Clever technology is not enough: ITS must solve customers’ problems, warn experts

ITS professionals must ensure they are responding to customer needs and not simply being blinded by the possibilities of technology, warn ITS experts. This was among the main messages from ITS (UK)’s 2018 summit this week. “Don’t deploy technology for technology’s sake – that’s just having a toy,” said Kirk Steudle, former boss of Michigan Department of Transportation, in his keynote speech at the event in Bristol, UK. “Just because the technology is clever, it doesn’t mean it’s any use,” warned ITS (
November 28, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
ITS professionals must ensure they are responding to customer needs and not simply being blinded by the possibilities of technology, warn ITS experts.


This was among the main messages from ITS (UK)’s 2018 summit this week. “Don’t deploy technology for technology’s sake – that’s just having a toy,” said Kirk Steudle, former boss of 1688 Michigan Department of Transportation, in his keynote speech at the event in Bristol, UK.

“Just because the technology is clever, it doesn’t mean it’s any use,” warned ITS (UK) president Steve Norris. He urged delegates to think: “What are the challenges we are actually solving?”

The former UK transport minister also suggested that some form of road user charging in the UK was inevitable to raise revenue as the government’s tax-take from fuel duty continues to decline, in large part due to more fuel-efficient cars.

“Receipts from fuel duty are falling off a cliff,” he said. “It’s pretty illogical that the last great free public utility should be the roads.”

• A full report of the ITS (UK) 2018 summit will appear in ITS International, January/February 2019

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ‘Shining moment of opportunity for tolling’
    May 5, 2021
    Climate change is already affecting tolling operations in many parts of the world. IBTTA’s Bill Cramer explains how the sector can be seen as a proven funding and financing mechanism for surface transportation
    Read More
  • MaaS transit does Dallas
    October 22, 2018
    What started five years ago as a mobile ticketing app is evolving towards a full MaaS offering for the US city of Dallas, Texas. Colin Sowman finds out why and how. When it was launched in September 2013, GoPass was the first multimodal, multi-agency transit fare payment app in the US. Introduced by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Dart), GoPass combines a mobile ticketing app with a trip planning function and it is also accepted by Trinity Railway Express, Trinity Metro and the Denton County Transportation
    Read More
  • Nairobi looks to ITS to ease travel problems
    March 6, 2018
    Shem Oirere looks at plans to tackle chronic congestion in the Kenyan capital - where commuters can typically expect it to take up to two hours to complete a 15km journey. Traffic jams in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are estimated to cost the country $360 million a year in terms of lost man-hours, fuel and pollution. According to Wilfred Oginga, an engineer with the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), the congestion has been exacerbated by poor regulation and enforcement of traffic rules, absence of
    Read More
  • Nairobi looks to ITS to ease travel problems
    March 6, 2018
    Shem Oirere looks at plans to tackle chronic congestion in the Kenyan capital - where commuters can typically expect it to take up to two hours to complete a 15km journey. Traffic jams in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are estimated to cost the country $360 million a year in terms of lost man-hours, fuel and pollution. According to Wilfred Oginga, an engineer with the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), the congestion has been exacerbated by poor regulation and enforcement of traffic rules, absence of
    Read More

Highlighted Content