A new traffic monitoring network which will count and collect data on modes of transport is being rolled out by Wellington City Council.
The VivaCity sensors, which use artificial intelligence, were designed to track the flow of traffic, cyclists and pedestrians and monitor how roads are being used.
The council said the data they would collect would include counts of different types of road users - including cars, trucks, bicycles, scooters, buses and pedestrians - as well as paths of travel, and travel speeds.
It said the 24/7 monitoring would enable council to make more accurate assessments of how people were moving through the city and making use of cycleways, and monitor in real time the impact of changes made to the transport network.
VivaCity co-founder and chief operations officer Peter Mildon said many historical methods of traffic counting were not able to continuously monitor traffic, which often meant they did not see the full picture.
He said with the VivaCity sensors, they could track the flow of each type of road user and see where the infrastructure was - or was not - working.
"In the United Kingdom, where a cycle lane had been put in and there was a petition from the car lobby to have it taken back out again ... the data from one of our sensors actually proved that the cyclists using the cycle lane outnumbered the signatories of the petition."
The sensors' continuous monitoring would allow the council to understand how factors such as seasons or major events changed how people used the city's infrastructure, Mildon said.
Council digital innovation team leader Julia McMaster said that meant they could measure and adjust traffic management in real time, rather than just hearing complaints about it later.
McMaster said the council's previous system predominantly relied on manual counting.
She said existing expenditure was being repurposed for the sensors and no additional funding was being used.
There was already a big focus on walking and cycling in Wellington, said the council's manager of street transformation, Paul Barker, and using the sensors would help reinforce and improve the work they were already doing.
By Krystal Gibbens of rnz.co.nz
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