NSTDA, the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Local Administration held an MOU signing ceremony on 23 September 2022. The ceremony was presided over by Mr. Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office. Representing the signing parties were Mr. Mongkolchai Somudorn, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office; Mr.Tawee Sermpukdeekul, Deputy Director of the Department of Local Administration; and NSTDA President Prof. Dr. Sukit Limpijumnong.
The MOU involves the use of smart city application Traffy Fondue to enhance the efficiency of public services provided by local administrative offices. The 3-year MOU, effective from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2025, allows the local administrative offices under the Department of Local Administration to use Traffy Fondue platform free of charge for three years.
Developed by NECTEC-NSTDA, Traffy Fondue is a municipality complaint reporting and management system. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and linked with LINE messaging application, the city maintenance chatbot engages residents in solving city problems. The system allows residents to report city problems to and get an update on the case from city administrative offices via LINE messaging application. On the app, residents can file a report of city problems - ranging from waste to potholes, broken footpath and streetlights – and take a photo. The report along with photos and GPS locations will then be directed to concerned departments to resolve the problems. The department in charge provides an update on the case, which can be viewed by the person who files the report.
Traffy Fondue offers several benefits. The city takes less time to resolve problems, resulting in cost saving and better maintenance planning and management. For residents, problems can be reported instantaneously via the mobile phone application without the need to file the complaints in person at the city hall in person, thus saving time and cost.
Traffy Fondue system has been used by 1,754 organizations, including 96 disaster prevention and mitigation offices, 577 town municipality offices, 459 subdistrict administrative organizations, 262 office buildings, and 18 industrial estates. The system enables a total of 78.14-million-THB cost saving with 89% user satisfaction.
Under this collaboration, NECTEC research team will be able to obtain more information and requirements from users to further enhance the features of Traffy Fondue to better serve the public. The platform has been deployed to manage crisis situations such as the COVID-19 and recently the flooding in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region.