News

A new zero-emission, crowd funded electric motorbike has officially launched in the UK and its developers expect it to reinvent British urban mobility. The Super Soco has been specifically developed to revitalise urban mobility and commuting while reducing emissions and noise pollution. The new e-motorbikes, designed and manufactured in China, are the result of a joint venture between Australian electric scooter company V-Moto and a US$15 million Chinese crowd funded project. The bikes combine the latest

International Road Dynamics’ (IRD) durable IRD SAW III portable wheel load weigher is now available for dynamic weighing; its user-friendly software enables users to efficiently pre-select overloaded trucks. Two IRD SAW scales are paired and connected to a PC via Bluetooth. When a vehicle drives over the scales at slow speed, the weighing result, wheel/axle weights and gross vehicle weight, is displayed on the screen. For weight enforcement with the highest accuracy the system can be switched to static oper

Work is set to start next month on a cycleway through central Dunedin, New Zealand, that aims to improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and all road users. Fulton Hogan has been awarded a (US$6 million (NZ$8 million) contract to build new cycle lanes on the north and southbound streets of the State Highway 1 one-way system between the Dunedin Botanical Gardens and Queens Gardens. The work involves replacement of the existing painted cycle lanes, which sit directly next to busy traffic lanes and placing ne

New York City has ended the first six months of 2017 with the fewest traffic fatalities ever measured, according to figures released by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Under the Vision Zero program, as of 30 June, the city had recorded 93 fatalities, the first time ever that fewer than 100 lives had been lost in such a period. The full fiscal year ending 30 June recorded 210 fatalities, 31 fewer than the prior fiscal year. The reductions come as the City is increasing traffic enforcement against dangerous violations

In a move that will result in one of the largest women- and minority-owned engineering firms in the Chicago region, transportation engineering TranSmart Technologies has announced its acquisition of Chicago-based EJM Engineering, a company specialising in planning, design, construction engineering and program management of infrastructure projects. TranSmart’s acquisition of EJM represents a synergistic integration of two highly successful women-owned companies, one founded on traditional transportation and

California’s Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) and connected vehicle partner GoMentum Station have formed a collaborative agreement with Intelligent Transport Systems Japan (ITS Japan), aimed at further accelerating connected vehicle applications and sharing autonomous vehicle technology data. Over the last two years, other Japanese-based organisations, such as Honda, have been testing at GoMentum Station. This latest collaborative agreement is expected to expose other companies to the advantages

Lima’s bus company Buena Estrella has ordered a new app-based e-ticketing and real time passenger information system from Germany-based IVU Traffic Technologies, which will supply its IVU.suite standard system for planning, fleet management, ticketing, passenger information and control. Buena Estrella currently operates a fleet of around 130 buses in the Peruvian capital and this is expected to grow to 400 vehicles by 2019. All the company’s vehicles will be equipped with the IVU.ticket.box on-board compute

Electric vehicle uptake may increase over the next few years to levels far above UK Government targets. In research undertaken by Baringa Partners, nearly a fifth of people said they would consider buying an electric vehicle for their next car, double the Government goal for electric cars to make up nine per cent of the fleet by 2020. However, concerns over purchase price and range mean nearly a third of people believe electric cars will never overtake petrol and diesel vehicles. Baringa is urging the Gover

The US Alliance for Transportation Innovation (ATI21) has appointed Bill Malkes, co-founder and CEO of Gridsmart Technologies to the association’s advisory board. In that role, he will join other transportation leaders in offering strategic guidance as ATI21 continues its efforts to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies to reduce traffic deaths, improve the flow of urban commutes, safely deliver goods to market, eliminate human error and improve mobility for the underserved, disabled and elderl

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has selected Kapsch TrafficCom (Kapsch) to provide management and staffing services for the DOTD Traffic Management Centers (TMCs), each with varying levels of support and staffing appropriate for daily operations. DOTD currently operates five TMCs and provides Motorist Assistance Patrol (MAP) services in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Lake Charles areas, as well as MAP services for various construction projects state-wide. The cont

An EU-funded project, with the support of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint undertaking (FCH JU), has installed hydrogen filling stations, tested prototype fuel cell vehicles and brought together car makers and infrastructure providers to push forward the commercial viability of this zero-emissions technology. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which manufacturers aim to make commercially available from 2018, offer zero-emissions transport and function much like an electric vehicle. However, fuel cell vehicles mu

Canadian Investment company Quarterhill has completed the acquisition of Belgian company iCOMS Detections, an intelligent transportation systems company, which will be integrated into Quarterhill’s wholly-owned subsidiary, International Road Dynamics (IRD). Founded in 1993, iCOMS specialises in the design and manufacture of radar microwave detectors and equipment. The company’s products and services are used to detect and count vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians in urban intersections, as speed measurement

Canada’s TriMet (Tri-County Metropolitan Transit Authority), C-TRAN and Portland Streetcar have launched Hop Fastpass, an open payments, electronic fare collection system implemented by Init. This regional e-fare system spans multiple agencies allowing transit passengers to pay for trips on TriMet and C-TRAN buses, Portland Streetcar, MAX Light Rail, WES Commuter Rail or the C-TRAN Vine BRT system, which all operate within the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area. Hop Fastpass is a fully integrated open pa

Highways England has awarded the South West region 4 year Construction Work Framework Lot 6 (Technology) to Dynniq, comprising Areas 1 and 2, the largest Highways England operating area covering 11 per cent of the strategic road, totalling 230 miles from Cheltenham to Penzance. The technology being installed covers the full range of field based solutions from Highways England’s portfolio including message signs, incident detection, CCTV, trunk road traffic signals, weather systems, emergency telephones, com

The city of Abilene, Texas, in the US is using new adaptive traffic control software from Siemens to increase traffic flow along a heavily travelled corridor, where two state highways meet at two intersections about 750 feet apart with elevated railroads passing between them. SEPAC Peer-to-Peer software allows intersection controllers to share information with one another on traffic and pedestrian conditions, allowing the on-street network of controllers to adaptively respond to changing traffic conditions