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Worked Example

Introduction

This worked example has been provided by (Plymouth City Council) and illustrates  how the ITS Planning Guide has been used to support the planning and decision making process related to the implementation of ITS in Plymouth.

Plymouth

Background

Plymouth is located in the south-west of the United Kingdom between the rural counties of Devon and Cornwall, between the rivers Plym and Tamar to the east and west. Its population constitutes of 252,800 people. The City is famous for the naval dockyard, the superb natural harbour facilities of Plymouth Sound world and seafaring.

After the Second World War, the city centre was regenerated, with a design that encouraged car usage. As car use has grown over the years, the road network can no longer cope and ITS tools are required to help manage the network.

Policy drivers

Plymouth’s second Local Transport Plan (LTP2), sets out the transport strategy for the City for the years 2006 to 2011

LTP2 highlights four nationally agreed shared priority areas:

• Improving Accessibility
• Tackling Congestion
• Improving Air Quality
• Improving Road Safety

and three local priorities for transport:

• Supporting Plymouth’s Urban Renaissance and Sustainable Growth
• Improving Quality of Life
• Making Maintenance more Efficient and Effective

LTP2 identifies ITS as an important tool in delivering its priorities, with particular emphasis on public transport improvements, congestion reduction on major corridors, and improving air quality in Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA).

LTP2’s strategy for tackling congestion incorporates an action plan for discharging its responsibilities for the network management duty.

This is a duty placed on all Local Traffic Authorities by the Traffic Management Act (2004), requiring them to secure the “expeditious movement of traffic” on their own network and to “facilitate the expeditious movement of traffic on the networks of other authorities.”

Approach

Plymouth recognised that it had a number of disparate traffic systems which worked well within the council meaning little information was exchanged between the different departments. It carried out a review of what it had and the direction it wanted to be headed in, the gaps in technology and possible new systems to help deliver its priorities. Practices from other county councils including Kent Highways, Devon County, Highways Agency, Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth were studied.

ITS Planning Guide

With information received from other councils and the ITS planning guide, Plymouth City Council was able to identify itsit’s ITS needs. The ITS planning guide also confirmed that they were on track with the existing legacy systems like Urban Traffic Control (UTC), ATC’s, Point Tilt Zoom (PTZ) Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV), etc.

Plymouth recognized the potential to enhance itsit’s transport infrastructure through the economic application of existing and emerging technologies. However, given the broad range of technologies available, it was important that investment in ITS was carefully considered and focused to meet the needs of the City

Key Systems (KS) Implemented

The various Key Systems (KS) implemented by Plymouth are identified below, including the objectives met and the lessons learnt.

KS1 - Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) Common Database System: Plymouth’s UTMC Common Database system is a Cutlas system purchased from Envitia through Contract Tender. This system is the Hub of the all traffic control systems in Plymouth, allowing previously disparate systems to be amalgamated into a central database. The collection of data from a variety of legacy systems to one central database has helped in identifying any network issues at a glance. With the use of the Strategy Supervisor and Scripting ability, Plymouth is able to better co-ordinate events, manage incidents/accidents/delays and broadcast information.

At the tender stage, Plymouth decided to deliver its Cutlas system through phases. The phased delivery has helped Plymouth achieve a managed delivery approach and has alloweds for better understanding of the application before progression to the next delivery phase.

Lessons Learnt:

Some of the link data received from the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system is inaccurate. This has caused Plymouth to re-validate its SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) loops in order to better utilise the data from the Links. Accurate data received from the SCOOT loops are useful in identifying congestion and altering signal timings.

Detailed research with other authorities combined with detailed understanding of requirements and clear objectives allowed for the technical specification included in the tender to be written accurately. Without this, Plymouth would be unable to successfully deliver the system.

KS2 - Real Time Passenger Information System (RTPI): Plymouth’s RTPI system utilises automatic vehicle location to retain the locations of all the buses as they travel round the city. The most visible element of the RTPI system to the public is the display of real-time passenger information at bus stops on the northern corridor. A link between the RTPI system and the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system facilitates bus priority at traffic signals for late running buses. This facility is currently under trial on the City’s northern bus routes and once successfully implemented will be expanded to other major corridors and bus routes throughout the city.

Lesson Learnt:

Bus priority at signalized junctions is challenging to implement especially at junction where late buses approach from all the junctions. Plymouth has hoped to overcome this issue by installing SCOOT MC3 at traffic signals which allows stage skipping and is currently working on the best approach to apply this.

KS3 - Urban Traffic Control System (UTC): The Siemens UTC system installed in 1999/2000 has now been replaced by Siemens PC SCOOT system. This is to improve the connectivity to the UTMC common database and allow Plymouth to trial other methods of communication outside BT leased lines. As a trial, Plymouth is replacing two of its Telecommand 8 sites with UTMC outstations and using ADSL broadband as a method of communication to the system. This is envisaged to reduce the cost of utilising BT leased lines by a third. At the end of the trial, if successful, Plymouth will look to replace its remaining Telecommand 8 sites and possibly expand the installation to include its Telecommand 12 sites.

KS4 – Parking Guidance System: Plymouth installed its UTMC parking guidance system on major routes into the city in 2005/06 with the help of a major developer. The system was supplied by Variable Message Signs Limited through contract tender. The system has helped reduce congestion on the network by directing drivers to the nearest available car parking spaces and removing vehicles from the highway as quickly as possible. The system monitors vehicle occupancy on its seven major multi-storey car parks and is designed to be expanded as changes to the network may dictate.

The parking guidance system has contributed greatly towards reducing congestion on the network during busy periods. Plymouth has created various scripting strategies on its UTMC Common Database to control the signs and alter the traffic signal timings to help disperse the public from busy car parks to less busy car parks depending on the event.

Lessons Learnt:

The accuracy of the information from the car parks is crucial and inaccurate data could lead to confusion and disregard of the information provided to the public. To help reduce the occurrence of this, Plymouth has created various scripts on the Cutlas system to override the displays on the signs if the data is inaccurate depending on the previous car park profile data and fault status of the car park.

KS5 - Free Text Information VMS: Plymouth has installed three Information signs on the City’s major corridors entering and exiting the city. The initial signs where installed alongside the Parking Guidance System by VMS Limited. The signs are used to display real time information on congestion, incidents, accidents, delays, road safety messages and events derived from the UTMC Common Database system.

Plymouth is now looking to expand its Free Text information signs network by installing 5 new signs from Dambach. This will help better inform the public on the major routes entering and exiting the city.

Lessons Learnt:

In the specification for the signs, it was specified that Plymouth required a UTMC V. 2 compliant signs and minimum standard compliance with the Highways Agency’s standard for Variable Message Signs (TR2156 Issue B). By this, Plymouth has ensured that the new signs remain compatible with their Cutlas System and a sign standard is maintained throughout the network. Plymouth has also maintained its method of communicating with the sign, using GPRS mobile phone based data communications, to ensure flexibility and reduced communication cost

KS6 - Journey Time Monitoring System using Automatic Number Plate Recognition Cameras: Plymouth’s JTMS was purchased by tender from ESSA Technology in 2008. The system is new to Plymouth and can be identified by the blue camera and blue post it is positioned on. The system will be used to monitor the travel times on the Northern Corridor. The Northern Corridor, the A386 and B3250, is one of the main routes into Plymouth, the importance of this Corridor as a main route is reflected in its transport assets which include:; two of the city's park and ride sites, the airport, central train station, supported bus services and numerous workplace and school travel plans. By actively monitoring the travel times on the Northern Corridor in real time, the system will be useful in identifying incidents, delays and congestion on one of Plymouth’s major routes. The data from the system will also be used to generate traffic and travel information for use in the annual Department for Transport reports. It is intended that the data will feed the UTMC Common Database and contribute towards the travel time information distributed to the public.

Extensive research was carried out prior to the purchase of this system and the overall benefits outweighed the cost of the system, if setup appropriately the data from the system will actively help in tackling congestion.

KS7 - Air Quality Monitors: Plymouth City Council installed roadside pollution monitors at its Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in 2007. At the moment, these systems are isolated, and as part of a phased upgrade to the UTMC system, Plymouth is looking to connect the system to its UTMC Common Database to allow the data be reported in real time. Car relation between pollution levels and congestion can be made, which will help in adjusting the traffic timings to better reduce the pollution levels in those areas.

Lessons Learnt:

Better hourly understanding of how traffic affects pollution levels have been made, with this Plymouth is looking to expand on the number of monitors it has.

Various Key Systems have been identified above, however a variety of other transport systems exist in Plymouth to help meet its Local Transport Plan objectives. These systems include the Automatic Traffic Counters, Vehicle Activated Signs, Smart Car Ticketing, PlymGo transport website, multimodal trip planning system; etc. The objectives identified in the DfT ITS planning guide are also identified in Plymouth’s Key Objectives. As a result of that, the table will focus on Plymouth’s Key Objectives and how the various ITS tools mentioned above help meet these objectives.

Plymouth’s Key Objectives	Projects / Schemes and Initiatives	Key Performance Indicator (KPI)	Tools
Improve Road Safety	Killed and Seriously Injured Casualties	Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 99	Vehicle Activated Speed Warning Signs at high casualty areas
			20mph Zones around schools using Speed Warning Signs and traffic calming
			Think! Road Safety Campaign using Free Text Information VMS
			Speed Management
			Shared Motorcycle and Bus Lanes
Tackling Congestion	Change in Peak Period  Traffic flows  to Urban Centres local	Local Transport Plan (LTP6)	Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (SCOOT/MOVA)
			Automatic Traffic Counters
	Change in Area Wide Road Traffic	LTP 2	Journey Time Monitoring System using Automatic Numberplate Recognition Cameras
	Cycling Trips	LTP3	Automatic Cycling Counters
			PlymGo Website
	Journey Times / Vehicle Speeds	Local	Journey Time Monitoring System using ANPR
			UTMC Common Database
			Free Text VMS
	Bus Punctuality	LTP5	Public Transport priority at signalised junctions
			Dedicated Bus Lanes
	Public Transport Patronage	BVPI102	Smart Card Ticketing
	Satisfaction with Local Transport Information	BVPI 103	Real Time Passenger Display
			Information broadcast via Free Text Information VMS
			Multimodal trip planning management system
	Local bus services	BVPI 104	UTMC Common Database
Improve Air Quality and the Environment	Air Quality improvements on Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs)	LTP8	Environmental Traffic management using Air Monitors
			Tree Planting in AQMAs
Improve Accessibility and Social Inclusion	Accessibility - Public Transport Access	LTP1	Real Time Passenger Information System (RTPI)
			Emergency vehicle priority
	Missed doctors Appointments due to transport problems	Local	Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (SCOOT/MOVA)
			Multimodal trip planning management systems
	Car Park Signing	Local	Car Park Guidance System
			UTMC Common Database
			VMS programme
Support Urban Renaissance and  Improve Quality of Life	Support sustainable growth Agenda and Contributions to regeneration schemes	Local	New Parking Payment system
Maintenance Efficiency and Effective	Road Condition	BVPI 187 BVPI 223 BVPI 224	Asset Management Database
			UTMC Common Database

Monitoring and evaluation

In the past years, no specific method for monitoring and evaluating improvements for ITS has been established. Whilst Plymouth has various key performance indicators identified in the LTP2 (see table 1) for monitoring the general progress of the LTP2. The key performance indicators are not specifically towards one ITS schemes but a combination of various schemes.