5. Methodology of analyzing complex traffic congestion problem

There are two methods in which complex systems can be approached. One is the hard method of

contemporary engineering system and the other is a soft method. Both of these methods have their

own pros and cons. In general practice, the hard method is used for analysis of technical problems

which involve the complex modeling and engineering solutions whereas soft methods are used for

the problem in which more social and environmental factors are concerned. There are many

agreements and disagreements among the believers of these two methods. In this report, only the

soft method of analysis will be used since the traffic congestion problem here is more associated

to environmental and social factors. Technical design of roads and traffic is based on complex civil

engineering and traffic engineering concepts which cannot be understood easily by the ordinary

audience. So the approach of analysis here will be the soft method.

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6. Factors causing traffic congestion

The city which is considered for the problem analysis is Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo has been facing

increased number of traffic problems since the start of it's advanced and progressive automobile

industry (Inose, 1976). Following are the factors which are responsible for causing traffic problem

in Tokyo.

6.1. Increased number of cars

Toyo is the hub of the automobile industry. It exports thousands of car each day to multiple

countries. Since the cars are made in the homeland so these are cheap. This is the reason why there

are a lot of cars in Japan. Even poor can afford luxurious cars in Tokyo. It has resulted in increased

amount of traffic on roads due to which congestion has started taking its worst kind of form.

Cheap Cars

Increased
Traffic

Traffic
Congestion

6.2. Obstacles on road

Since the roads were designed in past keeping the old design criteria such as roads widths and

traffic so the right of way of roads is fixed whereas the obstacle such as double parking, road work

and accidents due to increased traffic has caused serious traffic congestion in the city (Arnott,

1994).
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6.3. Traffic management problems

The traffic management problems include the mismanagement of city traffic police based on traffic

laws and rules. In Tokyo, due to too much traffic, it has become difficult for city traffic police to

properly manage traffic on all junctions and it has resulted in random traffic movement causing

congestion. Also, the irregular working of signals on various occasions has further given rise to

the problem of congestion.

6.4. Pedestrian crossings

Due to increased commercial and resident development, the number of people living in Tokyo has

increased. The corresponding number of people have also increased in return which has resulted

in causing the problem of traffic congestion since traffic gets stopped for a longer duration due to

the presence of large pedestrian traffic.

More Increased
More pedestrain
crossings conjestion

6.5. Presence of large number of heavy traffic

Heavy traffic moves slowly due to which the whole flow of fast moving traffic gets disrupted. Due

to the presence of less number of bypasses, the heavy traffic has to go through congested cities.

This heavy traffic interrupts the flow of fast moving traffic due to which the traffic slows down

and reaches the point of congestion where bottle neck situations occur.

7. Suggestive measures for the management in order to control traffic congestion

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The problem of traffic management is more of a management based. Although the problems which

are mentioned above are more practical ones but these have a very strong relationship with the

factors included in the management of traffic department. Following are the tools which can help

in order to solve the complex issue of traffic congestion in city like Tokyo

7.1. Optimization of traffic flow

The traffic department needs to optimize the flow of traffic. In a complex system, the dynamic

system approach for solution suggests that if all the components of the system are optimized then

these work in perfect and deal way as a result of which the whole complex system works in a

perfect way (Thelen, 1996). So in order to reduce congestion, the traffic flow in the form of cars

and vehicle on the road need to be optimized which means that the department needs to make new

roads or make existing roads signal free in order to reduce the chances of bottleneck situations in

Tokyo.

7.2. Better interconnectivity of field and office staff

This is the systemic problem in which there exists a gap of communication between the staff on

the field and in office. Take the example of traffic police. In a big city like Tokyo, it is difficult for

all the traffic staff to communicate that at which junction or area traffic police is required in order

to reduce traffic congestion. So the traffic department needs to implement effective management

and effective communication in order to induce effective field and office data synchronization.

7.3. Introduction of congestion reductions schemes (system within systems)

In Tokyo, the government needs to encourage the car manufacturers to manufacture such cars

which have an approximate engine capacity of 660 cc and small size. Doing so will enable more

cars to get adjusted in the same road design which in turn will reduce the traffic congestion by a
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considerable amount. The graph shows the variation of traffic with time in rush hour. It flow of

traffic will remain the same however the congestion will drop to zero. So government needs to

develop a system within a system.

7.4. Avoiding disturbance from too many sources (push & pull reduction)

When multi-level alterations exist in a large system like that of traffic department of Tokyo then

the system goes under pressure and it does not return any favorable outcome. In this way, the best

solution is to try a different way out of the problem. So in the same way government needs to stop

poking its head inside traffic apartment and let itself decide what best for the city.

8. References

Arnott, R. &. (1994). The economics of traffic congestion. American scientist, 446-455.

Bar-Yam, Y. (1997). Dynamics of complex systems. MA: Addison-Wesley.

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Inose, H. (1976). Road-traffic control with the particular reference to Tokyo traffic control and

surveillance system. Proceedings of the IEEE, 1028-1039.

Thelen, E. &. (1996). Dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. MIT

press.