News

For the fifth year running, Fiat Automobiles has recorded the lowest level of CO2 emissions by vehicles sold in Europe in 2011, with an average measurement of 118.2 g/km (4.9 g/km less than the 2010 average). Fiat also ranked first as a Group, with 123.3 g/km, an improvement of 2.6 g/km on last year. The record is certified by JATO Dynamics, a leading automotive consultancy and research firm. Over the last five years Fiat has reduced its average emissions by 14 per cent, from 137.3 to 118.2 g/km of CO2, sig

GE Capital Fleet Services is introducing a new toll management programme in the US for fleet managers that increases their visibility of and control over toll expenses, while reducing administrative tasks and cost burdens. This new programme is being unveiled as US states and municipalities increasingly use toll collection as a source of revenue with the average toll violation increasing 20 per cent from 2010 to 2011 to US$60 per violation. As part of the programme, enrolled vehicles use electronic tolling

Visteon Corporation has announced that it has agreed to sell its automotive lighting business to Varroc Group, a global provider of automotive parts headquartered in India, for US$92 million in cash. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory reviews and other conditions, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2012. The business to be sold encompasses a wide range of exterior lighting products supplied to global vehicle manufacturers, including front and rear lighting systems, auxiliary la

Indra, Spain’s leading IT multinational, has been awarded a contract with the Public Transportation Municipal Company in Wroclaw, which is the fourth largest city in Poland, to install its intelligent public transportation management technology for US$22.23 million and a one year execution period. Indra will install an operations assistance system (OAS) that includes passenger information subsystems, fleet management and video surveillance for 251 vehicles, 136 buses and 115 trams in the city. The OAS will

VOXX International Corporation has completed its acquisition of Car Communication Holding GmbH and its worldwide subsidiaries (Hirschmann) for a total purchase price of approximately US$112 million, plus related transaction fees, expenses and working capital adjustments. In 2011, Hirschmann sales were approximately US$199 million, representing a 16% increase over the prior year. Management believes, based on the company's existing pipeline of booked business through 2016 and anticipated global market oppor

CyRide, the city transit system for Ames, Iowa has partnered with INIT to implement a scheduling, block building and runcutting system, as well as a bid dispatch system for their agency’s scheduling, staff and fleet operational needs. The new scheduling software, Mobile-Plan, will streamline operations and consolidate time-intensive tasks which were previously manually performed by Ames administrative staff. The software is a modular system that completely integrates with other INIT products to ensure data

Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for mobility and transport, has announced the winners of the first Smart Mobility Challenge on European multi-modal journey planners, to promote the development of all-in-one journey planners, going beyond national borders and offering travel options combining different transport modes. In the category of 'operational journey planners' the two winners are Idos and Trenitalia, and in the category of 'innovative ideas' the winners are Penelope Ventures and SNC

TTS Italia has announced it is involved in the Compass (optimised CO-Modal PASSenger transport for reducing Carbon emissions) project. The 25 months project, coordinated by Edinburgh Napier University, is deeply rooted in the European Transport Policy (ETP) in the first decade of the 21st Century, with a look towards the new challenges of the incoming second decade of the century. In particular, three topics are being addressed: challenges from the key socio-economic trends, challenges from environmental co

AMG-Panogenics, the British manufacturer of 5 Megapixel camera solutions has today announced a strategic OEM agreement with Canadian based I3 International. Under the new agreement i3 will integrate PanoCam360 into its SRX Pro video management system. According to Vy Hoang, VP of sales and marketing for i3, the company conducted extensive research before selecting the PanoCam360. “There were a number of reasons why we have chosen to work with AMG-Panogenics. First and foremost we’re impressed with the robus

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has confirmed that a contract has been awarded to Virgin Media to provide public access wi-fi at up to 120 underground station platforms at zero cost to the fare or taxpayer. The new service will launch as a free, unlimited service for all tube passengers this summer and will continue to offer free live Transport for London (TfL) travel information via a new online portal after this period. Virgin Media, in partnership with London Underground, will initially introduce wi-

Mentor Engineering has been awarded a US$2 million contract from the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority to implement a complete end-to-end transit ITS system for Oklahoma City’s Metro Transit.

Point Grey, a leader in advanced digital imaging products, will be hosting the AIA Winter 2012 Vision standards meeting in Vancouver, Canada from 13 – 17 February.

The city of Houston, Texas has agreed to pay American Traffic Solutions (ATS) US$4.8 million in compensation for cancelling the city’s red light camera contract which was rejected by voters in November, 2010.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is continuing to support the modernisation of Serbia’s transport infrastructure and promote further reform of the rail sector with a sovereign-guaranteed loan of up to €95 million (US$125 million) to the Serbian Railways company.

Dr Cheryl-Marie Hansberger, Delcan’s vice president of corporate development, has been recognised as 2011 Member of the Year by the Inland Empire Chapter of Women in Transportation (WTS-IE).