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During the snowstorm on 17 January, 2012, Washington State DOT (WSDOT) saw more than 800,000 people access its website – nearly twelve percent of Washington’s population. The DOT is taking steps to ensure it can handle that amount of traffic and higher, as well as the number of people who are accessing the website on a daily basis, which has increased from 78,000 unique visitors a day in 2011 to nearly 90,000 a day in 2012. Building the infrastructure that would be needed to handle infrequent weather spikes

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has recently implemented a video electronic link between the public transport customer service call centre and the transport operations control centre. Dedicated monitors have been mounted in the call centre, enabling accurate and direct tracking of bus movements and schedules. The centre handles around 5000 incoming calls 24 hours a day, comprising suggestions, complaints and reports relating to bus schedules, and the link has been tailored to cover the busies

Nearly a year after the I-95 Corridor Coalition, the University of Maryland (UMD) and Inrix announced a three-year expansion of the Vehicle Probe Project (VPP), the coalition and its partners are expanding their collaboration once again. Through a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Awards Grant, the coalition will use Inrix traffic information to expand coverage to over 40,000 miles of roads across fourteen states.

The 19th ITS World Congress is the venue for presentations on intelligent transport systems for urban areas by the European Commission’s expert group, starting at 0900 on 24 October. The day will start with a session introducing the guidelines for the deployment of key ITS applications in urban areas expert group on which has developed specific guidance for the deployment of ITS in urban areas, and in particular for the provision and organisation of multimodal information, traffic management and smart ticke

China’s State Council has released a white paper that explores the possible business development model for electric vehicles in the country. After comparing the differences between electric and conventional gasoline vehicles, the white paper points out the market barriers faced by EVs in China: limited range when compared to gasoline, high cost, slow charging and insufficient charging stations The paper argues that China needs to develop an innovative business model to overcome these market barriers since t

A recent survey of fleet managers and decision-makers by GreenRoad, driver performance management service provider, entitled Fleet leaders embracing mobile technology potential, found that fleet managers are leading smartphone adoption and work-related app usage. The survey revealed strong interest in smartphones and mobile devices across the industries surveyed. Sixty-six percent of fleet leaders report that most of their managers now carry smartphones at work. Forty-three percent are using smartphone or

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) calls for road charging should be introduced on the strategic road network in England. Proposals in the report, Bold Thinking: A model to fund our future roads also suggest that responsibility for the network’s budget should be taken away from the Department for Transport (DfT) and given to an independent regulator. Launching the report, CBI director-general John Cridland said a regulatory asset base (RAB) model was required to address the problem of long-term fu

Swedish rail operator Svenska Tågkompaniet AB (Tågkompaniet) is to deploy a new mobile solution for its train drivers and train conductors, with three new capabilities: context, cross-platform and cloud. Based on the Appear IQ platform from mobile software specialist Appear, the solution allows Tågkompaniet to efficiently dispatch user-based information to its personnel, in order to increase punctuality, improve customer service and reduce operational costs. Tågkompaniet will be deploying smartphones and us

Econolite will use the ITS World Congress to highlight its Centracs Adaptive and Travel Time software modules. Centracs Adaptive is designed for transportation agencies seeking to significantly improve traffic mobility over pre-programmed signal timing plans. It actively reallocates and adapts signal timing to improve traffic flow, including unpredictable or unexpected traffic conditions. Centracs Travel Time module enables Centracs ATMS to subscribe to BlueToad travel time and speed data to provide both hi

Streetline will showcase smart parking technology that combines sensors and a suite of applications to provide cities with real time and historical data and offer flexible parking options for residents and visitors while reducing traffic congestion in downtown areas. As the company points out, cities are facing the challenge of aging infrastructure, a growing population and limited financial resources.

Delcan International Corporation will feature its Intelligent NETworks (iNET), a state-of-the-art ATMS application designed to collect, disseminate, and manage transportation information. Built with scalable architecture, INETworks is an adaptable solution for small and large scale deployments. The software is divided into 25 different modules that control different aspects of the traffic system. Customers build their customised systems by using Delcan’s core modules. It is designed to support both standard

Canada’s Regional Municipality of York (YRT/Viva) has partnered with Google and INIT, supplier of ITS and fare collection systems, to offer bus passengers real-time trip plans through Google maps. The service, Google Live Transit Updates, tracks YRT buses using INIT’s GPS-based navigation system and provides passengers with the exact time a bus will depart from their stop. YRT/Viva is the first transit agency in Canada to offer real-time trip planning on Google with up-to-the-minute next bus departure infor

US-based mapping and navigation specialist, Rand McNally has unveiled its new HD 100 device, which the company claims turns GPS units, tablets and smart phones into compliant electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) systems. Designed to work seamlessly with a variety of mobile devices, the hours of service recorder within the HD 100 qualifies it as a compliant electronic driver log. The device plugs into a vehicle's on-board diagnostics port and records the truck's GPS position along with critical vehicle-speci

A two-year pilot project has begun in London with taxi firm Addison Lee and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Renault, which uses the principle of magnetic induction to jump electricity from a base station direct to the vehicle’s battery to deliver wireless charging. The charging technology being used is called Halo and has been developed by mobile innovations company Qualcomm, the organisation responsible for processors powering the latest generation of smartphones and tablets. ‘EV drivers will opt for th

The US Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is to implement pilot project for a completely cashless toll system for the Henry Hudson Bridge in New York City. The system partly depends on the E-Z Pass device and the Hudson Bridge was chosen for the pilot project as E-Z Pass is already used by over 87% of drivers. Drivers using E-Z Pass will be offered a discounted toll to encourage continued use; drivers without a pass will be identified by licence plate images and will be billed for the full rate b