Bengaluru's First Bicycle Counter

The city (and possibly country's) first-ever live bicycle counter has now been commissioned! Our first live bicycle counter has been installed under Doddanekundi Flyover, next to the Outer Ring Road pop-up cycle lane. If you'd like to visit (and show your support!), here's a link to its location on Google Maps.

Data from the cycle counter can be accessed here and more details about the what, why & how are shared below.

Cycle counter data: ORR Service Road, Near Doddanekundi Flyover

Why here?

The SuMA Doddanekundi project aims to encourage sustainable mobility in Ward-85, Doddanekundi. The location of the counter along a key cycling corridor such as the ORR cycle lane helps collect useful data and ensures high visibility of the initiative. More importantly, it's located in a way that helps count a large number of cyclists who enter the neighbourhood daily for work, school and recreation.

Why is the counter needed?

There are many benefits to having a cycle counter. It helps the city collect various types of data, such as usage patterns, cycle lane occupancy and bicycle traffic volumes. It'll also help plan & evaluate future cycle lanes keeping in mind data collected from this one.

Additionally, there is a not-so-subtle human element to the counter. It helps encourage cyclists and makes them feel like they count 🙂. This is a very important aspect of the counter-display. Cycling is hard enough, as it is. The traffic, the smoke and bad drivers to top it off, makes cycling in our cities incredibly challenging. Even a small show of encouragement, or recognition, could go a long way in making a cyclist's day better.

Finally, the counter is also intended to show that there are already people who benefit from the ORR cycle lane, and will benefit from more infrastructure that makes it safe & comfortable to cycle.

How does it work?

The live bicycle counter is an AI-powered device. It uses video captured from a camera along with an AI algorithm to differentiate between bicycles and other vehicles. Only after it has determined that a vehicle is a bicycle, will it get counted. Bicycles in either the cycle lane or the general-traffic carriageway will be counted.

Over the last week, we've spent many hours watching the counter on-site to ensure that it works well. In our latest assessment of over 100 cyclists being counted, we've found the counter to achieve an accuracy of over 95%.

Who built the live bicycle counter?

The counter was built by Nihar Thakkar. He is part of the SuMA Doddanekundi core team and has been in charge of designing & building the counter. If you have any questions, suggestions or want to reach out, feel free to DM on Twitter.

Where else will counters be installed?

Under the SuMA Doddanekundi project, over the next few weeks, we have plans to install counters at two more locations in the neighbourhood. The exact locations are still being evaluated. We hope these will help us understand cycling trends within the neighbourhood and encourage more people to cycle by complimenting all the other exciting initiatives we have planned.

Thanks for reading! If you'd like to stay updated on the progress of this project, or are curious about the live bicycle counters, follow us on social media and stay tuned!