Instant messaging for Manchester’s motorists

Transport for Greater Manchester has installed variable message signs (VMS) on some of the city’s busiest roads to provide motorists with live traffic information. Eight VMS are now fully operational on roads across the region, displaying live journey time estimates and details of road traffic incidents and disruption. A further 19 signs are expected to be operational by the end of March 2015. Each sign is carefully located near to a key decision point, such as the intersection of a main route, a park
January 27, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
817 Transport for Greater Manchester has installed variable message signs (VMS) on some of the city’s busiest roads to provide motorists with live traffic information.

Eight VMS are now fully operational on roads across the region, displaying live journey time estimates and details of road traffic incidents and disruption. A further 19 signs are expected to be operational by the end of March 2015.

Each sign is carefully located near to a key decision point, such as the intersection of a main route, a park and ride site, a major train station, an interchange or a public transport stop. The locations were carefully chosen in consultation with local authorities, taking into account factors such as speed limits and distances from the decision points. This was done to allow plenty of time for road users to process the information displayed, decide on the best course of action, and make their intervention in a timely and safe manner.

The full colour matrix signs can display both text and graphics, such as standard road sign symbols, and are linked directly to the state-of-the-art urban traffic control room at Transport for Greater Manchester’s headquarters.

The aim is to develop the system using the link and allow it, in the long-term, to provide information such as live diversions, comparisons between public transport journey times and cycling data. The overarching objective, other than to provide real time information, is to give all road users an informed choice to meet their travel needs.

The signs are also able to display photographs and live stream footage, which will future-proof them should the current legislation change.
Urban Traffic Control Air Quality & Weather Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Jeddah juggles transport needs of residents, pilgrims and tourists
    December 22, 2015
    Mass pilgrimages, new tourists and a growing population lead Jeddah to seek some smart transport solutions as David Crawford finds out. Rationalising traffic movement and public transport in a major Middle Eastern business and tourist centre that is also a gateway for millions of religious pilgrims every year is the challenge for the 20-year Jeddah Strategic Plan and the Jeddah Public Transport Programme (JPTP) it spawned. The latter is costed at US$8bn.
    Read More
  • Vehicle ownership - a thing of the past?
    May 22, 2012
    Convergence of electron-powered vehicles with connected vehicle technologies could mean that only a few decades from now the idea of owning a vehicle will be entirely alien to the road user. By Technolution chief scientist Dave Marples with Jason Barnes Even when taken individually, many of the developments going on and around vehiclebased mobility will bring about major changes in transportation. Taken collectively, the transformations we might expect are nothing short of profound. Enumeration of the influ
    Read More
  • Amsterdam reaps the reward of digitised parking
    April 20, 2016
    Amsterdam had taken the final step in digitising parking and parking enforcement and the move is paying dividends. It was almost a decade ago that the City of Amsterdam decided to start the evolution - or maybe even a revolution – of its parking enforcement: it got rid of the paper parking permit or ticket behind the windscreen and introduced the digital parking right. It was the first step on a bumpy but successful road to digitization, resulting in a fore running position in on street parking enforcement.
    Read More
  • Extra enforcement key to cutting road casualties in The Netherlands
    November 27, 2013
    While The Netherlands already has some of the safest roads in the world it has ambitious plans to make them safer still, as Jon Masters discovers. In virtually all periodical studies and comparisons of countries’ road safety performance, the Netherlands is consistently in the top three and often leads the world, depending on how casualty figures are compared. According to the International Traffic Safety Data & Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum, road deaths per capita have falle
    Read More

Highlighted Content