How Trafixcast works
Plain answers, no black box.
In four steps
- You describe the trip. Pick a start and end (a named area, or an exact spot on the map), your vehicle, and the hours you are willing to leave between, for example 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM.
- We ask for predicted traffic. For every 30-minute departure time in your window, over the next 7 days (or the next 5 weekdays), we ask TomTom's routing service how long the trip is predicted to take if you leave then.
- We adjust for your situation. Rain, public holidays, your type of vehicle and, if you tell us, your own usual speed all change the number. Every adjustment is listed on the detail screen and adds up to the total.
- You get a range, not a promise. Each box in the calendar shows a typical time and a likely worst case, and the best time to leave on the soonest day is highlighted.
What the numbers mean
- Typical is the time we expect on an ordinary day for that departure time.
- Likely worst case is a time we intend you to beat on about four days out of five. We have not yet measured how well that holds against real trips, so treat it as a guide.
- Confidence (high, medium or low) drops when traffic or weather data could not be fetched, when traffic is unusually heavy, or when you picked areas instead of an exact pin.
What we adjust for
- Traffic and signals. The traffic service already accounts for junctions and signals; we show the extra time they add as "traffic and signal delay".
- Your vehicle. Bikes and scooters can slip through congestion, so we count 80 percent (bike) or 85 percent (scooter) of the delay a car would face. These are starting assumptions we expect to refine.
- Rain. Wet roads slow traffic. We add about 4 percent for each millimetre of rain per hour, up to 25 percent, using an hourly forecast. The umbrella icon marks days and times with rain.
- Public holidays. On a Karnataka public holiday we keep about 60 percent of the usual traffic delay. Our holiday list is curated by hand and may miss some days.
- Your own speed. If you enter how fast you usually ride or drive, we scale the estimate toward it.
Fuel cost and electric range
If you enter your mileage, we estimate fuel cost as distance divided by mileage, times the fuel price, and we lower the mileage in heavy traffic because stop-and-go driving burns more fuel. For electric vehicles we estimate the share of your battery range the trip will use, allow for real-world range being below the brochure figure, and warn you if the trip may leave you low. Fuel prices are approximate unless you enter your own. All of this is shown as a range.
What Trafixcast does not do yet
- It covers Bengaluru and Chennai only, and cars, bikes and scooters only. Metro and bus are planned, not built.
- It does not know about accidents, events, road works, or school and office rush hours beyond what the traffic service predicts.
- It is not turn-by-turn navigation.