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Travellers in Chicago will soon be able to use a single app to plan their journey, pay and receive real-time alerts across all public transit services in the Chicago region. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), suburban bus operator Pace and commuter rail system Metra have awarded Cubic Transportation Systems a US$5.4 million contract to supply an integrated mobile application and system supporting a wide variety of mobile ticketing, mobile top up, contactless mobile payment using Near Field Communication (

Swedish geographic modelling specialist Blom is cooperating with a Finnish company, Suomen Kuntotekniikka, on road condition assessment projects, using BlomSTREET imagery which enables visual assessment of road segments where repairs are required, providing budgetary analysis of necessary maintenance and construction tasks. BlomSTREET imagery provides automatic traffic sign inventory using country-specific, official traffic sign libraries. The company says that experience from recent projects demonstrate

Colombia's national infrastructure agency ANI is to hold a public hearing on 16 December to gather expressions of interests for the 43.9 kilometre western corridor of Bogotá's light rail (LRT) project. The two-line LRT system is expected to cost around US$605 million and would stretch between the central station of the Sabana railway to a station located in the municipality of Facatativá. A total of 17 stations are planned for the corridor as well as a branch line to the airport. Around 71.5 million p

New research by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) has revealed Peterborough, Colchester and Milton Keynes as the hardest places in England to live if you don't have access to a car. Meanwhile, London, Manchester and Liverpool have emerged as the easiest. The new research compares how different towns and cities measure up in areas including public transport provision, facilities for cycling and walking, and land use planning policies that support sustainable transport. Stephen Joseph, chief execu

The City of Palo Alto, California is to install what is said to be one of the first traffic management systems in the country to address the needs of connected vehicles. Trafficware will implement a traffic data export system using its ATMS.now 2.0 and SynchroGreen systems that will allow the city to securely disseminate real-time traffic signal data to auto manufacturers using smart vehicle technologies. The traffic signals at 100 intersections will be upgraded using Trafficware controllers, in addit

Swarco Traffic Systems is to install fifty Park²Power compact fast charging stations in South Baden, Germany, extending the region’s electric car charging infrastructure to 100 stations. Payment is based on credit card and NFC technology and the charging points can be used by both customers of the region’s ‘my-e-car’ car sharing initiative and other electric car drivers. Each charging station provides two charging points powered by certified green energy from a local hydroelectric power plant. The ‘my

The M2M World Alliance has added a new member, Telenor Connexion, to its operator coalition. The M2M World Alliance is a global partnership of telecommunications providers committed to bringing technology to market that will simplify the process of global M2M deployments. Telenor Connexion is a leading enabler of connected business solutions, with more than 15 years of experience in M2M/IoT solutions deployed across the globe.

Four cities in New Zealand are collaborating with the New Zealand Transport Agency and Auckland Transport in the urban kiwiRAP programme - a risk assessment process for urban road transport. The scheme begins in Auckland, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Dunedin later this month and is a development of the successful highways programme that has used crash data and risk mapping to identify where road funds are best spent to save lives since 2005, reports the Sun Live news website.

Cubic Transportation Systems has completed the roll out of Sydney’s Opal contactless smartcard ticketing system across all transport modes and connecting multiple operators and commenced operation and maintenance of the Opal system under the ten-year services agreement that is part of the original contract. The contract to build the new electronic ticketing system (ETS) – later branded as the Opal Card – was awarded to the Cubic-led Pearl consortium in 2010.

Improved customer service, better planning and stronger relationships are at the heart of a five-year plan which sets out how England’s motorways and major A roads will be modernised, maintained and operated between 2015 and 2020. The pledges are made in the first Strategic Business Plan published by Highways England, which focuses on modernising, maintaining and operating the network, making specific commitments, including modernising core motorways and upgrading some of the most important major routes to

The 2015 Bottom Line Report on transportation investment needs, released by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the American Public Transportation Association, estimates that to meet current demand it will require an annual capital investment over six years by all levels of government in the amount of $120 billion in the nation’s highway and bridge network and US$43 billion in America’s public transportation infrastructure. To meet the combined surface transportation

Within the framework of the iMobility Forum R&I Workshop, the iMobility Forum is organising a public consultation, iMobility Forum roadmaps and contribution to Horizon 2020 Work programs and beyond. The iMobility Forum R&I working group is currently preparing material for the broad open consultation of the proposed R&I roadmaps in order to provide the research needs for 2016-2017. Through this web public consultation, which is open from 8 December 2014 to 12 January 2015, the iMobility Forum is seeki

Peru has secured additional funding for its US$5.8 billion Lima metro line No.2 project, which is due to be completed by 2020. Just a day after receiving a US$750 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Caracas-based lender CAF agreed to lend a further US$150 million, the third loan it has granted the initiative. "This approval complements the support CAF has been providing Peru in the search for urban transport solutions," CAF president Enrique García said in the statement. The L

San Francisco mayor Edwin M. Lee has launched the city’s congestion management strategy to improve traffic flow and safety, especially in the South of Market neighbourhood where construction and growth remain the highest in the City. The strategy outlines additional efforts the city could undertake, beyond traditional approaches such as the Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation (ISCOTT). These additional efforts include smarter traffic enforcement, better construction permitt

Transport for London (TfL), Arriva and UK bus manufacturer Optare have introduced the latest electric buses to the capital’s fleet. The two Optare MetroCity buses are now in service in Croydon on a route is used by around 4,700 passengers a day. The buses are the latest addition to Europe’s greenest bus fleet and will increase TfL’s experience and understanding of this relatively new technology. The buses have zero tail pipe emissions at point of use, resulting in lower overall carbon emissions.