Urban Transport Strategy. Management in Developing Countries John A Cracknell, страница 95

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automatic vehicle location (AVL) for bus systems enabling operators to tailor operations more closely with passenger demand;

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automatic vehicle recognition for traffic regulation and traffic speed limit enforcement;

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real–time information for passengers at bus stops;

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network wide real time information on traffic conditions and routes and variable message signing to inform drivers thus enabling them to plan their journeys to avoid congested times and places

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stored value and smart card technology for inter mode public transport fares;

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electronic toll collection (ETC);

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electronic road pricing (ERP - see Chapter 9 and above);

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demand management through "tele-working" to avoid commuting.

Conclusions on Trends in Traffic Management

As technology and as public expectations change, a number of trends have emerged which will find increasing application in developing cities:

§  Public involvement - public involvement in traffic and transport development is an increasingly integral part of the planning and implementation of traffic and transport schemes.  Public involvement varies from (i) information to (ii) consultation to (iii) participation.  Public involvement takes time and resources but the effort is off-set by achieving public support for schemes and thus fewer problems with implementation.  It is not known if many developing cities have statutory obligations to undertake public involvement but it is considered that the process will become inevitable over time, particularly where innovative schemes are proposed such as congestion pricing

§  Area Traffic Control – the trend in traffic signal control in developed cities is towards traffic demand responsive ATC systems.  There has been some reluctance in Bank projects to include “state of the art” demand responsive ATC system due to costs and perceived problems of, and capabilities for, maintenance.  Real costs equipment are reducing, reliability is increasing and demand responsive ATC can improve the status and image of traffic management agencies and the systems will be increasingly justified in more advanced cities developing cities.  However, ATC is not without problems and (i) there is a need for ATC planning and procurement guidelines for developing cities and (ii) sound institutional arrangements must be in place for the planning, procurement, and management of ATC.

§  Road space reallocation-bus priority –developed cities recognize that roads cannot meet full car demand in urban areas and that buses, as the most efficient users of road space, should be freed from the effects of traffic congestion at all times of the day over their complete route itinerary.  Reallocation of road space from cars to buses to provide effective priority is an important part of traffic strategy. The extent to which reallocation is pursued varies but, the trend is increasing for positive road space reallocation to buses and techniques are available to provide priority where road space is highly constrained, (e.g. traffic metering-traffic queue relocation with bus lane “by-passes”).  Road space reallocation from cars to buses should find increasing application in developing cities.

§  Packaging of measures - there are moves to involve all agencies -- traffic management agency, local councils, bus operators, highways agency -- in integrated programs with each agency contributing both support and finance for their respective areas of responsibility; the trend may find application in developing cities

§  Development gains – contributions from property developers for the improvement of the transport system and to “compensate” for the traffic impact of large scale development are now common in developed cities.  In some cases, this "gain" is realised by developers financing public transport service operations but typically, developers contribute to the traffic management costs of improving access roads, junctions or other traffic measures affected by proposed developments.  Developing cities would do well to seek similar gains; the experience of cities such as London and Hong Kong offer good examples.

§  Road pricing - generally, over the last few years, there has been a resurgence of interest in congestion pricing although, regrettably, little new implementation.  To some extent, the renewed interest has been stimulated by the potential offered by automatic electronic charging and enforcement systems and it is only a matter of time before more restraint schemes, using electronic road pricing (ERP), are introduced in major cities.  A constraint on application of ERP in developing cities is likely to be the absence of automatically accessible, full vehicle license-ownership records for enforcement purposes.

§  Contracting out and new forms of institution– contracting out of functions to the private sector occurs both in developed and some developing cities.  In addition to standard functions (e.g. parking, traffic monitoring etc) (i) contracts have been issued to private companies for conduct of all or most traffic management functions or (ii) autonomous companies or institutes with responsibility for traffic management have been created.  These approaches may assist in overcoming traffic management staffing issues (poor municipal salaries and lack of career paths).

§  Traffic calming - is widely used in developed cities to control vehicle speeds and improve quality of life. The techniques can find application in developing cities provided high standards of planning and design are adopted; research is needed on the impact of traffic calming in developing cities and for development of appropriate design guidelines and standards.

§  Bicycles - developed cities have adopted policies and design standards to promote bicycle use.  There is perhaps greater scope for promotion of bicycle travel in developing cities but appropriate planning