INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

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 ABSTRACT

Interest in the intelligent transportation system comes from problems caused by traffic
congestion and a synergy of new information technology for simulation real time and
communications networks.Traffic congestion has been increasing worldwide as a result or
increased motorization, urbanization, population growth and changes in population density.
Congestion reduces efficiency or transportation infrastructure and increases travel time, air
pollution and fuel consumption. Now a day's development of roads has created a new havoc
which lead to the increase in the accident cases all across the world, in order to over-come from
such a problem, Intelligent Transport System holds a good point.

Intelligent Transport System is designed for the urban/state/private road transport organization.
The system consists of a backend and a hardware component to provide an integrated solution
for the driver console unit, electronic ticking machine passenger information system amid
vehicle tracking system. Intelligent Transport System provides a single solution for transport
companies to schedule and monitor buses with the help of advance technologies such as GPS,
Wi-Fi and GPRS. Intelligent Transport System facilitates better public transport services by
considering the bus earning, public safety and security. This paper basically discusses the impact
and the various application fields or Intelligent Transport System for road transportation. Also,
this paper put forward the implementation or various transportation technologies that will be
vital for homeland security, vehicular surveillance along with technologies that can make our
ride more safe and economical.

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 CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 History of ITS
Chapter 3 ITS Taxonomy
Chapter 4 Components of ITS
Chapter 5 ITS around the World
5.1 United States of America
5.2 Japan
5.3 Europe
5.4 United Kingdom
5.5 Middle East
5.6 Canada
5.7 India
Chapter 6 Issues and challenges of ITS in India
Chapter 7 Conclusion
References

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
World population increasing at a greater pace alit crossed the digit of 7billion; simultaneously
the world economy is also growing. People are used to the greater mobility and hence when it
comes to mobility Transportation especially road transportation is the one which is easily
accessible to everyone. There is no doubt in higher the people using the transportation system
more will be the transportation conflicts (accidents), and hence there comes the demand of
proper systematic demand for transportation system which is capable of handling large mass of
people on wheels safely and it is made sure that it is environment friendly as well. Worldwide
various societies and associations have been setup for the development of intelligent
transportation system, first was setup in 1991 by US Department of Transportation: along with
this several prototypes have been proposed in context for the same, only few implemented.
Vehicle to vehicle communication, vehicle to infrastructure

An important metric for economic growth of any country is its burgeoning vehicle ownership.
However, the indirect effect of vehicle ownership is acute traffic congestion. India has, in the
past decade, seen an astronomical increase in vehicle ownership and associated road blocks and
traffic snarls in its metropolitan cities. The variety of vehicles in India – two, three and four
wheelers, in addition to a large pedestrian population, complicates the situation [Figure 1].

The principal reason for traffic congestion in India is that the road space and infrastructure have
not improved on par with the traffic. The seriousness of the problem is reflected in the report of
World Bank that estimates the economic losses incurred on account of congestion and poor roads

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alone run as high as $6 billion a year in India . The direct solution for this problem by
improvements in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is a tested route to mitigate traffic
congestion problems. ITS can be

The invention of the internal combustion engine in the nineteenth century changed the way
people travel forever. For the first time in human history it became possible for human beings to
achieve travel speeds an order of magnitude greater than they had ever experienced before. Even
better, they did not have to use their own energy in any significant manner to do so. This quality
of the motor car has almost everyone addicted to its use if they can afford to buy and use one.
From just a handful of vehicles a century ago, now there are more than 500 million cars, buses
and trucks on the roads around the world, and the number continues to increase. Road transport
makes it easier for us to have access to jobs, schooling, markets, and leisure time activities and
helps economic growth. However, now there are serious concerns about the detrimental impact
of transport on human health and the environment. The negative externalities include: accidents,
air pollution, congestion, climate change, noise, and spoiling of the landscape and urban
environment. More recently, concerns about global warming focused our attention on transport
as it accounts for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide from fuel
burnt on the roads by vehicles

Of all these, three main concerns dominate the thinking of the designers of vehicles and transport
systems – reductions in crash injuries, emissions and congestion on roads. Over the past decade
advances in computer systems and communication technology have given us a hope that we can
accelerate the process to ameliorate the negative externalities of motor vehicle transport.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) encompass a very wide range of technologies to deal
with issues mentioned above. It is expected that when integrated into the transportation system's
infrastructure, and in vehicles themselves, these technologies will help relieve congestion, reduce
pollution and increase safety.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is a tested route to mitigate traffic congestion problems.
ITS can be broadly defined as the use of technology for improving transportation systems. The
major objective of ITS is to evaluate, develop, analyse and integrate new technologies and
concepts to achieve traffic efficiency, improve environmental quality, save energy, conserve
time, and enhance safety and comfort for drivers, pedestrians, and other traffic groups. An
overview of ITS can be schematically represented as shown in Figure 2. State-of-art data
acquisition and evaluation technology, communication networks, digital mapping, video
monitoring, sensors and variable message signs are creating new trends in traffic management
throughout the world. The synergy of data acquisition, analysis, evaluation, and information
dissemination helps in developing an all-encompassing system of traffic organization that
enables information sharing among the managers and users of traffic.

Although the origin of formal ITS dates back to the 1970s, the first ITS world congress in Paris,
in 1994, catalyzed the development and application of ITS to develop and improve the existing

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traffic control systems in many countries around the world. ITS activities aim at the development
of a sustainable, multi-modal surface transportation system that will establish a connected
transportation environment among vehicles, the infrastructure, and portable devices. Such a
cooperative setup leverages technology in order to maximize driver safety and mobility while
improving environmental performance and focusing on deployment. ITS encompass all modes of
transportation - air, sea, road and rail, and intersects various components of each mode -
vehicles, infrastructure, communication and operational systems. Various countries develop
strategies and techniques, based on their geographic, cultural, socio-economic and environmental
background, to integrate the various components into an interrelated system.

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 CHAPTER 2
HISTORY OF ITS
Intelligent Transportation System technology can be defined as the application of information
technology to surface transportation in order to achieve enhanced safety and mobility while
reducing the environmental impact of transportation.

ITS aims to facilitate a national multi-modal surface transportation system that features a
connected transportation environment around vehicles of all types, the infrastructure, and carry-
in passenger devices to serve the public good by leveraging technology to maximize safety,
mobility, and environmental performance.

Its covers all modes of transport and considers all elements of the transportation system- the
vehicle, the infrastructure, and the driver or user, interacting together dynamically. The overall
function of ITS is to improve decision making, often in real- time, by transport network
controllers and other users, thereby improving the operation of the entire transport system. The
definition encompasses a broad array of techniques and approaches that may be achieved
through stand alone technological applications or enhancements to ether transportation strategies.

ITS offers scope for integration, and some argue that it is only through integration of its
components that ITS will achieve its full impact. ITS includes array of information! data
depending upon the requirement of the implementation theme, and simultaneously integrating
these components together to get a good “Info structure” environment for the traffic planning,
control and management and boosting the system effectiveness.

ITS relies on wide range of technologies and functions such as Communications (Microwave,
internet, Bluetooth), Geographical Locations, Geographical Information Intelligent
Transportation System

System, Data acquisition and exchange, Camera system and Artificial vision, Detection and
classification, In-vehicle systems and Digital Mapping.

In this paper we will discuss the potential of these transportation technologies for sustainability
of environment and various application fields.

The origin of the formal ITS program dates back to the nineteen sixties with the development of
the Electronic Route Guidance System, or ERGS in the United States, to provide drivers with
route guidance information based on real-time traffic analysis. The system used special hardware
located at various intersections across the road network, on-board 2-way devices in vehicles that
would form the hub of communication between the driver and the ERGS system, and a central

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computer system that processed the information received from the remote systems. During the
early seventies, the ERGS program led to a more sophisticated, automated system comprising
interactive visual digital maps called the Automatic Route Control System or ARCS. The Urban
Traffic Control System was developed concomitantly, connecting various traffic signals and
computer generated predetermined signal timings for better traffic organization.

The same era saw the development of the Japanese Comprehensive Automobile Traffic Control
System (CACS) program, presumably one of the earliest public-private partnership effort in the
world to test an interactive route guidance system with an in-vehicle display unit. The Autofahrer
Leit and Information System (ALI) in Germany was a dynamic route guidance system based on
real traffic conditions, employed in the seventies. This was followed by AMTICS and RACS
projects that heralded the era of high-tech traffic management in Japan

Meanwhile, the United States strove to formulate the Federal Transportation Bill, the successor
to the Post Interstate Bill of the fifties, to solve issues of growing traffic congestion, travel
related accidents, fuel wastage and pollution. In 1986, the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System
(IVHS) was formulated that led to a spate of developments in the area of ITS. The General
Motors-funded Highway Users Federation for Safety and Mobility Annual Meeting (HUFSAM)
was held in Washington DC in November, 1986 to partner with the US DOT in sponsoring a
National Leadership Conference on “Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS)”. A Federal
Advisory Committee for IVHS was incorporated to assist the US-Department of Transportation
and was aimed to promote orderly and expeditious movement of people and goods, develop an
efficient mass transit system that interacts smoothly with improved highway operations and an
active IVHS industry catering to both domestic and international needs. This laid the foundation
for the formal Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) in 1991 as a non-
profit organization to foster the use of advanced technologies in surface transportation systems.

In Europe, the Program for a European Traffic System with Higher Efficiency and
Unprecedented Safety (Prometheus) was designed by auto manufacturers and this was followed
by Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe (DRIVE) project, set up by the
European Community. A brief overview of the ITS developments towards the end of last
century, in three key geographic areas of the world is shown in FIGURE 1.

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figure 1: ITS Developments in Europe, USA and Japan at the turn of the century

Interest in ITS begins as computer systems start becoming cheaper and smaller. In the late 1960s
and early 1970s Comprehensive Automobile Traffic Control System (CACS) was introduced in
Japan and the Electronic Route Guidance System (ERGS) in the United States, and in Germany.
These technologies attempted to integrate complex route guidance systems and in vehicle
displays. However, technical snags and high costs prevented any of these systems from being
accepted on a practical scale.

Starting in the mid-1980s, ITS got a major boost when communication technologies became
much cheaper and reliable and computation capabilities expanded enormously. The motor
vehicle industry detected an opportunity to add value to their products and government agencies
possibilities of solving problems of congestion and safety. Large projects were launched with
government-industry partnership. The European Union started Dedicated Road Infrastructure for
Vehicle Safety in Europe (DRIVE), the auto manufacturers-sponsored Program for a European
Traffic System with Higher Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety (PROMETHEUS), the
Japanese worked on the Road/Automobile Communication System (RACS) project, and in the
U.S. the Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS) project was funded. Funding for
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) increased during this period and aimed at providing
information systems keeping the driver in full control over the vehicle and receiving supporting
information from the system to an eventuality when a vehicle could be operated under fully
automated control on a dedicated lane on a highway.

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While there has been considerable progress on all these fronts, advances have not come as fast as
forecasted. We are yet to see much improvement in overall safety or congestion. Successful
deployment of ITS include

Route guidance systems that have become available commercially and in wide use.

Computer systems in cars that control emissions, guide restraint system (including air bags)
deployment, and electronic stability control systems that prevent vehicles from rolling over.

Toll collection and traveler information systems on highways.

Road pricing and electronic vehicle monitoring systems in cities.

Transit management with vehicle tracking and passenger information systems.

2.1. ITS applications

There are many ways to group ITS applications, and one possible way is as follows:

(a) Traveler information

Pre-trip information
On-trip driver information
On-trip public transport information
Personal information services
Route guidance and navigation

(b) Traffic Management

Transportation planning support

Traffic control

Incident management

Demand management

Policing/enforcing traffic regulations

Infrastructure maintenance management

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 (c) Vehicle

Vision enhancement

Automated vehicle operation

Longitudinal collision avoidance

Lateral collision avoidance

Safety readiness

Pre-crash restraint deployment

(d) Commercial Vehicle

Commercial vehicle pre-clearance

Commercial vehicle administrative processes

Automated roadside safety inspection

Commercial vehicle on-board safety monitoring

Commercial vehicle fleet management

Automated Diagnostic Systems

(e) Public Transport

Public transport management

Demand responsive transport management

Shared transport management

(f) Emergency

Emergency notification and personal security

Emergency vehicle management

Hazardous materials and incident notification

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(g) Electronic Payment

Electronic financial transactions

(h) Safety

Public travel security

Safety enhancement for vulnerable road users

Intelligent junctions

Most of the above applications can be grouped into the following goals:

(a) Safety

(b) Mobility

(c) Management and revenue collection

(d) Energy and Environment

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 CHAPTER 3
ITS TAXONOMY
The most commonly used classification of ITS is based on the positioning of the system as given
below.

Technologies deployed within vehicles, including sensors, information processors and displays
that provides information to the driver.

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Sensors on and by the side of roads collect important traffic data. Tools of communication
provide drivers with pertinent information to manage traffic better. These tools include roadside
messages, GPS alerts and signals to direct traffic flow.

Communication between vehicles, and between infrastructure and vehicles involving a synergic
combination of vehicle level and infrastructure level technologies.

Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) integrates various sub-systems (such as

CCTV, vehicle detection, communications, variable message systems, etc.) into a coherent single
interface that provides real time data on traffic status and predicts traffic conditions for more
efficient planning and operations. Dynamic traffic control systems, freeway operations
management systems, incident response systems etc. respond in real time to changing conditions
[Figure 3].

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Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) provide to users of transportation systems,
travel-related information to assist decision making on route choices, estimate travel times, and
avoid congestion. This can be enabled by providing different information using various
technologies such as:

i)GPS enabled in-vehicle navigation systems

ii) Dynamic road message signs for real time communication of information on traffic
congestions, bottlenecks, accidents and alternate route information during road closures and
maintenance

iii) Website to provide a colour-coded network map showing congestion levels on

highways (a.k.a. congestion index).

Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS) are tools and concepts that enhance the driver‟s
control of the vehicle to make travel safer and more efficient [10]. For example, in vehicle
collision warning systems alert the driver to a possible imminent collision. In more advanced
AVCS applications, the vehicle could automatically break or steer away from a collision, based
on input from sensors on the vehicle. Both systems are autonomous to the vehicle and can
provide substantial benefits by improving safety and reducing accident induced congestion. The
installation of high tech gadgets and processors in vehicles allow incorporation of software

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applications and artificial intelligence systems that control internal operations, ubiquitous
computing, and other programs designed to be integrated into a greater transportation system.

Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) comprises an ensemble of satellite navigation system,

a small computer and a digital radio, which can be used in commercial vehicles such as trucks,
vans, and taxis. This system affords constant monitoring of truck operations by the central office
and provides traceability and safety.

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Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) applies state-of-art transportation
management and information technologies to public transit systems to enhance efficiency of
operation and improve safety. It includes real-time passenger information systems, automatic
vehicle location systems, bus arrival notification systems, and systems providing priority of
passage to buses at signalized intersections (transit signal priority).

Advanced Rural Transportation Systems (ARTS) provide information about remote road and
other transportation systems. Examples include automated road and weather conditions reporting
and directional information. This type of information is valuable to motorists travelling to remote
or rural areas. This has been widely implemented in the United States and will be a valuable
asset to countries like India, where rural areas are widely distributed.

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 CHAPTER 4
COMPONENTS OF ITS
A Traffic Management Centre (TMC) is the hub of transport administration, where data is
collected, and analysed and combined with other operational and control concepts to manage the
complex transportation network. It is the focal point for communicating transportation-related
information to the media and the motoring public, a place where agencies can coordinate their
responses to transportation situations and conditions. Typically, several agencies share the
administration of transport infrastructure, through a network of traffic operation centres. There
is, often, a localized distribution of data and information and the centres adopt different criteria
to achieve the goals of traffic management. This inter-dependent autonomy in operations and
decision-making is essential because of the heterogeneity of demand and performance
characteristics of interacting subsystems.

The effective functioning of the TMC, and hence the efficiency of the ITS, depend critically on
the following components:

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 1) Automated data acquisition

2)Fast data communication to traffic management centres

3)Accurate analysis of data at the management centres

4) Reliable information to public/traveler

4.1 Data Acquisition

Rapid, exhaustive and accurate data acquisition and communication is critical for real-time
monitoring and strategic planning. A good data acquisition-management-communication system
combines tested hardware and efficient software that can collect reliable data on which to base
further ITS activities. The different ITS hardware/equipment commonly used include sensors,
cameras, automatic vehicle identifiers (AVI), GPS based automatic vehicle locators (AVL), and
servers that can store huge amounts of data for meaningful interpretation. A few of the state-of-
art, critical components are described below.

a. Sensors

Sensors and detectors have been used for highway traffic counts, surveillance, and control for the
last 50 years. Early sensors relied on visuals (e.g. optical detectors), sound (acoustic detectors),
and vehicle weight induced pressure/vibration (seismic/piezoelectric sensors) on the road
surface. Advances in detector technology now enable use of a variety of detectors such as
magnetic detectors (based on geomagnetism), infrared, ultrasonic, radar, and microwave
detectors (based on reflection of radiation), inductive loop detectors (based on electromagnetic
induction), seismic, and inertia-switch detectors (based on vibration), and video based detectors,
in addition to the more traditional sensors used over the years. These detectors measure the
change in magnetic/seismic/ optical/acoustic fields caused by the passage of vehicles and
calculate traffic parameters based on these measurements. Many of these detectors are intrusive
and are placed in the subsurface of the roadway and provide real-time traffic information on that
point of the road. The volume, occupancy and speed of the vehicle are the commonly obtained
traffic parameters. The three main types of vehicle detectors used in current practice are
inductive loop detectors magnetic detectors, and magnetometers.

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The advantage of the above sensors/detectors is that, unlike technologies such as AVI, GPS etc.,
these are autonomous detectors and do not require voluntary participation by the travelling
public. However, these sensors and detectors require periodic maintenance, replacement and
repair due to deterioration of data quality over time. In addition, many of them are intrusive in
nature and require cutting of road surface for installation and maintenance making the cost of
installation and maintenance prohibitively high. This is leading to greater use of visual detectors
such as video cameras in recent years. Video cameras were introduced to traffic management for
roadway surveillance based on their ability to transmit closed circuit television imagery to a
human operator for interpretation. Present day traffic management applications utilize video
image processing to automatically analyse the scene of focus and extract information for traffic
surveillance and control. A video image processor (VIP) system typically consists of one or more
cameras, a microprocessor based computer for digitizing and processing the imagery, and
software for interpreting the images and converting them into traffic flow data.

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21
 b. Automatic Vehicle Identifiers (AVI) and Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVL)

The AVI system uses a combination of AVI readers, AVI tags or transponders in the vehicles,
and a central computer system. AVI readers/antennas are located on roadside or overhead
structures or as a part of an electronic toll collection booth [Figure 12]. The antennas emit radio
frequency signals within a capture range across one or more freeway lanes. When a probe
vehicle enters the antenna‟s capture range, the transponders in the probe vehicles respond to the
radio signal and its unique ID is assigned a time and date stamp by the reader. This data is then
transmitted to a central computer facility, where it is processed and stored. In many developed
countries, unique probe vehicle ID numbers are tracked along the freeway system, and the travel
time of the probe vehicles is calculated as the difference between the time stamps at sequential
antenna locations.

AVI systems have the ability to continuously collect large amounts of data with minimal human
resource requirements. However the data collection process is mainly constrained by sample size
since it requires participation

c. GPS

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide satellite navigation system that provides a
fast, flexible, and relatively inexpensive data to determine a vehicle‟s position and velocity in
real time. GPS is a US owned space-based system,of twenty four satellites providing 24x7
monitoring of the earth. The 24 satellites are distributed uniformly in six orbital planes, at

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an altitude of approximately 20,200 km such that at least four satellites are visible at any time
and from any point on the earth's surface. GPS positioning is based loosely on three- dimensional
positioning of manmade landmarks/“stars” using trilateration related techniques. GPS employs
two fundamental observables for positioning and navigation, the code-phase or pseudo-ranges
and carrier-phase. It provides fundamental location data in terms of latitude, longitude, elevation
and UTC time. Based on these spatial and temporal data, traffic engineers can determine the
most useful traffic information, including travel time, travel speed, travel distance and delay. To
produce reliable traffic information from the GPS data, it is of significance to meet the sample
size requirements and follow an appropriate field procedure.

4.2 Communication Tools

The efficiency of the ITS system depends not only on the collection and analysis of traffic-
related data, but also on quick and reliable communication, both data from field to TMC and
information derived using the data and models from TMC to the public. This involves
communication between data collection centres to TMC and travel and traffic related
announcements to vehicles through onboard units and to the travellers through media like VMS,
web pages, SMS etc.

Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) provide communications between the vehicle

and the roadside in specific locations (for example toll plazas). DSRC operate on radio
frequencies in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band and comprise Road Side Units
(RSUs) and the On Board Units (OBUs) with transceivers and transponders. Wireless
Communications Systems dedicated to Intelligent Transport Systems and Road Transport and
Traffic Telematics provide network connectivity to vehicles. Continuous

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Air interface Long and Medium range (CALM) provides continuous communications between a
vehicle and the roadside using a variety of communication media, including cellular, 5 GHz, 63
GHz and infra-red links.

4.3 Data Analysis

Data analysis includes data cleaning, fusion, and analysis. The data from the sensors and other
collection devices that are transmitted to the TMC must be checked. Inconsistent data must be
weeded out and clean data has to be retained. Further, data from different devices may need to be
combined or fused for further analysis. The cleaned and fused traffic data will be analyzed to
estimate and forecast traffic states. These traffic state estimation methods will be used to provide
suitable information to users.

4.4 Traveller Information

Travel advisory system facilities are used for relaying transportation-related information to the
motoring public. These include: Variable Message Signs, Highway Advisory Radio, Internet,
Short Messaging Services, automated cell phone messaging, public radio announcement,
television broadcast and other modern media tools. Such systems can provide real-time
information on travel times, travel speeds, delays, accidents, route closures and detours, and
work zone conditions, among others.

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 CHAPTER 5
ITS AROUND THE WORLD
Numerous ITS applications have been developed by various organizations/institutions around the
globe and tailored to offer transportation solution to meet their specific needs. In developed
countries, road operators have become dependent on ITS for not only congestion and demand
management, but also for road safety and improved infrastructure.

ITS employ modern communication, computer and sensor technology directly, and are also
enabledindirectly by developments in materials technology and operations research, including
network analysis and risk assessment. The vastness of the playing field makes the ITS a
cooperative effort between the public sector, private sector, and academia. There is substantial
emphasis on the central and critical role of local public-sector partnership with knowledge input
from academic circles. Substantial changes have been made in the core competencies and
perspective of these organizations and relationships for developing programmes towards a
successful ITS.

In the public sector front, ITS are built on regional and national architecture to suit the specific
region. On the private side, new technologies are fuelled by the consumer market. Advances in
communication and Information technology have assisted the integration of the vehicle with the
infrastructure, an essential requirement of the systemic nature of ITS. ITS fall within the
framework of cyber-physical systems due to the intimate interaction between physical systems
(vehicles) and a distributed information gathering and dissemination infrastructure (wired and
wireless networks, sensors, processors, and the accompanying software).

Developments in ITS are driven strongly by socio-economic needs, and environmental demands.
A research report titled “Intelligent Transportation Systems: A Global Strategic Business
Report”, published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a comprehensive review of
trends, product developments, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities within
the domain of ITS. According to this report, the global market for intelligent transportation
systems (ITS) is projected to reach US $18.5 billion by 2015. The United States of America has
the largest regional market for ITS, accounting for a share of almost 40% of global revenue
generated. The market for ITS is promising in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions as
well and is driven by rapid infrastructure developments. Among the various programmes of the
ITS worldwide, advanced traffic management holds the largest demand followed by electronic
toll collection systems.

Some implementations of ITS around the world are described in the following sections.

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5.1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Organizations such as the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials,
the American Public Transportation Association and the Intelligent Transportation Society of
America (ITS America) partnered with the U.S. Department of Transportation and developed the
Telephonic Data Dissemination scheme with the designation of a nationwide 3-digit telephone
number (511) to disseminate current information about travel conditions, allowing travelers to
make better choices - choice of time, choice of mode of transportation, choice of route. The
IntelliDrive SM is a multimodal initiative that leverages on wireless technology to enable
communications among vehicles, the infrastructure, and passengers‟ personal communications
devices

Next Generation 9-1-1 initiative is aimed at extending the current emergency 9-1-1 system to
establish public emergency communications services through all forms of communication media.
The Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems initiative is a partnership between
US-DoT, automobile manufacturers and State and local departments of transportation aimed at
developing an optimised combination of autonomous-vehicle, autonomous-infrastructure and
cooperative communication systems that can address the full set of intersection crash problems.

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In USA, Congestion is typically caused by a variety of natural and artificial situations.The
Congestion Initiative seeks to mitigate the problem through strategic planning.

It comprises two elements, viz. Urban Partnership Agreements (UPA) program and follow-on
Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD). Metropolitan areas implement four
complementary and synergistic strategies that contribute to the relief of urban congestion:

1) Tolling: Reducing congestion through fee payment

2) Transit: Promoting use of trains, buses, ferries
3) Telecommuting: Enabling work from alternate locations
4) Technology: Applying of leading edge technologies in support of all congestion-
reduction efforts

The Emergency Transportation Operations (ETO) is a continuous process that is defined by the
probability an event will occur and the severity of the impact and complexity of response. ETO‟s
three major areas of action include Traffic Incident Management, Traffic Management for
Planned Special Events, Emergency Transportation Operations for Disasters. The Electronic
Freight Management Initiative of the US-ITS is aimed at improving freight management through
integration of cutting edge technologies.

Some of the other ITS projects that have been successfully implemented by the United States
include use of variable rate highway tolling, electronic toll collection, certain advanced traffic
management systems such as ramp metering, and active involvement of private sector in
telematics and travel information. There are several private sector enterprises that have started
providing traffic information related applications as a paid service to users. In fact, the USDOT
ITS vision statement predicted in 2007 that 15 years from then, commercial entities, in the form
of “Information Service Providers”, or ISPs, will be built upon the early public sector

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foundations of ITS. These ISPs were expected to provide value-added services, by collecting
data from various sources and creating valuable information products and services that
consumers now see as just as necessary as their TV, on-line computer, and telephone services.

The current recognized weakness of the United States is the variability in implementation of ITS
among states and regions, thus leading to sporadic, isolated, incremental, and a non-integrated
ITS across the country.

5.2 JAPAN
ITS in Japan was formalised around the middle of the last decade. This period, called the initial
stage of ITS, started the use of in-vehicle navigation systems and electronic toll collection. The
second phase (2005) built on the discoveries and developments of Phase I efforts, provided more
extensive and accurate public transport information for optimization of travel time and
convenience. Core areas of development included rapid emergency and rescue activities,
establishment of public transport organizations as part of the ITS and improvement of
information services to improve the convenience of transportation. The ongoing third phase
(2005-2010) involves improvement of infrastructure and in-vehicle equipment, and organization
of legal and social systems pertinent to travel and transport. The future Fourth Phase (after 2010)
would integrate all technology and concepts developed in the previous phases and apply them in
synergy for a fully functional ITS. This would involve, among other activities, setting up a full-
scale advanced information and telecommunications society with extensive optic fibre network
and innovative social systems. Additionally, a reduction in business traffic will permit to relieve
the roadside environment and the global environment.

The ITS efforts in Japan collates improvements in the following fields

1) Advances in Navigation Systems

2) Electronic Toll Collection
3) Assistance for Safe Driving
4) Optimization of Traffic Management
5) Increasing Efficiency in Road
6) Management
7) Support for Public Transport
8) Increasing Efficiency in Commercial
9) Vehicles
10) Support for Pedestrians
11) Support for Emergency Operations

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The first ITS implementation was a computer-controlled area traffic control system in Japan and
was installed in Tokyo in 1970. The traffic control system coordinated timings of traffic signal
lights along 100 intersections, with 200 vehicle detectors. It is reported that the implementation
has reduced travel time and saved man-hours and gas consumption in the order of 5.7 times the
installation cost. After the success of the Tokyo Area Traffic Control System, nationwide
installation of traffic control centres started in a series of Five-year Projects for Traffic Safety
Systems.

The Comprehensive Automobile Control System (CACS), sponsored by the Ministry of

International Trade and Industries was developed during 1973 – 1978. This involved the
interaction between each vehicle and the management system such that road side management
equipment communicated directions to each vehicle depending on its declared destination and
ID. The directions or 'guide table' for every destination in the neighbourhood was stored in the
road-side equipment and updated periodically according to traffic conditions so that the vehicle
was guided to the best route. The vehicle ID was used to measure travel time between road-side
equipment. The implemented CAS comprised the following five subsystems:

1) Route guidance subsystem (RGS)

2) Driving information subsystem (DIS)
3) Traffic incident information subsystem (TIS)
4) Route display board subsystem (RDB)
5) Public service vehicle priority subsystem (PVP).

Japan is a pioneer in vehicle based navigation system. The first navigation system was sold by
Honda and equipped in its Accord model in 1981 using a gas rate gyroscope as a direction
sensor. In 1987, Toyota Electro Multivision was installed in its Crown model, which was the first

29
car using a Cathode Ray Tube to display the map. Today, Japan uses the largest number of
navigation systems in its vehicles. According to a survey in 2006 by Cross Marketing Inc., more
than 50% of Japanese cars use advanced navigation systems.

The Road Automobile Communication System (RACS) was organised by Highway Industry
Development Organization during 1984 - 1991 under the supervision of the Ministry of
Construction. A series of field experiments with 91 road-side equipment were conducted in a 350
km2 study area between Tokyo and Yokohama from 1987 to 1988. This was the foundation of
current car navigation systems. A bi-directional communication test system comprising 60 meter
long zone of road-side antenna with 512Kbps transmission rate was the heart of the
communication system.

The Advanced Mobile Traffic Information and Communication System (AMTICS) was
concurrently developed by Japan Traffic Management and Technology Association under the
suggestion of the National Police Agency. It is an integrated traffic information and navigation
system that displays on screen in each vehicle, traffic information gathered at Traffic Control and
Surveillance Centres managed by the police in 74 cities of Japan

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In the early 1990‟s the RACS and AMTICS programmes were integrated under the common
name of VICS and implemented by a conglomeration of government and private bodies such as
the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Construction and the National
Police Agency, academic organizations and private companies. The VICS was implemented in
the Tokyo Metropolitan area and Osaka around 1996 and in Aichi during 1997. Now it
encompasses the entire country. VICS provides drivers with upcoming road conditions and
alternative routes to avoid congestion through the use of state-of-art technology including radio,
optical and IR beacons, FM multiplex broadcasting media, 2.5GHz radiowave data
dissemination, and in-vehicle navigation systems and digital maps.

The Universal Traffic Management System UTMS is another system that has been implemented
in Japan by the National Police Agency since 1993 to provide drivers with real time traffic and
guidance information [Figure 25]. The goal of UTMS is effective management of traffic flow.
Two-way infrared beacons are used for both monitoring and communication activities.

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The Automated Highway System (AHS) was developed with support from the Ministry of
Construction in 1995, to minimize driver interface and shift the driving function to the vehicle
through more intensive, automatic communication between vehicle and the highway
infrastructure. The AHS system comprising features such as partial automated driving,
platooning, collision avoidance and incident warning system was demonstrated at a 3 km stretch
of a 6 km long loop test course in the Public Works Research Institute, Ministry of Construction,
in Tsukuba City during the 2nd ITS World Congress in November 1995. A second
demonstration was carried out between Komoro and Tobu ramps (1Km round trip) on the
Joshinetsu Expressway in September 1996 just before the official start of operation of the
Expressway in November.

A sizeable population in Japan use toll roads, as shown in a survey by Dimsdrive Research. The
ETC uses radio signals between the in-vehicle equipment and the antenna at the toll gate to store
data in the in-vehicle equipment, and calculates the fee instantaneously at the destination.
Initiated in 1995, ETC now encompasses 63 toll gates all over the country.

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5.3 EUROPE
Mainland Europe‟s Intelligent Transport Systems falls under the umbrella of Road Transport
Informatics (RTI). RTI focuses on two interacting programs - Road Infrastructures for Vehicle
safety in Europe (DRIVE) and PROgram for European Traffic with Highest Efficiency and
Unprecedented Safety (PROMETHEUS). DRIVE falls under the control of the Commission of
European Communities (CEC), and PROMETHEUS is part of the European Research
Coordination Agency (EUREKA) platform, an industrial research initiative involving 19
countries and European vehicle manufacturers. System development is the primary goal of the
PROMETHEUS project, while DRIVE focuses on human behavior issues and implementation of
systems in the European community [40-42]. Other European Union (EU) public-private
partnership focusing on specific safety applications of ITS technologies initiatives are eSafety,
INVENT, and PReVENT.

The eSafety programme promotes the development, deployment, and use of Intelligent Vehicle
Safety Systems to enhance road safety throughout Europe.

The INVENT program works towards improving traffic flow and traffic safety by development
of novel driver assistance systems, knowledge and information technologies, and solutions for
more efficient traffic management, to prevent or minimise the severity of accidents. INVENT
focuses on eight specific projects:

1) Detection and Interpretation of the Driving Environment through the use of laser,
radar, sensors and video image processing, and communicating the information to road
users.
2) Anticipatory Active Safety through automatic detection of crossing cyclists and
pedestrians and warning drivers, and support the driver in lane changing and turning
manoeuvers.

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 3) Congestion Assistance through automatic cruise and headway control for regulation of
speed to, maintenance of safe distance and detection of potential obstacles.
4) Driver Behaviour and Human Machine Interaction measure the driver‟s reactions
and response to new systems, to improve the human–machine interface.
5) Traffic Performance Assistance through vehicle-based data collection and analysis of
traffic state, and communication to upstream vehicles.
6) Network Traffic Equalizers use dynamic route guidance and navigation systems to
track traffic data and choose optimal route to destination.
7) Traffic Management in Transport and Logistics enabled by intelligent route
planning systems for deliveries, and optimised courier services taking into account
mobility of customers and duration of trip, guaranteeing precise delivery times.
8) Traffic Impact, Legal issues and Acceptance evaluate the economic and business
implications of the new technologies, as well as potential legal conflicts.

Some representative projects developed under the aegis of the European ITS are described
below. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but merely serves as a pointer to the various
kinds of ITS activities.

The AGILE project developed a global navigation satellite service in the mobility sector, using
European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service EGNOS and the European satellite
navigation system - Galileo. AGILE‟s ultimate objective is to define a roadmap that will bring
profitable EGNOS and Galileo-based applications to reality. High-quality positioning data
(within five meters, rather than the current 20 meters), brought about by improving on American
GPS and Russian Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) enabled the
implementation of critical applications in areas in which safety is crucial, such as navigating
trains, guiding cars and landing aircraft. The AIDE Project was a collaborative effort between
research institutes and universities in Europe, to develop a model to predict behavioural effects
of driver assistance and information systems and created a methodology for evaluating the safety
benefits of adaptive human-machine interfaces. Adaptive integrated driver-vehicle interface was
developed for road vehicles to enable safe integration of multiple IVIS and ADAS functions,
including nomadic devices. The project organised a European “Nomadic Device Forum” to work
towards a European consensus on the features and architecture of a “smart vehicle- portable
device gateway”, and to address safety and commercial issues for vehicle device integration.
Funded through the EC Asia Information Technology and Communication Programme, the BITS
project was designed to link ITS organizations and activities in Europe to those in China to
implement ITS projects in the Chinese cities.

The Digital Tachograph was a joint ERTICO-European Commission initiative to ensure free
movement of EU vehicles in Central and Eastern European countries by informing national
administrations, law enforcement agencies as well as social partners about the digital tachograph.

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The Tachograph is a control device recording and storing drivers‟ activities, as well as related
data like vehicle speed, location, events and faults.

Supported by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme of Information Society

Technologies, the eCall project developed techniques for automatic and prompt notification of
emergency situations on the road to appropriate crisis management services to speed up
emergency response, thus enhancing safety. The technology involved manual calling or
automated message transfer through sensors activated by crash-suggestive events, such as airbag
release. This project served as a launch pad for futuristic services such as the pan-European
eCall. The project assessed the potential benefits of eCall, and its impact on congestion,
secondary accidents, efficiency of rescue services and traffic management vis-à-vis national
economy. Like the e-Call study, the E-MERGE project was aimed at developing an in-vehicle
emergency call solution that ensures a manual or automatic call for assistance to a Public Safety
Answering Point (PSAP). This was funded through the EC Information Society Directorate
General and coordinated efforts with other groups working to enhance emergency call
capabilities (e.g. E112 and the eSafety initiative), defined the public- and private-sector
requirements to fulfil the goal of a pan-European emergency service chain, and designed the
specifications for the working of an eCall service involving routing, the interfaces and all
components of the system, such as vehicles, telecom operators, PSAPs, service providers and
emergency agencies such as police, fire, and ambulance.

The ETNITE project, supported by EC Directorate General Education and Culture‟s Leonardo
Da Vinci Programme, developed a targeted effort to improve the scope and quality of ITS
training and education in Europe. The project supported the European Network on ITS Training
and Education (ITSEduNet), a pan-European, multi-sector organisation that offered validated
ITS training material. The tasks of the ETNITE team focused on developing educational
resources and enhancing awareness of ITS among the public and private sector and promoting e-
learning methodologies. The project supported European industry by ensuring the availability of
state-of-the-art know-how in ITS and promote the worldwide reputation of European ITS
products and services.

The EU-India project was funded by EC Directorate General Information Society & Media to
introduce ITS solutions in India for improving road safety and the efficiency of the Indian
transport system. The project brought together, European and Indian stakeholders from public
authorities, industry and the research sector, and focused particularly on Intelligent Integrated
Safety Systems (eSafety). The project laid the foundation for efficient traffic management
solutions for major future events such as the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. The
“STADIUM” programme being coordinated by Italy‟s ISIS helps monitor public transport
services, in particular bus transport and feeder services consisting of auto rickshaws, in real time
via interfaces with GPS positioning systems.

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The NextMAP project evaluated the technical and commercial feasibility of enhanced map
databases required for in-vehicle ITS applications. It defined and assessed new map requirements
(geometric accuracy, additional information) for main Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
(ADAS) applications. It has been demonstrated in Coventry (Jaguar), Stuttgart
(DaimlerChrysler), Munich (BMW), Paris (Renault) and Turin (FIAT). The PReVENT-
MAPS&ADAS improved digital maps, thereby enhancing the information that such maps feed
into Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Through this project standardised interfaces
were developed for ADAS applications and map data sources.

Supported by the EC Directorate General Information Society and Media, PReVENT developed,
tested and spread awareness of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for improved road
safety. The objective was to accelerate the European-wide introduction of such ADAS
applications for safety. The project included over 50 partners and was composed of subprojects
covering specific road traffic and accident situations.

SpeedAlerts project worked towards harmonising the in-vehicle speed alert concept definition,
and investigated the first priority issues to be addressed at the European level, such as the
collection, maintenance and certification of speed limit information.The telematics forum
developed the Global Telematics Protocol (GTP) for telematics service delivery, merging the
two leading protocols, Application Communication Protocol (ACP) and Global Automotive
Telematics Standard (GATS). It validated the outcome of the GST Integrated Project. The Forum
brought together leading service providers, control centre operators, middleware providers,
terminal manufacturers and the automotive industry to work on the definition and market
adoption of enabling standards for telematics service delivery.

5.4 UNITED KINGDOM

Some successful implementations of ITS-UK include;

1) Internet based maps aimed at freight transport. In London, “Transport for London”(TfL)
have produced a digital map of all London's speed limits which is available free of charge
to anyone who wishes to use the map for personal use, or to create commercial
applications.

2) Managed motorways: benefits of reduced emissions due to smoother traffic flow, of the
removal of the need for additional road building (a carbon intensive activity), and of
better design of road side equipment reducing energy consumption.

3) Cameras: As part of the “Ring of Steel” program of Coucestershire Constbulary, cameras

have been installed on major routes across the country to monitor journey times and
traffic flow.

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4) Television: Several tools have been developed to facilitate the “Strategic Road Network”
programme, including motorway traffic viewer (MTV) and the web-based online MTV.

5) Information services to support travel planning - for towns, workplaces, other activity
centres, and individual

6) Toll collection and management. Electronic toll collection has been implemented in the
following regions of the country:

- Ireland - Eazy Pass on national toll roads in Ireland

- United Kingdom - DART-tag for the Dartford Crossing

- United Kingdom - London congestion charge in London

- United Kingdom - Fast tag Mersey tunnels: Queensway Tunnel and Kingsway
Tunnel

- United Kingdom - M6 Toll tag in the Midlands

- United Kingdom - Severn TAG for the Severn Bridge crossing and Second Severn
Crossing

- United Kingdom - Tamar Bridge

7) Point to point speed enforcement has been ensured by use of multilane cameras and
automated information display for smoother and safer traffic flows.

8) Two kinds of Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) applications are being implemented in
London. Advisory ISA system takes the speed limit and displays the information to the
driver via a dashboard unit. Voluntary helps the driver by making it difficult to accidently
accelerate beyond the speed limit. The key to both systems is that the vehicle is aware of
its location on the road and the speed limit at that location. It does this using a Global
Positioning System (GPS) signal and a digital speed limit map which is held within the
ISA unit. A beta Advisory ISA system is now available for public download, including
source code released under the GNU license.

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 9) The public transportation buses in London are being slowly converted to hybrid vehicles.
It is being planned that all new buses entering service after 2012 will be hybrid powered.

5.5 MIDDLE EAST

Inspired by the traffic efficiency and safety in European roads due to the introduction of ITS, the
Middle East, whose transportation sector is expanding faster than anywhere else in the world, has
begun introducing and implementing ITS systems since last decade. The flagship conference of

38
the ITS-Arab Organisation, focusing on ITS issues and required developments in the Middle East
was held during December 2006 in Dubai. This conference with the theme Shaping the Future
with ITS‟ established the foundation of a formal ITS program in the Middle East. The ITS
system is supported by Gulf Traffic Intelligent Systems, Canada; Intelligent Transport Systems
India; South African Society for Intelligent Transport Systems and ITS America.

Dubai Municipality started the implementation phase I for project ITS Dubai, which is
considered to be the first comprehensive ITS project in the Middle East, and one of the most
sophisticated ITS projects currently being implemented in the world. This ITS is expected to
serve a rapidly growing population and the potential for phenomenal economical growth has
attracted investors and businesses from all over the world.

Several integrated approaches are being implemented to achieve ITS in Dubai, such as
constructing new roads and interchanges, promoting public transportation, and enhancing road
network. The ITS project by the Dubai Municipality has been working on this project since Mid
2002, and the project has currently reached the tendering stage, having successfully completed
planning, study, preliminary design, and final design phases.

The ITS is designed such that the municipality is automatically alerted of incidents on its
roadways by a combination of real-time traffic flow information via 63 freeway monitoring
stations. Point detection using radar sensors and wide area detection using video image
processing are expected to be installed, particularly along bridges, within tunnels, and at key
interchanges. Stations are designed to be non-pavement intrusive, for easy maintenance and
relocation if necessary.

The ITS is designed such that once an incident is detected and verified, a software will search
through the response planning bank and will recommend to the operator the best way to deal
with the incident. The municipality is also slated to rebuild the existing Traffic Control Centre to
a State of Art Comprehensive Traffic Management Centre.

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The system will be capable of conducting hundreds of complicated tasks simultaneously. Some
of the tasks that will be handled are:

1) Advising motorists ahead of a traffic jam to alter routes

2) Diverting traffic safely and with least inconvenience, away from accident induced
blocked lanes
3) Automatic moderation of speed limits during incidents or congestions.
4) Implementation of pre approved and tested plans jointly with Police Department and
5) Establishing easy and rapid approach to accident locations and hospitals during incidents.
6) Prioritising signals to support traffic incidents and civil defence vehicles
7) Handling equipment to guarantee reaching injured drivers and passengers as soon as
possible.
8) Automating traffic management plans to reduce congestion during special events.

Relevant traffic related information is provided to the drivers through LED-based Dynamic
Message Signs “DMS” that are located upstream of decision points. State-of-the-art graphical
information with concise English and Arabic text are designed.

Nearly 300 real time lane use control signals and speed control signals are being installed along
critical segments and bridges and tunnel approaches.

40
Real-time wireless messaging including SMS and WAP services are being provided to
compatible mobile phones in partnership with Etisalat. Map-based information on the internet,
showing travel times and congestion information and video images from DM cameras are being
designed for efficient communication of travel-related data to the public.

The Municipality of Dubai has also developed a dynamic navigation system for vehicles. The
testing phase has been completed and the CD is set to be released in the market soon.

41
Traveller information kiosks with touch-screen navigation, are also located in shopping malls
and other public areas to provide important travel related information to the public.

5.6 CANADA
Canada has been in the forefront of intelligent transport for more than half a century [54]. The
world's first computer-controlled traffic signal system operated in Toronto in 1959. The world's
first all-electronic, open-access toll highway, the 407 ETR (electronic toll route) opened in
Greater Toronto in 1999. Other ITS innovations in Canada have included ramp metering on the
Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and the COMPASS freeway traffic management system on the
QEW and Highway 401, the main route through Toronto and one of North America's busiest
highways. The very successful Combo smartcard has been used on the Burlington, Ontario
transit system since 1995.

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Transport Canada is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities (TIC) portfolio
of the Government of Canada to develop regulations, policies and services in the transportation
sector in Canada. Transport Canada has been responsible for the development of a “Border
Information Flow Architecture (BIFA)” in partnership with the U.S. Federal Highway
Administration, to ensure that technologies deployed at border crossings interact efficiently with
each other. The development of the BIFA followed the regional ITS architecture practices widely
used throughout Canada and the U.S. The BIFA was developed in conjunction with federal, state
and provincial agencies from both sides of the border. Transport Canada is a leader in developing
technologies, and promoting strategies and policies that help persons with disabilities, seniors
and other citizens with unique needs use the national transportation network without undue
obstacles.

The User Services of the ITS Architecture for Canada are organised into 8 User Services. The
individual user services and the sub-services under each are given below

1. Traveller Information Services

1.1. Traveller Information

1.2. Route Guidance and Navigation

1.3. Ride Matching and Reservation

1.4. Traveller Services and Reservations

2. Traffic Management Services

2.1 Traffic Control

2.2. Incident Management

2.3. Travel Demand Management

2.4. Environmental Conditions Management

2.5. Operations and Maintenance

2.6. Automated Dynamic Warning and Enforcement

2.7. Non-Vehicular Road User Safety

2.8. Multi-Modal Junction Safety and Control

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3. Public Transport Services

3.1 Public Transport Management

3.1.1 Transit Vehicle Tracking

3.1.2 Transit Fixed-Route Operations

3.1.3 Passenger and Fare Management

3.1.4 Transit Maintenance

3.1.5 Multi-Modal Co-ordination

3.1.6 Multi-Modal Connection Protection

4. Electronic Payment Services

4.1 Electronic Payment Services

5. Commercial Vehicle Operations

5.1. Commercial Vehicle Electronic Clearance

5.2. Automated Roadside Safety Inspection

5.3. On-board Safety Monitoring

5.4. Commercial Vehicle Administrative Processes

5.5. Intermodal Freight Management

5.6. Commercial Fleet Management

6. Emergency Management Services

6.1. Emergency Notification and Personal Security

6.2. Hazardous Material Planning and Incident Response

6.3. Disaster Response and Management

6.4. Emergency Vehicle Management

7. Vehicle Safety and Control Systems

7.1. Vehicle-Based Collision Avoidance

7.2. Infrastructure-Based Collision Avoidance

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 7.3. Sensor-Based Driving Safety Enhancement

7.4. Safety Readiness

7.5. Pre-Collision Restraint Deployment

7.6. Automated Vehicle Operation

8. Information Warehousing Services

8.1. Weather and Environmental Data Management

8.2. Archived Data Management

In a joint venture by Transport Canada, TransLink and IBI group, three bus rapid transit (BRT)
services have been developed in Canada: the 99 B-Line along Broadway, the 97 B-Line linking
Coquitlam, Port Moody and Burnaby to the Millennium SkyTrain line, and the 98 B-Line linking
Richmond, the Airport and downtown Vancouver. The 98 B-Line is the first BRT service that
incorporates the following state-of-art ITS technologies.

Transit Management: The system incorporates Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and
schedule adherence monitoring, supported by voice and data communications to the Surrey
Transit Centre (STC) intended to optimise TransLink‟s efficiency in managing the 98 B-Line
fleet of buses, as well as buses on other routes.

Traffic signal priority (TSP): The system allows buses to receive priority at traffic signals when
running behind schedule, reducing the number of stops at intersections, as well as the amount of
delay experienced at traffic signals, improving trip time reliability, while also contributing to
reduced operating costs.

Real-time Passenger Information: The system provides “next bus” arrival time information to
customers at the 98 B-Line stations, updated in real time based on vehicle locations and schedule
adherence – thus increasing passenger convenience and accessibility to the system.

Automated Voice and Digital Next Stop: On board the buses, automated voice and digital
displays provide “next stop” announcements to on board passengers

The ITS office of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation is implementing an ITS deployment
analysis system known as IDAS, a computerised benefit/cost model that estimates the impacts of
alternative ITS-based transportation solutions in urban, freeway and intercity situations. IDAS
uses output from traditional transportation planning models to replicate an existing or future
transportation network. The user can then deploy ITS improvements directly on the links of the
„network model‟ or, in the case of some transit services, by districts, to generate cost/benefit

45
impacts for various ITS scenarios. The library of "typical" ITS deployments and associated
"average" equipment costs and benefits were derived originally from a nation-wide survey
conducted by the US. DOT for the ITS National Architecture which is being updated on a
continuing basis from case studies being collected in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

A Canada-wide university research network, led jointly by the University of Toronto ITS Centre
and Testbed, and the University of Montreal Centre for Research in Transport, has Europe and
US partners. A few successful projects by the network are given below.

1) CoastView (BC) enhances management of hazardous materials and dangerous goods to

improve transport safety.
2) Video Traffic Management and Traveller Information (Edmonton, Alberta) deploys
CCTV to provide information for traffic and incident management, and traveler
information images via TV and a website.
3) Traffic Signal Priority for Buses and Automatic Vehicle Tracking System (Calgary,
Alberta) focuses on bus priority at traffic signals, and collection and analysis of data for
validating and adjusting transit schedules.
4) Reduce Single Occupant Vehicle Travel in Region of Waterloo (Regional Municipality
of Waterloo, Ontario) is a pioneering public-private partnership aimed at implementing,
monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of employer based transportation demand
management.
5) ITS for School Bus Drivers (Quebec and New Brunswick) is using ITS to detect children
around school buses and warn drivers.
6) The Confederation Bridge (Prince Edward Island-New Brunswick) has introduced ETC
transponders identical to those used elsewhere in the Atlantic provinces to facilitate
interoperability.

5.7 INDIA
The ITS program in India is aimed at ensuring safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and
sustainable access for the growing urban and rural population to jobs, education, recreation and
such other needs. A few ITS applications have been introduced in India in metropolitan cities
like New Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai etc. focusing on stand-alone deployments of area-
wide signal control, parking information, advanced public transportation, toll collection etc.
However, all of these are small scale pilot studies limited to major cities and are in the beginning
stage of deployment. Thus, at present, there are no exhaustive fully developed ITS applications
with traffic management centers in India.

A brief description of some of the existing applications of ITS is given below:

46
Trial of advanced Traffic Management System

This involved a trial run of the fully automated Traffic Regulatory Management System
(TRMS), involving usage of surveillance cameras in the city of Chennai. This project involved
installing sophisticated cameras, wireless towers and poles, under the Rs. 3-crore-State
government- funded project. Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) cameras were installed in
28 out of 42 vantage points in the city, while „Pan Tilt Zoom‟ (PTZ) cameras were deployed in
10 out of 12 busy junctions identified. The traffic police also plan to install 40 CCTV cameras at
various junctions. This is to warn motorists who blatantly violate rules and monitor traffic on
arterial roads during peak hours.

Automated Traffic Control (ATC)

ATC has been setup in many cities in India including Delhi, Pune, Mumbai etc.

Mumbai:

The Area Traffic Control Project of the Mumbai Traffic Control Branch focused on
synchronising major junction and was implemented through the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority (MMRDA) and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)
with financial aid from World Bank. Modern gadgets such as Speed Check Guns and Multi
Radar C comprising Smart Cameras, Radar sensor, Screen, Manual control unit, Flash generator,
Flash light, Power Box and Tripod were used in this project.

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 Chennai:

The Chennai traffic police set up the city‟s first Automatic Traffic Control (ATC) system at 26
major traffic signals around the new secretariat complex. The system monitors and regulates
traffic without any manual intervention and helps police regulate VIP routes. The ATC is
designed to be capable of changing signal duration in accordance with the volume of the traffic
by analysing the number of vehicles at three adjoining junctions and synchronising the signals.
Manual intervention if required is designed to be performed from the control room. A VIP
movement can be managed by creating a green corridor by automatically synchronising the
signals along the VIP route.

Advanced Public Transportation System APTS

One application implemented in APTS area is GPS vehicle tracking system in public transport
buses (Bangalore, Chennai, Indore) to monitor vehicle routing and frequency so that passengers
do not have to wait long hours for a bus. The objective is to provide Global Positioning System
based passenger information system to help passengers utilise their waiting time at bus stops
more efficiently as well as to reduce the uncertainty and associated frustrations. Display boards
with high quality light emitting diode in wide-view angle are provided at bus stops so that
passengers can read the information. It displays the number and destination of the approaching
bus, expected time of arrival, and messages of public interest.

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Bus Rapid Transport (BRT)

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are viable alternatives to traditional light rail public transport.
Instead of a train or metro rail, BRT systems use buses to ply a dedicated lane that runs
lengthwise along the centre of the road. At specific locations, passengers can embark or
disembark at conveniently located stations, which often feature ticket booths, turnstiles, and
automatic doors. Studies have shown that a BRT is not only cheaper to build, but is also
profitable for bus owners to operate and relatively inexpensive for commuters to use. The cities
selected for implementing BRT include Ahmedabad, Pune, Rajkot, Bhopal, Indore,
Visakhapatnam, Vijaywada and Jaipur.

Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)

The Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is designed to determine if a car is registered in a toll
payment program, alert enforcers of toll payment violations, and debit the participating account.
With ETC, these transactions can be performed while vehicles travel at near highway cruising
speed. ETC is fast becoming a globally accepted method of toll collection, a trend greatly aided
by the growth of interoperable ETC technologies. Technologies used in ETC are Automatic
Vehicle Identification (AVI), Automatic Vehicle Classification (AVC), Video Enforcement
Systems (VES) and Vehicle Positioning System (VPS).ETC systems are deployed in the
following cities in India:

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Advanced Parking Management

State-of-art parking management system is set up by the New Delhi Municipal Council at Palika
Parking in Connaught Place. This system allow vehicle users to be guided by a wide range of
sensors, lights, signboards and directional displays to the closest vacant car space existing in the
parking lot and similarly for identifying their car location at the time of exit. Apart from
automatic online guidance at junctions, zone-wise sub-division of areas will assist easy
identification. The guidance system operate throughout the three levels of parking at Palika,
which has a capacity for 1,050 cars and 500 scooters.

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 CHAPTER 6
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF ITS IN INDIA
The rapidly advancing economy of India, in par with the rest of the world has resulted in a
phenomenal increase in use of personal automobiles on Indian urban roads. The cumulative
growth of the Passenger Vehicles segment in India during April 2007 – March 2008 was 12.17
percent. In 2007-08 alone, 9.6 million motorised vehicles were sold in India. It is expected that
India will surpass China as the fastest growing car market within the next few years.

Economy-induced automobile usage is complicated further by the constant influx of rural

population into urban areas, thus making enormous demands on the transportation infrastructure
in an overloaded region. In 2001, India had 35 cities with a population of more than one million
people. The heterogeneity of economy and the physical limit on how much additional
infrastructure a city can hold complicate transport management further.

Some of the main issues facing the deployment of ITS in developing countries like India,
reported by a World Bank study are: an underdeveloped road network, severe budget restrictions,
explosive urbanization and growth, lack of resources for maintenance and operation, less demand
for automation, lack of interest among government decision makers, and lack of user awareness.

While a number of small scale ITS projects have been introduced in various cities in India -
including New Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Indore and Chennai - these systems have focused on
isolated deployments such as of parking information, area-wide signal control, advanced toll
collection, web based traveller information etc. Most of these are small-scale single- city based
pilot studies. At present, there are not many comprehensive, fully developed ITS applications
with traffic management centers in India. Thus, it can be seen that the penetration of ITS in
Indian road scenario is relatively less and much more is needed to be done. To make this a
reality, there is a need for more systematic approach to the ITS implementation.

Apart from the applications that are already being developed/implemented, there are more ITS
concepts that will be useful in the Indian scenario such as emergency management, congestion
management, advanced traffic management systems, advanced traveler information systems,
commercial vehicle operations, advanced vehicle control systems, etc. Full utilization of ITS can
be achieved only by implementation at a network level rather than in small corridors. Overall,
the existing applications shows an initial promise and potential for the deployment of ITS in
India and give an initial empirical basis and data on ITS deployment highlighting the data,
methodological, practical and research challenges for Indian conditions.

Some of specific actions required to meet the challenges to ITS in India include:

1) Evolving a national ITS standard for different ITS applications and their components

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 2) Setting up a national ITS clearinghouse that documents all ITS projects with details on
the design, implementation, lessons learned/best practices, and cost-benefit details.
3) Setting up fully functional Traffic Management Centres for coordinating the urban and
regional ITS activities.
4) Developing and implementing automated traffic data collection methodologies,
Developing a national ITS data archive,
5) Developing models and algorithms suitable for ITS implementations
6) Fostering more interaction between academia, industries and governmental agencies to
generate more interest and in turn projects in the ITS area.

These can be achieved through improvements in the following areas:

6.1 Technology Improvements

ITS implementations in India cannot be carried out by reproducing what is done in developed
countries because of a range of cultural, lifestyle and physical differences among them. The
diverse range of vehicular velocities (pedestrian, bicycle, LMV's, HMV's, animal drawn carts),
wide variety of vehicles (including pedestrian traffic), and poor lane discipline (partially
resulting from the first two factors and partially due to cultural reasons) and a very high
population density makes implementation of Western ITS standards and architecture difficult.
Data collection techniques are difficult under Indian traffic conditions. For example detectors
which are lane based are inapplicable due to the above reasons. Probe vehicle methods such as
AVI and AVL are expensive and need public participation. Budgetary limitations make
implementation of such methods hard. Video techniques can collect data despite lack of lane
discipline and homogeneity. However, extraction software that can be used to extract data is
available only for a limited class of vehicles and for lane based traffic. Such software to extract
real time data from video under the commonly seen heterogeneous/mixed traffic conditions is
not available making video also not a good data source for real time applications.

The pressing need towards developing a comprehensive ITS program for India requires the
development of cost effective detection techniques for road-wide data collection rather than lane-
centric collection that are suitable for a more orderly traffic flow. Further, the ITS data are not
effectively utilised as of now. Once such a real time automated data collection system is
developed the data generated can be archived and can be used for model development.

6.2 Infrastructure

Apart from data collection and management, there is a need to improve road and highway
infrastructure to channel the burgeoning traffic into less congested routes. Major metropolitan
cities are continually addressing this issue by building flyovers and subways, widening roads and
designating one-way roads during peak hours. The infrastructure growth is, however, restricted
by space constraints and cannot by itself solve the problems that plague the Indian roads today.

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Another important approach to ITS is to advance public transportation as a competitive
alternative to private transport. India is the second largest producer of buses, accounting for 16
percent of world's total bus production. Improving the quality of public transportation will
encourage more usage and therefore help in transportation management.

6.3 Social Schemes

Carpooling is being increasingly considered in the developed countries to solve issues of
pollution and traffic snarls during peak hours. A few arterial roads such as the beltway around
Washington DC levy fines for travelling in carpool-only lanes as single occupants. There have
been some trials on the enforcement of carpooling in a few Indian metros. For example, the
Mumbai Environmental Social Network has promoted a web- and SMS-based pooling system.
Bangalore Transport Information System has a group-SMS version. Since it is illegal for a
private motorist to charge for lifts, Koolpool with the help of Hindustan Petroleum, has devised a
scheme which permits pick-ups at its petrol pumps in return for a petrol voucher worth Rs.25 for
giving a lift. Such schemes can be fine tuned to make it more profitable for the public and useful
for the city‟s traffic.

Chennai in recent years, has seen the increased use of the “share auto”, an automobile pooling
convenience, not in the scale of buses, but less expensive than the common “auto rickshaw”.
Such schemes have caught on well and further developments along such ideas can provide a
much needed breather for the traffic jams that characterise the cities.

Some other cities around the world such as Singapore and London have introduced congestion
charging schemes to reduce traffic. Such schemes ensure optimal usage of those specific roads,
provide financial backup for road infrastructure maintenance and encourage the use of public
transportation.

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 CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSIONS

The rapidly increasing vehicle population in India, spurred by the population boom and
economic upturn lays a critical burden on traffic management in the metropolitan cities and
towns of the country. While India has already made a foray into intelligent transport systems in
organizing traffic, more extensive and urgent integration of advanced technology and concepts
into mainstream traffic management is imperative. The adoption of location and information
based technologies into vehicles, infrastructure, traffic management and traveller information
services have shown dramatic improvements in the safe, and efficient mobility of people and
freight in USA, European nations, UK, Japan, Middle East and Canada. ITS is still in its infancy
in India, with decision-makers, key planners and agencies still in the process of understanding its
potential.

India‟s ITS cannot be entirely modelled on the existing successful ITS of other nations due to
basic cultural, geographic and practical differences amongst the countries. The existing concepts
have to be thoroughly understood in order to modify them to fit the Indian traffic scenario. The
design of an intensive ITS program hinges on the following developments

1. Technology: The development and implementation of advanced technologies is important to

the successful management and operation of ITS in India. These technologies include electronic
equipments such as sensors, detectors and communication devices and application of global
navigation satellite system (GNSS). This in turn hinges on cooperative work between the
Government, academic research institutions, and industry.

2. Modelling of Indian traffic – A proper understanding of the traffic system is important in the
successful implementation of any reliable ITS systems. The existing models, developed for the
western traffic conditions may not be suitable for the Indian traffic and hence there is a need to
modify or develop models that can characterize the Indian traffic in a better way.

3. Supply Chain: Seamless interconnectivity of the various branches of the transportation sector
is essential to provide effective, efficient and secure movement of goods and services while
improving the conservation of natural resources and reducing environmental impacts such as the
effects of carbon emissions.

4. Energy and Sustainability: The ITS in India should closely work with the energy sector in
the promotion of fuel efficient transport policies and practices, including the use of alternative
transport fuels. Fuel efficient policies and practices will assist the country in achieving

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sustainable economic and environmental benefits through the application of intelligent
transportation services.

5. Human Capital Development: Human skills are important to ensure the development of
seamless transportation systems. Given the population density of India and the varied skill sets
available in the country, the ability of the work force to develop, manage and safely implement
existing and emerging technologies is essential for ITS design and implementation.

A plethora of issues and challenges have to be tackled before India can have a fully operating
ITS system. The main challenges perceived include

1) Establishing ITS standards applicable throughout the urban and rural sections of India
2) Designing an ITS that encompasses the heterogeneous vehicle population
3) Developing a comprehensive data collection system
4) Establishment of a Data Centre
5) Setting up active interaction between academia, industries and governmental agencies
6) Government setting up rules and regulations of traffic that will aid in ITS implementation

To meet the challenges in setting up a comprehensive traffic management system, the following
tasks have to be carried out.

1) Measurement and monitoring the performance of existing transportation management

systems throughout the country;
2) Establishing aggressive, yet achievable, near and long-term performance goals for
transportation systems;
3) Optimizing the performance of transportation network through the use of real-time data,
predictive traffic models, improved integration between individual systems, and other
state- of-art tools and strategies for improving safety, mobility and the environment.

It is vital to plan key initiatives and activities which advance and improve the development and
use of ITS in India. These include activities addressing the Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS), encouragement of international standards development through liaison with the
International Organization for Standards, work force development/training, and improved supply
chain management processes in a sustainable fashion.

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