Council hires firms to build a traffic 'digital twin' for city-centre buses

Brighton & Hove City Council² has appointed two traffic technology firms, Aimsun¹ and Yunex Traffic, to build a “digital twin” of city-centre traffic. Its job is to keep buses running on time along the Lewes Road and Valley Gardens corridors. Aimsun announced the contract on 7 October.

The digital twin is a computer model fed with live data. It will take feeds from the city’s existing Stratos and UTC-UX traffic management systems, which Yunex supplies, and combine them with Aimsun’s prediction software. Within minutes of receiving data, it will forecast traffic up to 60 minutes ahead.

According to Aimsun, the system will help late buses get back on schedule and spot buses likely to fall behind before the delay happens. Some of its traffic management changes can be automated “where appropriate”. The council will also get an offline model for testing future transport schemes in the city centre.

The work is paid for from Brighton & Hove’s Bus Service Improvement Grant and needs no new roadworks. The same firms have built similar systems for Tees Valley Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester.

The announcement quotes the council: “One of the key aims of our Bus Service Improvement Plan is improving journey times, reliability and giving passengers a service they can depend on.”

Aimsun’s page gives no start date, cost or figures for expected time savings.