Use of ITS

New technologies, termed Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), provide a means to acquire a better knowledge of the transport network and to implement every available means to optimise network operations, traffic management and services available to customers. These technologies thus become an integrated element of the concept of network operations facilitating the improved efficiency of the transportation system.

ITS can maintain or expand the level of service to road users by increasing throughput (measured in terms of the number of people, or number of vehicles, or amount of goods moved per unit time). ITS can also support management of infrastructure at times of extreme events (for example flooding, extreme storms), by providing high-performance real-time information to operators and users. (See ITS Applications and Services)

Benefits of ITS

From the perspective of road owners and operators many ITS products and services improve efficiency by optimising the use of existing facilities and s-of-way. With these improvements, requirements for mobility and commerce can be met and the need to construct new or expanded facilities can be reduced. ITS provides a tool kit for transport network managers to use for increasing efficiency; improving safety; encouraging alternative modes and assisting with the management of roadway maintenance and construction. (See Benefits of ITS)

The formal evaluation of benefits from ITS applied to network operations is a specialist area. Many results, articles and discussion papers can be obtained through the International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs Group (See IBEC), from the European Evaluation Expert group and for North America at the USDOT ITS Benefits web site. The Deming wheel principle of continual improvement applies (PDCA cycle). (See Evaluation)

Major ITS Functions

The major functions of ITS applications in Road Network Operations are:

network monitoring
maintaining road serviceability and safety
traffic control
travel aid and user information
sustainable mobility

Network Monitoring

ITS technologies (traffic monitoring and detection including traffic detection devices, probe vehicles, sensors, CCTV etc.) perform a key function in gathering prevailing road network information and providing support for other network operation activities. Thus although monitoring is an integral part of any ITS service, it does not usually provide any service on its own. (See Monitoring Activities and Network Monitoring Technologies)

Road Serviceability and Safety

In order to improve road serviceability and safety, pro-active and re-active measures can be applied. Pro-active measures focus on the prevention of incidents/congestion and re-active measures focus on the detection/verification of incidents and unsafe road conditions, response and clearance, and recovery to normal operations. (See Road Safety, Operational Activities and Network Security)

Traffic Control

Traffic management and traffic control can better distribute traffic across the network and help balance demand. They can be used to prevent or to recover a poor traffic situation and to correct imbalances between competing priorities. (See Congestion Management, Traffic Management and Demand Management)

Travel Aid and Information to Users

Timely warning of unsafe road conditions and congestion reduces the occurrence of accidents and collisions. Incidents such as crashes and vehicle breakdowns as well as impassable/ unsafe road conditions are estimated to cause up to 60% of annual roadway congestion in some congested networks. The traffic congestion that results from these incidents can lead to additional crashes and cause delayed response to emergency situations. According to one study, for every minute an incident remains on the roadway, it causes an additional five minutes of delay after the incident is cleared. Other solutions include better road works planning, lane restrictions, bad weather and road conditions alerts, and automatic braking systems. (See Traffic Management Strategies, Driver Support, Travel Information Systems and Traveller Services)

Sustainable Mobility

ITS and related technologies have been widely accepted by both the public authorities and the private sector as a way to achieving the goal of sustainable mobility – while at the same time improving quality of life. For example:

personal mobility and travel choice have been improved through satellite navigation and the ready availability of journey planning across all travel modes, making use of real-time information (See Navigation and Positioning and Location Based Services)
electronic payment methods have been a successful way of introducing non-stop road tolling and travel demand management (See Electronic Payment Applications, Demand Management, Congestion Charging and Transport Demand Management)
ITS provides a means for integrating transport across different travel modes through inter-modal ticketing for passengers and easier, more efficient inter-modal freight transfers (See Multi-use and Intermodal Ticketing and Intermodal Freight)

There are significant supply-side benefits of ITS in highways management. Improvements in the infrastructure affect directly each vehicle/driver using the roads. Lane management has been one of the outstanding successes of ITS. This includes HOV lanes, reversible flow lanes, variable speed limits and enforcement systems.These systems maximise the use of the infrastructure available, saving or postponing the very large costs of expanding the networks. (See Advanced Systems and Traffic Management)

While cost reduction is of interest to all road users, the associated benefits of ITS are most tangible to the operators of vehicle fleets and highway infrastructure. Productivity benefits have been assessed from the perspectives of fleet managers, transit authorities, and toll agencies. ITS options for fleet operations include Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) using sophisticated logistics software and communications between the dispatcher and the driver. Each individual intervention appears marginal, but the overall effect in journey time reliability and time savings can make the difference between hitting a Just-in-Time delivery slot and missing it. (See Passenger Transport Operations and Freight & Delivery Operations)

Privacy and Liability

International regulations impose restrictions on the collection, storage, processing and dissemination of data relating to individuals and their behaviour. Individual national legislation is based on these principles. As information relating to movement of individuals is used in ITS applications these regulations impose obligations on network operators. (See Privacy)

The need for total anonymity is seldom a strong requirement from users; nevertheless most users do require the protection of their privacy by the operator.

The privacy of the user is maintained if the following conditions are met:

only relevant personal data needed for the opening of a service agreement or an account is requested from the user
the itemised disclosure of the service consumption, for example on a toll road invoice, is an option that can be chosen by the user
the network operator cannot disclose this information to third parties

In the context of traffic management, privacy is the need for travellers to be able to move freely without any other person being able to find out the time and place of travel. The privacy issue is different for private cars and for commercial vehicles and it is perceived very differently in different countries and cultures.

In general:

private cars need some protection from unwanted monitoring by the government and authorities (“big brother syndrome”)
commercial vehicles need to be protected from spying competitors

The privacy rules are the key to success or failure as illustrated by the following:

Video Enforcement: Video imaging and electronic licence plate reading are efficient technologies that save manpower and enhance safety. In some countries, images may only be taken in a manner where the driver may not be recognised, whereas in other countries the driver must be recognisable for the image to be accepted as a proof
Electronic Fee Collection: EFC technologies try to avoid large toll plazas with toll lanes with barriers but use virtual gantries (for example using GPS). In particular for urban road pricing, only non-barrier systems are acceptable if there is to be widespread use. Nevertheless, the toll operator or the access control authority must know which vehicle enters and exits a chargeable road. For the traceability of his records, the operator needs to store privacy-sensitive data
Probe Vehicle: Traffic data gathered from moving vehicles are an excellent resource for traffic management. All vehicles equipped with EFC equipment or with navigation, units (for example VICS in Japan) can provide on-line information on travel times in the network

The network operators who gather and use “confidential” data must ensure that the data is automatically rendered anonymous whenever possible. Encryption at source is required and data should be destroyed immediately after use. (See Data Ownership and Sharing)

Liability issues

To date the liabilities in traffic operations have been relatively clear cut:

road and roadside equipment: liability rests with the network operator
vehicles including on-board equipment: liability rests with the vehicle owner or the driver and in some cases the vehicle manufacturer

With the advent of new cooperative ITS applications the border becomes fuzzier, because some applications are based on systems that have an in-vehicle as well as a road-side component and they function only if both components are working. As long as the functions are not relevant for safety (for example Traffic and Traveller Information and Electronic Fee Collection systems), the liability issues are minimal.

It is totally different if in-vehicle driver assistance systems are introduced that include roadside components, for example:

electronic traffic signs and signals
electronic guidance and automated highways systems

Network operators cannot take over the liability for the functioning of the in-vehicle components because they have no control over their correct functioning, operation and maintenance. (See Driver Support and Liability)

From the network operators standpoint there are only two possibilities to cope with this situation:

keep redundant non-electronic systems in use (eg traditional road signs and signals) at the expense of additional costs and possible non-matching of the information
offer an alternative facility and waver all risks for using the automated systems to the user

Risk and Risk Mitigation

New technologies for traffic management often increase the risks for the operator. Network operators must assess these risks and provide the necessary counter-measures.

Among the possible risks are:

faulty information technology (IT) systems or communication networks for traffic management, EFC and emergency services
faulty or tampered-with in-vehicle equipment, e.g. tachograph and speed limit regulator in commercial vehicles, EFC on-board units
faulty or tampered radio communication links, e.g. DSRC communication for EFC
anti-radar or radar detector devices to avoid speed limit enforcement
incorrect information from road users concerning incidents or traffic conditions

Security measures taken by the network operators must include:

clear organisational structures and procedures
quality assurance systems (ISO 9001) for network operators and all services involved in traffic management
IT and communications network security, including data encryption

(See Security of ITS)