Common Challenges

The deployment of ITS will be impacted by the specific characteristics and circumstances of the area in which it is implemented – whether at local, national or regional level. For example, Latin America has made major investments in ITS – helping to stimulate the emergence of non-governmental ITS organisations to facilitate interaction on ITS deployments between the public and private sectors. Organisations such as ITS Argentina, ITS Brazil, and ITS Chile provide encourage and support.

The context for deployment in Latin America is challenging for many reasons:

very uneven wealth distribution leads to fundamentally different lifestyles – and mobility needs – of the different social groupings
the affluence of higher income groups has led to a rapid increase in car ownership without the infrastructure to support the growth in traffic – resulting in severe congestion and higher accident rates
fatalities in road accidents across the region are among the highest in the world – and are attributable to both inadequate infrastructure and lack of driver education
road authorities have let major road concessions to manage and operate national and local road networks with high traffic volumes. The process has been relatively successful, but users are now more critical, demanding more and better roads, less congestion, faster and more efficient toll collection, and increased safety
public transport authorities are in the process of re-organising their structures and functions – to play a new role in the region

Other characteristics that have significant consequences for ITS development are commonly found in countries in Asia:

the primary objective of ITS in the large cities is to reduce the problems of traffic safety and congestion
there is an urgent need to deal with large numbers of motorcycles and bicycles – by considering measures such as installing vehicle detectors for these types of vehicles as well as automobiles
the common practice of involving private concessionaires through the build, operate, and transfer (BOT) approach has often caused a lack of interoperability of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems, highlighting the need for standardisation of ETC systems
ITS equipment must be capable of handling multiple languages using non-Roman alphabets, such as the – Chinese, Kana, Hangul, Thai, and Hindi alphabets
low literacy rates among the driving population in some countries – necessitating graphic rather than text messages
public transport – such as buses and trains – have an important role in transport
previous ITS deployments may not have been used effectively – for example, traffic signals are often turned off so that police officers can manually direct traffic to ensure compliance with regulations
traffic education and road safety training for the general public is important for transport and society as a whole – awareness of ITS needs to be integrated with it

Demand for Mobility

Increasing demand for mobility, for passenger and commercial vehicles, and railways, is influenced by rising standards of living in emerging economies. All countries are experiencing increased pressure to provide adequate traffic capacity and to maintain infrastructure at acceptable levels.

Major challenges exist and will become more intense as the demand for an acceptable quality of mobility increases and has to be accommodated within resource constraints. Increasing traffic capacity to match the growth of traffic demand is difficult. Meeting these challenges requires commitment and cultural change at the institutional and regulatory levels.

Vehicle Ownership

Vehicle ownership is increasing significantly in both developed and developing economies. The road infrastructure is not able to support the growth in traffic highlighting the urgent need for more investment in infrastructure. Academics at the University of California have forecast that the number of motor vehicles (other than two-wheelers) in the world, will reach 1.3 billion by 2020 – more than double the number of vehicles that exist today. Most of the growth is expected in Asia and Latin America.

The increasing number of vehicles on roads are contributing to congestion, consumption of fossil fuel and air pollution. Emerging economies are seeking sustainable solutions to tackle the gap between greater demand and road infrastructure capacity. (See Demand Management)

Road Infrastructure

With the increasing rate of car ownership, the demand for road capacity is increasing. Traffic congestion is experienced daily in major cities and major regional corridors of developed and developing countries – largely due to insufficient capacity to support traffic demand. It is a daily event in many road corridors – and can sometimes last for hours.

Providing increased capacity is a major challenge everywhere – but the challenge is intensified if the existing infrastructure of roads and bridges is often in a state of disrepair. Road Authorities and owners of transport infrastructure will need to develop a programme of asset management. (See Asset Management) Sustainable solutions to infrastructure problems must be identified to meet future demand. ITS has an important role to play in making better use of existing capacity. (See Use of ITS)

Investment

Investment in transport infrastructure has not kept pace with the demand for mobility – due to constrained resources and competing priorities such as healthcare, education, food, and housing. Emerging economies tend to suffer more than developed economies from lack in investment in transport infrastructure. Innovative contracts and alternative financing options – such as a public private partnerships – offer new options for financing major ITS deployments. (See Public Private Partnerships, Budget & Affordability and Financing ITS)

Institutional

Long-established organisations often develop a “no-change” culture which is resistant to innovative solutions to mobility problems. For example, stakeholder institutions may deem building more roads or adding lanes as the only viable solutions to the problem of increasing traffic demand. There are other solutions – such as implementing high occupancy lanes or increasing public transport services, which with ITS back-office support for enforcement & travel information, may provide more cost-effective and sustainable solutions to the problem. (See Road Network Management)

Regulatory

Inflexible laws and regulations can sometimes impede the implementation of cost-effective and sustainable solutions to mobility problems. Innovative and sustainable solutions to mobility problems need an appropriate legal and regulatory framework that does not act as a constraint. An example is the growing interest in automated and semi-automated driving – which may not be legal in some jurisdictions. (See Driver Support)

It is important to communicate the benefits of change – and to demonstrate the opportunities for sustainable mobility and economic growth – to overcome inertia and win public acceptance for legislative change. (See Legal and Regulatory Issues)

Myths and Reality

Challenges relating to ITS deployments vary considerably from country to country. There are several common misunderstandings about deploying ITS in developing economies that need to be dispelled.

Myth 1: Too Expensive

MYTH 1: INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS ARE NOT AFFORDABLE

ITS is expensive to deploy and maintain. Only developed countries can afford to deploy ITS. Emerging economies that are struggling to provide adequate infrastructure to meet mobility demand are not able to afford the costs associated with ITS.

Reality

ITS can provide cost effective solutions to the problem of growing demands – and long-term sustainable solutions to the traffic and travel problems experienced in developed and emerging economies.

For emerging economies, with scarce resources to dedicate to building new highway capacity, ITS solutions can increase the efficiency of existing capacity. Many ITS applications deployed in developing economies have proven that the benefits outweigh the overall costs of implementation. (See ITS Benefits)

Myth 2: Too Difficult

Myth 2: Intelligent Transport Systems are difficult to implement

ITS implementation requires sophisticated technologies. Emerging economies have to depend on developed countries for technologies and expertise for any ITS deployment.

Reality

ITS can be implemented in tandem with traditional transport infrastructure projects so they complement each other – or as an independent project which is an alternative to traditional solutions. With ITS know-how and planning, these projects can be easily mainstreamed in a regional transport investment programme. ITS applications that currently exist in developing countries include network monitoring, adaptive signal control, and traffic rerouting. Smartphone applications enable crowd-sourcing of real-time information on traffic status. Augmenting conventional transport infrastructure with ITS applications has been successful in easing mobility problems in many emerging economies. (See Deployment Strategies and Priority Projects)

Myth 3: Replaces Traditional Transport Infrastructure

Myth 3: Intelligent Transport Systems can BE USED TO replace TRADITIONAL TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Surface transportation investments will not be necessary when ITS becomes mainstream. ITS will be the dominant transportation infrastructure – ultimately lessening the need for any other transport infrastructure.

Reality

ITS is an integral part of a modern transport system. ITS can be deployed alongside existing transport infrastructure, efficiently and effectively. ITS helps solve mobility problems step-by-step, in a sustainable manner. Decision makers in emerging economies are aware that ITS applications cannot solve all their mobility problems instantly. A phased implementation strategy requires systematic planning by public agencies – for example, by developing an ITS architecture that will support future system integration between existing and new systems. This needs to be combined with a regulatory regime that encourages development by commercial (“added-value”) service providers. (See Strategic Planning)

Myth 4: Planning and Evaulation – Not Important

Myth 4: Planning and Evaluation are not important for ITS projects

ITS planning is a waste of time and resources. The need for ITS is always immediate – so there is no need to spend additional time on planning an ITS deployment.

Reality

Sustainable solutions to mobility problems through ITS require comprehensive planning and organisational capability at national and regional levels. ITS planning can include developing and maintaining an ITS architecture which supports system integration and expansion. ITS evaluation helps assess whether an ITS plan is on track to meet programme objectives – and what actions are necessary to meet the objectives of the ITS plan. ITS requires careful planning and evaluation to support future expandability, interoperability and system integration. (See Project Appraisal)

APPLICATION OF ITS Technologies

There are a great variety of ITS technologies. The basic building blocks form part of the ITS infrastructure and its supporting framework of data and information – or “info-structure” – that enables further ITS applications to be developed. For example, digital maps are an enabling technology for vehicle navigation and must be in place before navigation and route guidance services can be developed. (See Basic Info-structure). The three most widely-available enabling technologies for ITS in developing countries are Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), cellular mobile phones, and the internet.

The adoption of advanced ITS technologies in some transitional and developing countries has been very rapid. As latecomers in deploying ITS they benefit from two main advantages:

they can learn from the successes and the mistakes made by more developed countries and can benefit from the latest systems on offer – saving on research and development costs
by starting from scratch, they are less constrained by legacy systems

Countries without extensive legacy technical infrastructure (for example, ground telephone systems) or institutional infrastructure (such as automatic banking systems) are able to exploit mobile communications and smart card technologies with less institutional resistance.

Communications Technologies

To keep pace with ITS-related communication technologies and forecast the rate of their deployment, it helps to understand how these technologies are regulated. In many countries, especially those with developing economies, a single government department may have jurisdiction over both transport and communications. In other countries, the public authorities responsible for these sectors are generally separated (for example in USA there is a Department of Transportation, USDOT, and a Federal Communications Commission, FCC).

A technology review should include all commercial and military technologies that are available. The basic considerations for comparing and choosing between them – for ITS applications – are fundamentally the same, irrespective of how communication technologies develop. A cost-benefit analysis of communications options is a basic requirement. Other important criteria for selection are:

communication range
geographical and population coverage
latency (transmission delay)
directionality (for receiving or transmitting wireless signals)
one-way versus two-way communications
service availability and reliability
vulnerability to natural versus man-made disasters – such as sabotage and vandalism

Adapting ITS Technologies

When adopting ITS technologies and systems from other countries, it is important to avoid the temptation of copying the approach to ITS deployment adopted by industrialised countries. Cultural, environmental and human behavioural factors may require a very different approach. For example, the benefits of Area Traffic Control (ATC) systems may be seriously compromised by activities that take up part of the roadway – such as minibuses and taxis stopping to load and unload, itinerant hawkers (street vendors), or roadside dwellings. Sometimes re-engineering, of the ATC system may be required to ensure compatibility with the local environment.

Maintenance standards of infrastructure can also have a bearing on the type of ITS equipment to be installed. For example, if the road surface is poorly maintained, it does not make sense to lay loop detectors underneath it – since they are likely to be out of action for long periods.

ITS technology may be adapted to serve different or multiple functions. For example, in many countries automatic vehicle location using GPS is more often installed on trucks and buses for security reasons – rather than for efficient fleet dispatch. This kind of application may be mandated by government to achieve policy objectives – such as reducing crime.

Climate and weather conditions may require a particular approach. For example, in some parts of Indonesia expressway sign boards are illuminated to improve traffic sign visibility – to overcome the problem of torrential rain in the wet season followed by extremely dusty conditions in the dry season.

Technology Assessment and Procurement

Transport policy-makers and road authorities need to be familiar with ITS technologies so they can assess the merits and risks from an operational perspective. Criteria for assessment include:

value for money
the degree to which the technology supports policy objectives
whether the technology uses open standards and protocols for equipment and data communications (which enable open competition in purchasing equipment and software from multiple vendors, help deliver value for money)

Other important assessment criteria include:

interoperability (ease of integration between systems operated by different organisations and between adjacent geographical regions)
compliance with current and emerging standards
data quality
technology lifetime
communications across terrain
vulnerability of equipment (against vandalism and security threats)
the technology supplier’s capability and reliability

The organisation procuring the equipment must assess the commitment and capability of the supplier – either directly or indirectly – through a reference check. “Least cost” tenders are not necessarily the best ones as the suppliers offering them may not have the capability to deliver and may not survive in competition.

Wherever possible, when procuring ITS, it is advisable not to rely on technical specifications that will limit the supplier’s options. A better approach is to develop minimum performance requirements and insist in the tender documents that the supplier provides “proof of concept” for its solution – to show that it will deliver the required performance. This will reduce the risk of procuring end-of-life or obsolescent equipment and is more likely to achieve a good result. Safeguards should be included in the contract, such as break points. Risk sharing can be achieved through prototyping and group purchasing.

Technology Training Opportunities

ITS suppliers are generally willing to educate and train management and staff before and after system procurement – although the training is likely to be biased toward the vendor’s proprietary products. A more reliable way of becoming informed about technologies can be through focused user groups who are willing to talk about the problems and failures they have experienced, as well as the successes.