Intelligent Transport Systems - Helping Authorities Meet The Challenge

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) – Enabling policies, delivering results

Parking guidance sign. Photo courtesy of Centaur Consulting.
On-bus real time information sign. Photo courtesy of Leicester City Council.
Access control bollard. Photo courtesty of Lancashire County Council.

 

ITS are improving rural public transport, managing traffic in our largest cities, informing the public and enhancing safety on our motorways.

 
On-bus RTI display

 

Intelligent solutions for today and tomorrow.  

Photos courtesy of Bristol City Council, Lancashire County Council, Centaur Consulting, and Leicester City Council.

What are Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)

ITS can facilitate the delivery of a wide range of policy objectives, beyond those directly associated with transport, bringing significant benefits to transport users and those who live and work within the area.

What do they do?

ITS tools use modern computing and communications technologies to collect information about the current state of the transport network, process that information, and either directly manage the network (e.g. traffic signals), or allow people to decide how best to use the network (e.g. incident detection, travel news).

While systems are becoming easier to deploy, it can still be difficult to assess their likely cost and most importantly scope the benefits that can be obtained.  This is where this guidance can help.

Why use ITS?

When correctly used, ITS can result in major improvements in safety, network management, environmental management, integration, accessibility and public perception.  It can also address issues as diverse as social inclusion and freight vehicle management. 

Increasingly, under the traffic management act and other legislation, authorities will be required to effectively manage the movement of traffic including pedestrians both within their authority and between authorities.  ITS enables the intelligent management of traffic and provides quantifiable evidence of the success of management approaches. 

Evidence of well-managed transport networks underpins the external assessment of an authority’s transport plans and can help enable an authority to demonstrate best value in (comprehensive) performance assessments.

What are the benefits?

ITS tools can help highway staff and traffic managers achieve their operational goals.  Conventional and ITS measures are often combined to enable network traffic managers to maximise the benefits of investment.  

ITS can:

  1. Make travel more efficient (safer, less polluting, cheaper, better informed travel);
    A study in Southampton found that a Parking Guidance and Information system reduced the average time spent searching for a space by 50%.
  2. Help to achieve ‘Best Value’ within network management as a result of greater information gathering and improved decision making;
  3. Simplify public transport use by providing accurate real time information about services;
    Liverpool Timechecker - 92% of Timechecker users perceived RTI to be either 'very accurate' or 'accurate' and 85% said that it made waiting more acceptable.  (Improved passenger information will contribute to improved Best Value Performance Indicator 103 scores)
  4. Reduce the effects of pollution from vehicles by better traffic management;
    The London Congestion Charge Scheme has resulted in a 30% reduction in congestion within the zone (following 6-months of operation), with consequent reductions in vehicle related emissions.

    Access control schemes in Europe resulted in reduction in traffic delay of up to 18% with associated reductions in emissions.
  5. Reduce the number of accidents by providing drivers with more information about conditions on the roads they are using;
  6. Help drivers find the best route to their destination, and change that route if major incidents occur on it;
    A study of variable message signs on the approach to York city centre showed that 67% of drivers usually noticed the messages displayed and took action. 80% said they felt having VMS was important and 84% thought the information provided was useful. 92% of those who followed directional signs to get to car parks rated them as good or very good.
  7. Improve the security of public transport passengers and staff by providing extra communications, CCTV and better information.

Including ITS Within The Transport Planning Process

Many authorities have already incorporated ITS within their integrated transport policies and Local Transport Plans, in addition to and to enhance more traditional measures.  Salisbury provides a good example of this.

Salisbury Transport Plan

The Salisbury Transport Plan was developed using multiple measures as an alternative to an environmentally sensitive city bypass.  The primary objective is economic with the mechanism to achieve this being to ‘reduce congestion’ within Salisbury using a combination of integrated ITS applications and infrastructure improvements. 

This is being addressed by:

  • improving bus services;
  • introducing Park and Ride (P&R) to encourage modal shift; and by
  • increasing the efficiency of the existing urban network by managing traffic more effectively.

As part of the plan, the city has already implemented an Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system, and a Global Positioning System (GPS) based bus-tracking system.  They also plan to add a CCTV system and Car Park Guidance (CPG) system.  The city has also decriminalised parking offences and relocated many city centre spaces to the P&R sites, and revenue generated will help subsidise the P&R schemes.

Cost
The total cost of the scheme is £27m, £13m of which is for infrastructure improvement. 

Anticipated Benefits

The intended benefits from the ITS strategy are as follows:

  • Reduced peak hour congestion;
  • Improved bus services;
  • Assisting access to the city’s car parks; and
  • Improved air quality.

Achieved Benefits
Bus priority at signalised junctions has already improved journey times from the cities park and ride sites by between 4 and 7 minutes.

This guidance provides information on a broad spectrum of applications and policy objectives, including improvement to the environment, reducing social exclusion and integrated ITS investment.  This is designed to help authorities consider ITS tools alongside conventional transport management solutions. 

Leicester Star Trak – Real Time Bus Information

Star Trak is a Quality Bus Partnership (QBP) set up with the local bus companies, combined with integrated ITS tools.  Investment has been made in new buses, automatic vehicle location equipment, bus stop signs, an SMS text messaging service and public transport priority at traffic signals.

The Star Trak scheme is partly funded by the joint Local Transport Plan, and part by the bus companies themselves.  The DfT’s Transport Direct Programme has funded additional facilities.

The primary objective of the Star Trak scheme is to improve accessibility and integration by providing enhanced passenger information.  The project also has an economic aim, which is addressed by providing more reliable journey times.  This is largely achieved by providing bus priority at traffic signals.

Achieved Benefits

  • The average patronage increase on Star Trak equipped routes is 28%;
  • One route has seen such a large increase in patronage that services have been doubled from every 20 minutes, to every 10 minutes; and
  • A passenger attitude survey has shown that 90% of users consider the at bus stop real time information displays to be useful or very useful.

How to ensure that ITS tools are given due consideration?

The Department for Transport's Introduction to Transport Analysis TAG Unit 1.1 provides comprehensive advice on the transport assessment process.

This process is now supported by:

The Toolkit provides a detailed insight into the benefits, costs and issues to consider with each ITS tool, while the >The ITS Assist Resource Pack provides more general advice on ITS deployment.  The toolkit should be used when considering which tools are appropriate for use to achieve policy objectives.

How will Transport Planners & Engineers use the toolkit?

The toolkit provides detailed information to aid sensible investment decisions on ITS.  It is designed to enable transport planners and engineers to:

  • select appropriate ITS tools to meet specific, local objectives;
  • develop options for systems and services which will minimise costs & maximise benefits; and
  • avoid pitfalls and learn from others successes and failures.

Importantly, the toolkit also provides a mechanism for feeding back experiences of ITS to add to this collective body of knowledge. Advice on undertaking project evaluations and a template for reporting results are provided for this purpose.

Understanding the benefits and costs of Intelligent Transport Systems: A toolkit approach provides detailed supplementary information on ITS tools within a Tool Directory.  Detailed information on these tools is accessed via a decision tree which requires the user to link policy objectives to the tools to deliver those objectives see Figure A1.
handbook picture 5

Figure A1 – The Tool Directory

This Tool Directory is available both online and in a paper form.  The Tool Directory provides practical advice for ITS tools on the issues to consider when assessing the merits of a tool in a particular situation or environment. The toolkit also provides information on relevant case studies. More specifically, guidance is provided on:

  • cost information (to enable authorities to determine the order of magnitude of costs of the tool);
  • the nature of the benefits that might realistically be anticipated, according to a range of policy goals;
  • the factors which determine the outturn costs and benefits of deployment;
  • the variables which decision makers are most able to influence to maximise benefits;
  • what needs to be monitored and controlled to ensure that benefits are realised; and
  • what needs to be measured and evaluated in the future, to ensure that benefits are being achieved.

Tailored Advice on Investment Decisions

In reality Authorities will have multiple objectives and many different mechanisms by which to achieve these. The toolkit can be used to assess the relative merits of a range of tools, alongside conventional measures in creating a shortlist of possible approaches.  The process will be iterative, with changes made to possible tools based on available budgets, locations etc.

What Next?
Further information can be obtained by contacting:

Future Vehicle Technologies
Transport Technology and Standards Division
Department for Transport
Zone 2/04
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DR