News

Following a successful pilot scheme, the London Borough of Bromley is installing a Videalert automated enforcement system in a bid to increase road safety outside five schools that have been experiencing high levels of inconsiderate behaviour from parents parking on the yellow keep clear areas. It is also deploying unattended CCTV enforcement systems on all its bus lane locations to upgrade the existing manually operated systems and provide automatic capture of offending vehicles’ number plates. The co

Transport & Travel Research (TTR) and parent company Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) have secured funding for a pilot scheme to reduce tailgating by business drivers from the Road Safety Trust, a charity that funds research to support its objective of reducing road casualties. TTR is now seeking interest from potential local authority partners that would act as a host for the pilot in their area. Tailgating, or close following, is a widespread concern on UK roads. It makes drivers feel intimidated,

Meta search engine for intercity buses CheckMyBus has received substantial funding which will allow it to accelerate international growth and expand bus connections as well as increase the company’s global brand awareness. According to CheckMyBus, the US$70 billion bus market still processes about 90 per cent of all bookings offline. During the last few years however there has been a constant transition towards the digital world with significant growth rates, fostered by the tolerance of EU markets and t

New South Wales, Australia will move towards a modern integrated electronic ticketing system on public transport on 1 August, when the last of the old paper tickets will no longer be sold or accepted. Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said that customers have embraced Opal, with two million customers taking 13 million journeys a week. “Opal is being used for 95 per cent of all public transport trips,” Constance said. “Given the enormous success, it’s now time to stop running t

The Port of London Authority (PLA) recently launched the Thames Vision, a framework for developing greater use of the River Thames over the next twenty years. The Thames is already the UK’s busiest waterway for passengers and freight, home to the UK’s second biggest port and a hub for tourism, recreation and sport. Developed by the PLA and river stakeholders over the last 18 months, the Vision sets out six goals for increased river use. They include the busiest ever Port of London, more goods being

The French ministry of the interior has ordered an additional 240 fixed speed enforcement systems from French speed camera manufacturer Parifex. These will be deployed on the national highway network replacing the existing conventional systems. The VIGIE systems provide lane identification, vehicle classification and bi-directional monitoring. The systems are also able to differentiate between three categories of vehicles with specific speed limits (large trucks/coaches/light vehicles), providing accura

Mapping and navigation specialist TomTom and the City of Moscow have signed a Letter of Intent to design an intelligent transportation programme developed with the goal of improving the overall situation across Moscow’s road network. Moscow recently won an Achievement Award from the International Transport Forum 2016 for its exemplary approach to improving traffic conditions in the Russian capital. Using data from TomTom’s Traffic Index, Moscow has gone from last place in 2013 to fifth place in this yea

A white paper published by the Rolls-Royce led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) outlines the project’s vision of how remote and autonomous shipping will become a reality. Published to coincide with its presentations at the Autonomous Ship Technology Symposium 2016 in Amsterdam, the AAWA whitepaper explores the research carried out to date on the business case for autonomous applications, the safety and security implications of designing and operating remotely operated ships,

In response to the UK Government’s Fifth Carbon Budget, Freight on Rail says that the Department for Transport must support EU plans to introduce CO2 truck standards to bring HGVs into line with cars and vans. In the UK, HGVs contribute 17 per cent of surface transport’s CO2 emissions even though it only makes up five per cent of road miles driven. Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager, Campaign for Better Transport said CO2 standards and reduction targets for HGVs are long overdue as truck manufac

PTV Group and the city of Karlsruhe in Germany are to cooperate in the development of smart mobility in the region, with the goal of establishing a real-time traffic prediction system for the Karlsruhe Technology Region. At the company’s newly renovated, PTV is investing in a new demonstration room, the Mobility Lab, where traffic engineers and municipalities from around the world can experience virtually the new Karlsruhe smart mobility concepts. The Karlsruhe city traffic management unit will maintain

BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye are collaborating to bring solutions for highly and fully automated driving into series production by 2021. The BMW iNEXT model will be the foundation for BMW Group’s autonomous driving strategy and set the basis for fleets of fully autonomous vehicles, not only on highways but also in urban environments for the purpose of automated ridesharing solutions. The three partners are committed to working towards an industry standard and defining an open platform for autonomous

The City of Toronto, Canada, has awarded Jenoptik’s Traffic Solutions division an order to continue its red light monitoring program and to expand it in the Greater Toronto area. The contract, which extends one awarded ten years ago, will run for five years from January 2017, also includes an optional extension for a further five years and a centralised back office system.. Jenoptik will shortly begin negotiations with seven other municipalities in Canada’s Ontario province. Jenoptik had already installe

Singapore-based SMRT International is to acquire a 20 per cent state worth US$4.4 million (€4 million) in Dutch automated vehicle (AV) manufacturer 2Getthere Holding (2Getthere). Abu Dhabi technology company United Technical Services (UTS) is increasing its holding in 2getthere to 11 per cent. The companies say these investments are a strategic step that aims to increase 2getthere’s technological capabilities as a provider of AV systems. It will also enhance the delivery of current and new projects in th

A new study by the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds, commissioned by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) finds that better coordination and connectivity between vehicles and infrastructure is likely to improve energy efficiency, as well as potentially make road transport safer and quicker. The LowCVP says that the combination of connectivity, automation plus shared vehicle ownership and use has the potential to m

Dutch engineering company Fluor Corporation is part of the 3Angle consortium, a special purpose company selected as the preferred bidder by the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands (Rijkswaterstaat) for the A27/A1 public private partnership (PPP) project in the Netherlands. The 3Angle consortium, comprised of Fluor, Heijmans Capital and 3i Infrastructure, will carry out the design, build, management, maintenance and financing of existing and new infrastructure of t