Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

*|*

# 52013SC0527

**COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Mobilising Intelligent Transport Systems for EU cities Accompanying the document COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Together towards competitive and resource-efficient urban mobility /\* SWD/2013/0527 final \*/**

  

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Mobilising Intelligent Transport Systems
for EU cities

Accompanying the document

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Together towards competitive and
resource-efficient urban mobility

I.            Introduction

Smart technologies and Intelligent
Transport Systems (ITS) in particular can significantly contribute to a
cleaner, safer and more efficient transport system in urban areas. Innovative
transport solutions can also meet ever-growing citizens' needs in terms of new
mobility services such as car sharing and bike sharing schemes or smart
ticketing solutions, for instance.

ITS are key enablers to achieve public
policy objectives, support the design of urban mobility and offer tailor-made
measures, adapted to the wide variety of urban mobility scenarios. ITS can
provide very concrete solutions, for example for traffic and travel operations
and management, thus reducing congestion and its resulting negative
externalities. As such multi-functional ITS can be used for different purposes
under different conditions, applicable to all transport modes and mobility
services, both for passengers and freight. This explains why intelligent
transport solutions are at the core of the Urban Mobility Package. They
constitute instrumental tools, on which to rely while designing Sustainable
Urban Mobility Plans, supporting access restriction schemes, smooth operation
of city logistics and enhancing road safety measures.

The full potential of ITS can only be
realised if their deployment in Europe evolves from the limited and fragmented,
as it is still today, to an EU-wide and continuous one. Trans-national
deployment of seamless cross-border services for travel information and traffic
management cannot be achieved by the Member States alone. Urban areas are
critical to achieving these objectives, as they constitute important nodes on
the trans-European road network ensuring the smooth link to interurban
transport networks.

II.          Policy Background

Although ITS have already been developed
for more than 20 years, their deployment is still uneven across the European
Union, its Member States and urban areas. Despite a high number of technical
solutions and mature applications, and the multiplication of commendable local
initiatives, the uptake of ITS applications is fragmented and large differences
between cities remain. The main reasons behind such a state of facts are the
lack of both interoperability and of effective cooperation, coupled to
organizational and financial barriers.

Against this backdrop, the Commission put
forward in 2008 an Action Plan for the Deployment of Intelligent Transport
Systems in Europe[1]
and an accompanying Directive[2]
which provide the legal framework to accelerate the establishment of
interoperable and seamless ITS services in the field of road transport and its
interfaces with other transport modes.

In the domain of urban mobility, the ITS
Action Plan called for the set-up
of an ITS collaboration platform to promote urban ITS initiatives, in alignment
with the Action Plan on Urban Mobility (2009), which proposed to offer
assistance on ITS applications for urban mobility, possibly in the form of a
guidance document.

As a part of the implementation of the
aforementioned Action Plans, the Commission established in December 2010 an
Expert Group on Urban ITS[3]
composed of practitioners, representatives for local and regional authorities
and their main partners i.e. transport operators, service providers, industry,
research and standardisation bodies. Such balanced composition of the Expert
Group helped to bring to the fore-front of discussion the local experts in the
domain of ITS and other stakeholders with crucial understanding of urban
situations, problems and challenges. During its two-year mandate the Expert
Group supported by the Commission, developed, in a consensual and bottom-up
approach, a set of Guidelines for the deployment of key ITS applications in urban
areas[4],
the executive summary of which is annexed to this document. It also collected
related best practices and made recommendations for further standardisation in
the domain of urban ITS.

Also the White Paper "Roadmap to a Single
European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient
transport system"[5]
reasserted the positive contribution that ITS can make to smart and efficient
(eco) mobility through a number of measures such as optimised traffic
management and city logistics, seamless travel information and integrated /
intermodal ticketing, charging and payment systems in the context of access
restriction or parking management, and (on-board) road safety devices to name a
few.

III.         Urban trends in ITS

Today the density of the road network is
already very high, and building new infrastructures ceases to be a viable
option, especially in European urban areas, which feature limited space
availability in general, and preserved historical centres in many cases. Furthermore,
in times of scarce financial resources, any new investment constitutes a burden
upon tight public budgets. For that reason, local authorities, while devising
their urban transport and mobility policies look for achieving the best return
on investment, and ensuring consistency and continuity with other local and
regional solutions. They also need to optimise the use of the existing
infrastructures, in terms of space and time, in order to better accommodate and
manage the ever increasing demand for mobility.

Deploying ITS solutions grounded in open
standards and common specifications contributes to foster inter-urban,
inter-regional and ultimately pan-European interoperability. It also safeguards
the sustainability of the investment made and helps to avoid vendor lock-in
solutions that are more expensive for upgrade and maintenance. Furthermore, ITS
enable to better connect the existing networks and foster a more extensive use
of collective and soft transport modes, more efficient use of private vehicles
and their integration in multimodal combinations, and flexible allocation and
use of limited space for both transport and logistics purposes.

ITS, given the fast pace of technological
innovation, are constantly evolving. More solutions and tools are developed,
and the variety and amount of data (static, dynamic, floating, etc.) is
constantly increasing. A new trend towards Open Data, or Open Access, is
emerging these days, with an increasing number of national or local initiatives
and pilots launched in order to enhance the scope and quality of the accessible
data, as well as develop new mobility services, and travel or traffic
applications. The standardisation of data formats and interfaces for new
mobility services (such as bike sharing schemes, car sharing, and carpooling)
and their introduction into multimodal information systems, including
applications for booking, payment and ticketing, could considerably contribute
to promoting more sustainable (multimodal) mobility. The creation of
comprehensive multimodal datasets in urban areas, including data from all
transport modes and mobility services, can foster the development of high
quality information services for end-users and ensure a fair competition among
private information service providers, while respecting and protecting the
interests of transport and infrastructure operators. The control of such
datasets by public authorities will guarantee the consistency of the services
provided with public policies.

Therefore, the development of user-friendly
and flexible multi-application devices into which different standardised or
tailor made ITS applications can be fitted also opens up the opportunity for
new business cases (e.g. NFC phones, satellite navigation libraries). Such
innovative applications could support the alleviation of parking pressure, by
provision of real-time parking information including booking options, the
establishment of automatized access restriction schemes (for specific types of
vehicles or deliveries), and better management of city logistics (e.g. by
booking loading bays).

Furthermore, both private and public
transport vehicles fitted with on-board devices (e.g. GPS) and sensors become
more and more capable of communicating among themselves and with the
surrounding infrastructures. Such cooperative systems can be used with benefit
for urban applications, whether in the form of fleet management measures (e.g.
public transport prioritisation at crossroads) or road safety ones (e.g. blind
spot warning, Vulnerable Road Users detection). They can also provide the car
drivers with personalised assistance during their trips (e.g. real-time traffic
information, driving assistance) or support the rationalising of traffic and
parking (e.g. by enabling a shared use of bus lanes or (un)loading bays, during
peak hours or for specific situations).

In this context of multiplication of ITS
solutions responding to or anticipating urban trends, it is crucial to ensure
future interoperability of systems and of data formats to foster
multi/inter/co-modality and facilitate data sharing and processing for
different innovative services to flourish.

IV.         The benefits of ITS
deployment in urban areas

ITS can only be deployed to their optimal
effect, when they are applied within a strategic framework, aligned with
transparent policy goals and with clear roles distributed among all relevant
stakeholders. For that reason, an integrated approach including different
transport modes and mobility services, and bringing together both technical and
policy considerations is needed.

Furthermore, the deployment of ITS
applications should be both customer- and market-oriented in order to provide
useful and efficient services. To this end, user acceptance and strong (local)
political support are important issues for any new system or service to be deployed
successfully.

A cost-effective ITS deployment can be
fostered by (cost-sharing) public-private partnerships, targeted at creating
market opportunities for the deployment of multi-purposes equipment and
applications. Moreover, using joint
public procurement and innovative
procurement can help authorities to generate cost savings (e.g. obtain
lower prices, and save administrative costs) and contribute to capacity
building (e.g. via sharing of skills and expertise among authorities).

A non-discriminatory access to traffic and
travel data, notably via multimodal transport databases, and clear rules for data
sharing among public and private stakeholders constitute a facilitator to a
number of ITS applications (e.g. multimodal information, traffic management).
It can also stimulate the emergence of new business opportunities and new
services for citizens, enhance data quality, and support sustainable urban
mobility policy making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Finally, the monitoring of the deployment
of ITS applications, and evaluation of their impacts (based on existing
methodologies, outcomes of past projects e.g. CONDUITS[6], 2DECIDE[7], as well as broadly
accepted Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)), can greatly help decision-makers in
selecting the right ITS applications (or combination of ITS applications), in
order to achieve their policy goals. For that aim, the exchange of best
practices should not be underestimated.

More practically, the following examples
illustrate which benefits can be harnessed with use of some key ITS
applications:

1. (Real-time) Multimodal travel and traffic information can help achieving a better modal integration, and optimising
freight routing and deliveries, therefore alleviating serious bottlenecks along
the networks, reducing congestion, improving air quality and quality of life as
a whole. Such ITS applications can also help to better manage demand and
network capacity, with benefits for end-users (i.e. better services) and
operators (i.e. optimisation of performance and better cost efficiency).

The
European project In-Time[8] aims at reducing energy consumption in urban transport through the
change of mobility behaviour of travellers, by providing multimodal Real-time
Traffic and Travel Information. It estimates that potential changes in the
mobility behaviour that can be reached with good quality multimodal information
services are approx. 3% of modal shift.

The City of Ghent (Belgium)[9]
deployed a sustainability-oriented multimodal traffic management system,
integrating variable message signs (VMS) for traffic information, traffic
lights management and parking guidance system. It contributed notably to
increasing the commercial speed of public transport on the main tram axe by 5%;
increasing the use of Park+Ride facilities by 10%; and reducing the number of
cars in the city centre.

2. Traffic management measures can help to
reduce congestion through better management of traffic operations. In this
context ITS can help to reduce emissions and save energy through better demand
management. While access management schemes (incl. road
user charging) can be implemented without an ITS
component, intelligent systems allow for more efficiency and a better return on
investment, through automation of
processes and better enforcement of rules.

The deployment
of an Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (SPOT) System in Aalborg (Denmark)[10] allowed decreasing transportation time in
average by 25 minutes (-8.5%) per trip in the peak hours, on the most congested
part of the main ring road, Østre Alle. The smoother driving pattern also
allowed decreasing fuel consumption by 2.45%.

The deployment
of Tram and Bus Priority at Traffic Signal, “Green Waves”, including 240
prioritising traffic signal systems, in Munich (Germany)[11] allowed increasing travelling speed of private individual traffic
by 15% and reducing the number of delayed trips of public transport by 38%.

3. Multimodal smart ticketing when integrated with information services
could be used to provide statistical data on passengers’ trips to transport
operators (duly respecting privacy and anonymity requirements), in order to
optimise networks’ usage and public transport operations. For instance, smart ticketing solutions help collecting fares more
efficiently, thus reducing fraud, and contribute to the increase of the
commercial speed of public transport, through the optimisation of loading
times. The new ticketing channels are generally cheaper to operate than the
traditional ones, if deployed following a well thought migration strategy. Furthermore, smart ticketing can be used to improve
parking management (i.e. booking, access and payment).

A number of
examples of deployment of smart ticketing solutions show a noticeable reduction
in terms of delays, or passenger fraud, and demonstrate gains in terms of passenger
flows (e.g. London's Oyster card[12] allowed to double the number of people
through gate per minute from 20 to 40, in comparison to magnetic ticket), and
attractiveness of public transport. Positive outcomes have been reported for
the electronic ticketing systems in Toulouse (France)[13] or La Rochelle (France)[14].

Smart Card
Ticketing, e.g. t-card deployed in Trondheim (Norway)[15], enabled a reduction of boarding and paying time by 6.8 seconds per
passenger, an average 10% reduction on travel time leading to a passenger
growth estimated at between 3 to 7%. Furthermore, the smart card system has a
benefit-cost ratio of 1.5 (meaning that 1€ spent generates benefits of 2.5€).

4. ITS tools such as CCTV and ANPR technologies can strongly facilitate enforcement. These tools have also made electronic tolling, road user charging and
low emission zones (LEZs) viable options, helping to achieve reduction of congestion, promote modal shift and improve
air quality within the largest European cities.

Oslo (Norway) deployed an ITS-Based Toll Collection system[16], which enhanced traffic flow. It has a positive impact on noise
reduction and greenhouse emissions due to faster movement of vehicles and
reduction of fuel consumption of 35% compared to manual tolling. The
cost-benefit ratio of the scheme is deemed at 4.90 (each €1 invested generates
€5.90).

Bologna (Italy) deployed a system of restricted access to controlled areas,
SIRIO[17], which led to the reduction of absolute traffic (between 23 and
32%), and also of congestion and of parking pressure. It also contributed to
decreasing particles emission (-47%).

5. New in-vehicle safety and driver assistance systems intervene before the accident happens. Given that more than 90% of
all accidents are caused by human error, in-vehicles devices, potentially able
to communicate with the surrounding environment/ infrastructure (i.e. cooperative systems), are essential
to enhance road safety.

A tool box cross-referencing a sample of
transport policy objectives, associated tactics and implementing measures for
which ITS have the potential to further enhance the efficiency and
cost-effectiveness of urban mobility is provided in the annex.

V.        Next
steps

In order to achieve the benefit of urban
ITS to the fullest, there is a need for action at every administrative level:
local, national and European. The Commission services, with a view to foster
the coordinated and seamless deployment of ITS up to the very centre of
European cities, continue to work on:

(1) Taking forward work on supplementing the
existing legislation on access to and re-use of data, in order to unlock the
potential lying in transport data, through appropriate instruments:

The Directive on the re-use of public
sector information (PSI)[18]
introduced in 2003 a legislative framework for the re-use of public sector
bodies' information. Its provisions are often insufficient in the transport
domain, given the complex nature of transport undertakings. The recent revision
of the PSI Directive[19],
in the scope of the Commission's Digital Agenda for Europe[20] and Open Data Strategy[21], aiming at promoting
more access to data (not only its re-use), are not likely to resolve a number
of remaining problems for transport, where there is still much unlocked
potential.

For the abovementioned
reasons, the Commission is currently assessing impacts of promoting wider
access to public and private travel and traffic data, in view of presenting a
specific initiative on that matter by the end of 2014. Such initiative would be
duly accompanied by provisions regarding rules of data access and re-use and
data confidentiality. It would enter in line with a growing local and national
commitment to Open Data policies, rely on existing best practices (and
standards), and help local actors to establish their own Open Data regimes,
also by providing financial support under Horizon 2020.

(2) Preparing specifications as foreseen under
the framework of the ITS Directive:

The ITS Directive (2010/40/EU) confers to
the Commission the power to adopt delegated acts as regards specifications. Work
on the specifications for EU-wide multimodal travel information services
(priority action a), and EU-wide real-time traffic information services
(priority action b), will be carried out by the Commission services. These
specifications will be of critical importance for a seamless door-to-door
mobility and coordinated deployment of ITS across borders and at the interfaces
between urban-interurban networks;

(3) Facilitating the deployment of
Cooperative Systems in urban areas by developing a roadmap and building
consensus among relevant stakeholders:

Cooperative Systems (including
vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems) can
contribute to better achieving traffic management objectives and enhance road
safety in urban areas. Their successful deployment will require a broad
stakeholders' cooperation, which will be supported by the Commission notably
via research & development, further standardisation efforts, and large
scale deployment pilot projects.

Member States should consider using the
Guidelines when key ITS applications are deployed in their conurbations,
developing proper interfaces between urban and surrounding interurban transport
networks, and setting-up interoperable multimodal datasets gathering all information
about urban mobility.

              VI.  
     Conclusion

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans are a medium for
European conurbations to establish and develop the right ecosystem fostering
the efficiency of their urban transport system, while addressing citizens' and businesses’
needs, in accordance with their policy objectives.

In this context urban ITS can help to optimise existing
infrastructures and to trigger new services to enhance the quality of life in
urban areas. ITS should be adapted to the particularly complex characteristics
of urban mobility, hence embedded in any sustainable urban mobility policy.

ITS are also important for economic development and
innovation. It is notably the case when it comes to access to data. Business
opportunities can emerge from a broad access to public and private data on
mobility, traffic and transport. It will encourage the development of
innovative services (including by SMEs) that are sustainable and economically
autonomous, providing citizens rapidly with mobility services at reasonable
prices.

In an age of co-modality, when the car is getting
smarter and smarter, and the types and sources of data larger and larger, new
economic models combining different transport modes and services emerge with
ITS as a core element (e.g. multimodal travel information and planning
services, smart ticketing, real time traffic information, cooperative systems).

Although the effectiveness of ITS
tools/applications for dealing with urban mobility issues is well acknowledged,
fragmentation remains an issue to be tackled through wide spreading of
interoperable solutions and broad collaboration of all the stakeholders.

Annex I
- ITS-supported tool box[22]

TRANSPORT POLICY OBJECTIVES || POLICY TOOLS || MEASURES || ITS COMPONENTS

Reduce Congestion || - Demand management - Traffic management - City access restriction || - Congestion charging - Incident detection - Parking space management - Promotion of soft modes and public transport || - Algorithms - Communication networks and media (wireless and wired) - Data, datasets, databases - Digital maps - Handheld devices - Human machine interfaces - Inductive loops - Interfaces, including APIs (Application Programming Interface) - Models - Monitoring and detection systems, including ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) and CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) - Sensors - Software - Traffic signals - Traffic control centres

Decrease parking pressure || - Demand management - City logistics strategy || - Parking space management - Loading bay management - Freight consolidation centres

Modal Shift / Increase attractiveness of public transport || - Demand management - City access restriction - Enhancement of public transport || - Multimodal information - Smart ticketing - Priority lanes for public transport

Reduce energy consumption / emissions || - Demand Management - Traffic management - City access restriction || - Multimodal information - Green waves - Low Emission Zones (LEZs)

Enhance road safety || - Casualty reduction - Speed reduction - Cooperative systems strategy || - Incident detection - Targeting accident hotspots - Low speed zones - I2V communication

Facilitate freight delivery & servicing || - City logistics strategy || - Loading bay management - Parking space management - Freight consolidation centres - (GPS based) Fleet operations systems

Increase efficiency of transport system || - Traffic management - Demand management - Cooperative systems strategy || - Multimodal information - Smart ticketing - Green waves - Parking space management - Incident detection - V2I communication

Improve quality of life in cities || - Demand management - Traffic management - City access restriction - Enhancement of public transport - Casualty reduction || - Low Emission Zones (LEZs) - Congestion charging - Promotion of soft modes - Targeting accident hotspots - Parking space management

Annex II
– Enablers for Interoperable and Continuous ITS deployment in Urban Areas

Measure || Level of action

Provision of guidance on ITS deployment[23] || European

Exchange of best practices || European[24], National

Creation of feedback loops || National, Local

Monitoring and evaluation of the deployment of different ITS applications, and their bundles || National, Local

Adoption of National ITS deployment plans || National

Creation of urban-interurban interfaces || National, Local

Elaboration of a strategy for local ITS deployment, integrated within Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan || Local

Using the Guidelines developed by the Urban ITS Expert group for ITS deployment of key applications || Local

Encouraging broad inter-institutional and administratively inclusive cooperation, with clearly defined and allocated roles || National, Local

Fostering public-private partnerships || European, National

Fostering joint and innovative public procurement || National

Standardisation || European, with involvement of national and local experts

Use of open standards, architectures and specifications || National, Local

Funding (research, large-scale demonstration projects) || European[25], National

Creation of (multimodal) transport datasets || National, Local

Annex III
- Guidelines for ITS deployment in Urban Areas, prepared by the Urban ITS
Expert Group[26]

Executive
Summary

1.           Public policy goals

Mobility issues are increasingly important
in today’s fast-growing urban centres all over the world, but particularly in
the European Union where 75% of inhabitants live in urban areas. At the same
time the supply of mobility services is continuously increasing as well as
people's demand for complete, more reliable, real-time and easy to use travel
information.

The cities have 4 main objectives in terms
of mobility policy:

–
Ease the movement of people and goods, and
answer to the citizens’ demand for reliable and easy to use mobility and travel
information,

–
Ensure accessibility of the towns and their
economic development,

–
Reduce environmental and socio-economic impacts
of transport,

–
Re-conquer public space from individuals private
car use for eco-friendly modes and urban planning.

The investments made in new transport
infrastructures were massive in the past decades all over Europe. Furthermore,
in the last 10 years, the modal share of private car use in most of European
conurbations has only slowly decreased. In urban regions, where there is
limited capacity to construct new infrastructure, the current need is to
optimise its use, by implementing solutions based on new technological tools
and connecting different networks. ITS are promising tools to address the urban
mobility policy objectives.

2.           The Urban ITS Expert
Group

Resulting from the provisions of the ITS
Action Plan (2008), and Action Plan on Urban Mobility (2009), both foreseeing
that Commission will offer assistance and foster cooperation on ITS
applications for urban mobility, the Expert Group "ITS for Urban
areas" was set up in December 2010 for 24 months.

The Expert Group was multi-modal in its
focus, broad in nature and covered the urban regions, taking into account their
diversity, and the need for interfaces between the urban and inter-urban
mobility. Both passenger and freight issues were considered and a dialogue
between public and private stakeholders encouraged.

The tasks of the Expert Group were
three-fold: to provide guidance on ITS deployment in urban areas, collect best
practices on successful deployment and identify a possible need of
standardisation.

The group developed specific Guidelines to
promote and show the benefits of the use of ITS in urban areas along the
individual travellers' mobility chain. These Guidelines aim to foster
interoperability and continuity of services within Europe. The Guidelines are
targeted at the organisations in charge of decision making and technical
deployment of ITS on local level.

For each key application of urban ITS a
separate document has been issued:

(1)
Traffic and Travel (Multimodal) Information

(2)
Smart Ticketing

(3)
Traffic Management (incl. Urban Logistics)

The structure of all three documents is
similar, the same as were their objectives[27]:

–
Identify problems and challenges for deployment
of key applications

–
Analyse how ITS solutions can help resolving
these problems and achieving public policy goals

–
Identify relevant stakeholders and their roles

–
Identify key points to foster deployment

–
Provide recommendations

The following sections highlight the main elements of each Guideline
document and recommendations provided by the experts.

A. Multimodal Information Services
(MIS)

Multimodal Information can be defined as
information on all modes of transportation (car including parking, public
transport, railway information, bike, bike or car sharing services, car-pooling
etc.) allowing the end-users to use any combination of modes to go from A to B.

In that perspective, multimodal traveller
information has an important role to play and, if of good quality, it can be a
strong incentive for the users to change their mobility routines, and
contribute to achieving a better modal integration.

One of the main factors for understanding
challenges in Multimodal Information Service deployment is the absence of
autonomous business models that are still rarely viable without public support,
as the users often take information for granted and are not ready to pay for
it.

In this context, the Expert Group proposed
the following recommendations:

(1)
Role of public and private sector:

–
The public sector shall provide Multimodal
Information Service when there is no autonomous commercial economic/business
model. This can be performed directly by public authorities or by the private
sector through public procurements.

–
The private sector could provide multimodal
information services when there are viable autonomous commercial business
models. To encourage the emergence of such business models and the provision of
such services, the access to public data or services should be broadened, with
a stress on quality of the data. This access to data should be dependent on the
coherence of the data use with the public policy on mobility;

(2)
Availability of data and/or information for each
mode of transport and mobility services:

–
Setting up multimodal dataset for each European
city, controlled by the public sector: Following the aforementioned positioning
of the public and private stakeholders roles, it is suggested that urban public
authorities should be in charge of setting up a multimodal dataset for their
urban area, gathering the various sources of data of the transport operators,
including real-time information, when available. This multimodal dataset should
then be made available to private stakeholders, either through Open Services,
or Open Data, depending on each European city's policy on information
provision, allowing a fair competition between service providers, who should be
able to plug their software into any urban multimodal data set and
provide services to the users.

–
Availability of local rail data: The Expert
Group recommends an affordable - as traveller information businesses are thin -
and transparent access to local rail timetable and real-time information datasets.

–
Availability of public data: Since multimodal traveller information is
a tool for public policy to support public interest, the Expert Group recommends that access to data or services should be
granted under the condition that the services based on the data/services
provided are consistent with the modal shift policy.

–
Lack of data, quality of data and information
services: The Expert Group recommends increasing the quantity and quality of
mobility data, through the deployment of monitoring devices and systems,
development of purposeful use of social media and the labelling of the quality
of the data or services. Cooperation between public and private sector is highly
recommended in this area.

(3)
Market the modal shift and traveller
information services: Multimodal information is also
about changing people’s habits and travel behaviour. Travellers must not and
cannot be ‘forced’ into public transportation. The choice to use multimodal
information, and change one's mobility routine, must be based on pragmatic and
practical grounds to guarantee longevity of the modal shift. A specific focus should be put in promoting these services and
advertising the modal shift, to tap the full potential
of Multimodal Information Service on modal shift.

(4)
Harmonisation and continuity of services

–
The Expert Group recommends to foster
cooperation between the private cars actors (car manufacturers, navigation
services providers) and soft modes actors (public transport and bike services
operators) to develop Multimodal Information Service that addresses user needs
(continuity of services) and mobility policy objectives (modal shift).

–
To allow an easy exchange of information and
decrease the software cost for Multimodal Information Service, the Expert Group
recommends that the use of existing standards for new Multimodal Information
Services is made mandatory and the connections between different modes (the
urban multimodal dataset) and data for the new mobility services (car sharing,
car-pooling, free bike services, etc.) are standardised.

B. Smart Ticketing

Smart Ticketing has been a trendy topic for
over a decade now. In the context of ticketing 'smart' implies the use of new
technologies and integration of ticketing with services that are not directly
linked to the basic functions of tickets.

The main opportunities provided by the
development of Smart Ticketing are:

–
To propose complementary services to users in
relation with their mobility;

–
To modify the relationship between Public
Transport user and his/her ticket as also between Public Transport operator and
its tickets;

–
To improve overall efficiency and image of
Public Transport network as also the depth of data created through usage.

Smart Ticketing could contribute to the
overall improvement of the public transport network level of services, image,
accessibility, with the main aim to facilitate and/or increase the use of
public transport and contribute to the overall political goal of developing a
sustainable transport policy and promote modal shift. Smart Ticketing though is
NOT necessarily about having ONE ticket (interoperability of contracts) for
your journey but having ONE wallet (interoperability of support) for SEVERAL
tickets.

One of the main trends reinforced by the
development of Smart Ticketing is that the 'ticket' is becoming more and more
personalised. The differing needs (and 'ways of consuming' Public Transport
services shall be seen as a consumer good and sold/marketed as such) of groups
or communities of people are becoming a challenge for the implementation of the
Transport and the Fare Policies.

Implementing Smart Ticketing also means
thinking of the stakeholders and their needs, therefore how to respond to these
needs and elaborate marketing accordingly. To date, the main stakeholders are
clients, politicians and authorities, public transport operators, scheme
providers, suppliers, payment industry, media and lobbies. Specific focus
should be paid to the final user’s needs (easiness, simplicity and fairness),
public policy needs (shift in modal split reducing individual car use,
reduction of pollution, optimisation of operational efficiency, reduction of
public expenses) and the transport operator’s needs (reduce operational costs
of ticketing, improve fare collection efficiency, improve knowledge of
customer’s behaviour/choices/preferences).

Smart Ticketing should have an impact on
the way Public Transport is used. Using a ticket, or wallet, not only for
transportation, but also for mobility services in general could improve the
image of Public Transport. Access to fare information and easier remote sales
will also help the cause, whereas privacy concerns must be addressed in a code
of conduct to be able to develop a trust relationship with customers.

The development of Smart Ticketing in a
global urban ITS perspective has to be built in respect of local organisations
and of the decentralised nature inherent to public transport and to the
importance of its public funding.

The recommendations to deploy Smart Ticketing are therefore:

–
General: Smart Ticketing should not be seen as a
simple replacement for traditional paper or magnetic ticketing. An important
step is identifying which features and functionalities of Smart Ticketing can
be adopted and how they will integrate with the customers’ wider mobility
requirements. The introduction of Smart Ticketing is also an opportunity to
rethink the current fare policy and to offer additional/alternative fare
possibilities to customers.

–
Business models: Smart Ticketing is a global
business and is, for the first time, being driven by standards. This allows
off-the-shelf technology to be adopted with only limited local tailoring to
reflect specific tariff structures and cross-modal opportunities. By using open
International Standards for Smart Ticketing, Public Transport Operators can
access supply chains that are responsive, cheaper and use industry best
practices.

–
Distribution channels: Smart Ticketing must
allow passengers to plan and book their travel through their choice of
distribution and retail channels. This goal requires a new system that can
accommodate the speed, power and flexibility necessary to handle multiple
distribution channels for ticket sales, including contactless payment and
pre-loaded value.

–
Smart wallets: Smart Ticketing covers not just
pre-payment and the loading of a ticket onto the smartcard or phone, but can
also include post-payment where the customer is identified on entering /
leaving a closed system and verified that they are authorised to travel or have
suitable payment mechanism available (whether that is a contactless bankcard or
pre-arranged credit). A smart wallet also gives the opportunity to integrate
other services whether transport related (e.g. bike or car sharing, parking),
associated (e.g. tourism information) or non-transport related (e.g. shopping,
use fees).

–
Marketing issues / public support: Urban ITS
decision makers should now systematically look for integration in such wider
organisations to take benefit from the mutualisation of standard technical tool
boxes as well as to insert their customer offer in a wider market.

–
Organisational and legal issues: Urban and
national transport decision makers should actively support the development and
implementation of European and international specifications for Smart Ticketing
to ensure mutual compatibility between all schemes.

–
Integration with travel information and traffic
management: By creating a linkage between Travel Information, Journey Planning,
Payment and Smart Ticketing, including a liaison with compatible mobile phone
and contactless bankcard schemes in Europe, Smart Ticketing can ensure the
customer experience consistently meets their highest expectation. As a result
this can foster co-modality/inter-modality. Interoperability in transport Smart
Ticketing implies removing the obstacles for the customer to switching
transport modes. All ticketing needs for through journeys should be in one
place and on their local transport Smart Ticketing media, even outside their
home network. There should be simple registration processes in place so that
the customer has a standardised machine interface and easy access in his/her
own language.

–
Development of Smart Ticketing standards: The
use of international and open standards can facilitate interoperability, the
opening of global markets and compatibility between devices produced by
different suppliers.

–
Data privacy: Protection of the customer’s
privacy is an ethical requirement of confidentiality, un-linkability,
un-observability and anonymity. A low level of protection not only could be
punished as a violation of the law but would damage customer acceptance.

C. Traffic management

ITS can provide solutions and add value to
traffic management policy formulation and operations in an urban environment.
Traffic management is a very broad subject area incorporating an extremely wide
range of operational tools, many of which are familiar to today’s urban
traveller (e.g. traffic signals) and some of which are currently still evolving
(e.g. vehicle to vehicle communications).

ITS offers a variety of means to manage the
road and public transport network in a co-ordinated manner, producing faster
and stronger links between the traffic management authority and individual travellers.
ITS can aid policy delivery and traffic management via a wide range of
relatively mature ITS applications such as intelligent traffic signal control,
satellite tracking of vehicles, CCTV, variable message signs etc. The latest
developments such as 'cooperative systems' involving vehicle to infrastructure
(V2I) communications and vehicle to vehicle communications (V2V) will enable
full integration of vehicles in the transport system. The role of ITS in
promoting transport safety is also an important aspect of co-operative systems.

The importance of urban logistics within
the wider field of traffic management is central. Urban areas are reliant on
effective servicing of commercial premises and enterprises for their continuing
economic viability. Often there can be potential conflict between initiatives
to aid logistics and those to support other policy goals such as environmental
zones. ITS have a role to play in co-ordinating and reconciling these apparent
conflicts.

There are a number of stakeholders
considered as key players for successful formulation of traffic management and
urban logistics policies and resulting schemes. The Guidelines highlight those
agencies which can act as data providers and how data can be most beneficially
used to advance ITS schemes. Reference is also made to the desirability for
co-operative partnerships, including joint private- public initiatives to
further successful implementation.

Within a matrix of mobility policy-making,
ITS impacts directly and adds value across each levels– policy, tactics,
measures and operations.

The key factors for successful ITS
deployment are co-operation, partnership and interoperability. Other issues
that needs to be addressed include productive project management;
organisational issues that need to be addressed; how ITS can be used to provide
good quality and targeted information to individual travellers, which, in turn
can help to optimise network performance; balancing automated processes with
human intervention; and the role of standards and harmonisation.

The recommendations for success are the
following:

–
The need for effective multi agency co-operation
is critical in devising an ITS traffic management project. Any organisation
wishing to establish a project should seek the active and productive
participation of all relevant organisations, as often ITS projects can be
complex and costly to procure and implement in isolation. Political problems
associated with policy formulation and project implementation are often more
challenging than technical problems.

–
Identify, define and allocate those management
and project related tasks that are essential to the process of delivering a
successful project.

–
The most successful ITS traffic management
policies, projects and systems are those that are focused on delivering
relevant services and information to individual end users. Try to structure
projects and channel resources that are bespoke to individual end users. In
this way operation of the urban road network will also be optimised.

–
The effectiveness of ITS in urban traffic
management and logistics can generally be increased by adoption of automated
systems which are better equipped than humans to perform basic operational
functions. Transport authorities are encouraged to try to identify and select
those systems which maximise the potential for automated ITS systems to take on
functions such as routine data processing and interpretation, which will allow
human participation to be focused at the more strategic level.

–
Usage of standards can only be beneficial when
implementing ITS traffic management projects. Standards are most productively
used when they are not onerous but lead to the creation of features such as
open platforms for IT technology, which are central to the successful
development and future adoption of ITS based traffic management projects. The
challenge is to balance the benefits that can be derived from application of
standards without those standards being unduly proscriptive and stifling the
creativity that ITS solutions can offer.

[1]               Communication from the Commission, "Action Plan
for the Deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe", COM (2008)
0886 final/2

[2]               Directive 2010/40/EU of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the framework for the
deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and
for interfaces with other modes of transport, OJ L 207, 6.8.2010, p. 1.

[3]               http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2520

[4]               See http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action\_plan/its\_for\_urban\_areas\_en.htm
for full documentation.

[5]               White Paper "Roadmap to a Single European
Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system",
COM (2011) 0144 final.

[6]               www.isis-it.com/wordpress/portfolio-items/conduits

[7]               www.2decide.eu

[8]
              The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS Expert Group, http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action\_plan/doc/2013-urban-its-expert\_group-best-practice-collection.pdf,
pages 71-72.

[9]               http://www.civitas-initiative.org/content/sustainable-multi-modal-traffic-management

[10]             http://www.civitas-initiative.org/content/congestion-monitoring-using-telematics

[11]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 15-16.

[12]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 160-161.

[13]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 82-83.

[14]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 88-89.

[15]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 128-129.

[16]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 126-127.

[17]             The Collection of Best Practices of the Urban ITS
Expert Group, pages 92-93.

[18]             Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-use of public sector information, OJ
L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 90.

[19]             Directive 2013/37/EU of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 26 June 2013 amending Directive 2003/98/EC of the re-use of
public sector information, OJ L 175, 27.6.2013, p. 1.

[20]             Communication from the Commission "The Digital
Agenda for Europe – Driving European growth digitally", COM (2012) 784
final.

[21]             Communication from the Commission: "Open data – an
engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance"; COM (2011) 882
final.

[22]             Adapted from the Guidelines for ITS Deployment –
Traffic Management, Urban ITS Expert Group, December 2012. Annex A, p. 21.

[23]             http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action\_plan/its\_for\_urban\_areas\_en.htm

[24]             Notably via ELTIS website, www.eltis.org, or in the context of the
European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities, www.eu-smartcities.eu.

[25]             Notably via Horizon 2020, the
European Structural and Investment Funds, or Connecting Europe Facility

[26]             Full documents available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action\_plan/its\_for\_urban\_areas\_en.htm

[27]             See full documents at http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action\_plan/its\_for\_urban\_areas\_en.htm

[Top](#document1)