When Roads Meet Code: Reflections on the Digital Transformation of Transport Services

I have always been fascinated by how infrastructure—roads, bridges, offices—carries a society’s private rhythms into public life. Lately, those physical rhythms are being reinterpreted in code. The Centre’s plan to add around 20 transport-related online services by year-end, expanding the functionality of Vahan and Sarathi, is not just another administrative update; it is a statement about how we expect governments to meet citizens where they are, digitally and ethically Centre to expand transport-related online services by year-end.

Digital services are telescopes and mirrors

When an RTO transforms a queue and a window into an authenticated click, the benefit is immediate: less time in line, fewer lost forms, more consistent records. I witnessed similar ambitions in broader public data efforts—where economic indicators and service metrics are made visible to people and institutions alike (Bureau of Economic Analysis). And at the municipal level, portals like NYC.gov and state DOT pages illustrate how local services increasingly appear as discoverable, actionable items online rather than paper bureaucracies locked behind office hours (NYC.gov; Pennsylvania Department of Transportation).

But technology is both telescope and mirror: it reveals more, and it reveals us. The Hindu BusinessLine article describes the ministry’s push for Aadhaar-based authentication, eKYC and even AI-driven facial recognition to deliver faceless, contactless services Centre to expand transport-related online services by year-end. These tools extend convenience, yet they force us to look closely at questions of consent, inclusion and power.

What we gain — and what we must guard

The gains are undeniable:

• Efficiency: fewer visits to Regional Transport Offices, faster processing, lower administrative friction Centre to expand transport-related online services by year-end.
• Transparency: standardized digital trails reduce arbitrary decision-making and make audits possible (BEA).
• Accessibility: more services become reachable beyond office hours for people in remote locations (PennDOT Online Services; NYC services).

And yet, there are risks that deserve as much attention:

• Digital exclusion: online services presume access to devices, reliable connectivity and digital literacy. If we celebrate convenience without addressing the access gap, the most vulnerable will be left farther behind.
• Surveillance and consent: eKYC and facial-recognition systems promise secure identity verification, but they concentrate biometric data and raise long-term privacy risks.
• Uneven implementation: the article itself notes that uptake and execution will vary by state and local authority, creating patchworks of experience rather than uniform progress Centre to expand transport-related online services by year-end.

The deeper architecture: human-centered design over checkbox modernization

I have seen countless technology projects that were technically successful but socially hollow—features checked off, outcomes unmeasured. The real test for transport digitization is not whether a form can be filed online; it is whether the service reduces anxiety, clarifies expectations, and restores dignity to the person who needs help.

Human-centered digital governance means:

• Designing for the least digitally empowered user first. If the person with minimal connectivity can complete a task, everyone else benefits.
• Making authentication optional, auditable, and minimally invasive: a balance between security and privacy.
• Tracking outcomes (time saved, edge cases resolved, reductions in corruption) rather than just counting services launched—so modernization becomes meaningful, not performative.

Infrastructure and code must co-evolve

Transport is the most physical of public goods. Roads wear down, bridges need inspection, licenses expire. Digital systems are not substitutes for maintenance; they’re accelerants for better management. A portal that flags expiring permits, schedules inspections, and predicts peak office footfall does something more profound than convenience: it makes the system anticipatory and resilient.

Across jurisdictions I’ve read about—from large national projects to state DOT sites—there is an emerging pattern: agencies are moving beyond simple e-forms toward predictive, integrated systems that connect people, assets and policy (PennDOT; NYC.gov). That pattern will reshape how we understand civic responsibility: not as a set of counters where we wait our turn, but as a network that responds proactively.

Academic–industry collaboration: IIT-M and FedEx’s SMART Centre

A recent collaboration between IIT Madras and FedEx — the FedEx SMART Centre (Supply Chain Modelling, Algorithms, Research and Technology Centre) — illustrates how research institutions and industry can build precisely the kinds of capability that make anticipatory transport systems possible (IIT-M, FedEx launch SMART centre for logistics solutions). Backed by a multi‑million dollar grant, the centre will target technology-driven logistics solutions that align closely with the themes above: carbon‑neutral operations, autonomous delivery systems, EV infrastructure, predictive analytics, and AI-driven worker safety.

This kind of partnership matters for two reasons. First, it accelerates the translation of academic models into deployable tools that governments and operators can use to manage real assets. Second, it invests in human capital—internships and talent outreach—that helps close the skills gap between policy ambitions and operational delivery. I have written about related ideas before (including proposals for e-mobility labs, emissions reduction projects, and unified digital interfaces for transport); the SMART Centre is a concrete example of many of those threads coming together. For context and further reading, see the announcement and the accompanying commentary on the SMART Centre and related initiatives (IIT-M, FedEx launch SMART centre for logistics solutions; Hemen Parekh’s blog post on the launch: https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2025/08/congratulations-prof.html).

A personal note from a digital twin’s perspective

I think about the way a digital twin—my own, or a system’s—carries forward memories and practices. A government’s digital footprint preserves interactions long after a citizen moves on. That persistence can be a form of care: histories that simplify future interactions, reminders that reduce human error, and a continuity of service that survives personnel changes.

But persistence is also a moral responsibility. As we commit more of our civic lives to servers and algorithms, we must build the guardrails now: strong governance, clear data stewardship, and meaningful recourse for those harmed by errors. Otherwise, we trade one opaque bureaucracy for another, clothed in elegant interfaces.

Final thought

Digitization of transport services is not merely an IT project; it is a civic experiment. When governments make the deliberate choice to reduce physical dependence on offices, and to combine infrastructure maintenance with digital intelligence, they are asking society to reimagine how public life functions.

I welcome these changes with cautious optimism. They promise to return time to people, reduce friction, and make institutions more legible. But the promise will only be realized if we anchor progress in inclusion, privacy, and a relentless focus on outcomes—not dashboards.

For those tracking this shift, I find it useful to read both the announcements and the local implementations: the national plan summarized in the press coverage Centre to expand transport-related online services by year-end alongside how states and cities expose services online (PennDOT; NYC.gov) and how data platforms surface the economic signals that justify long-term investment (BEA).

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Regards,
[Hemen Parekh]
Any questions? Feel free to ask my Virtual Avatar at hemenparekh.ai