UTC

Siemens is to supply an intelligent transportation system for the Polish city of Poznan to integrate public and private transport in an effort to reduce congestion and enhance the attractiveness of public transportation. The contract, awarded by the Poznan transportation authority Zarząd Dróg Miejskich w Poznaniu (ZDM) is valued at around US$20 million. Commissioning of the system is scheduled for spring 2015.

David Crawford looks at moves to increase throughput and safety in work zones.

McCain has introduced what it says is a new and improved Transparity TMS (traffic management system), developed to meet the demands of current transportation systems. Transparity TMS is said to be easy to learn and customise, while offering the functionality normally associated with central control software. The system has been completely redesigned on a modern platform to provide dependable monitoring and command of signalised intersections, and offers 24/7 access to real-time system data from any web-ena

David Crawford welcomes new lives for old road safety products. Traffic cones and barrels have traditionally been on the bottom shelf of the road construction and maintenance industry, typically forming visible soft safety barriers for temporary works at a lower cost than concrete alternatives. On both sides of the Atlantic, however, they are fast gaining new roles as instrumented components in advanced construction safety arrays. The EC-sponsored €1 million (US$1.31 million) Safelane collaborative innovati

David Crawford reviews developments in temporary ITS. Widespread take-up of technologies such as Bluetooth and wi-fi are encouraging the emergence of more sophisticated, while still cost effective, ITS responses to the traffic issues posed by temporary road situations such as work zones and special events. Andy Graham of traffic solutions specialists White Willow Consulting says: “A machine-to-machine radio link is far easier and cheaper than reading characters on a plate.” There can be other plusses. Tech

Rich pickings are now available in a maturing market supplying screens and processors for traffic management operations. Jon Masters reviews what’s on offer. Competition in supply of technology for traffic management and control centres has increased significantly in recent years. Suppliers introduced better products and customers are changing the way they operate, which benefits traffic authorities and emergency services alike. These are the views of Electrosonic’s control rooms solutions sales manager Pa

Developed using the latest cloud-based technology, Siemens says its Stratos system delivers scalable real-time traffic management, information and control, from basic monitoring to strategic control of complex urban traffic environments. Proven traffic management systems have been integrated to create Stratos and provide streamlined, seamless user interaction with access anywhere on smart mobile devices as well as traditional control rooms. Siemens says Stratos is the complete solution for car parking, VMS,

US-headquartered digital signage specialist Transit Screen has partnered with local Business Development Agencies (BID) Business Improvement Districts in what is said to be Washington, DC’s, first real-time multimodal display of transportation information. The Transit Screen displays provide a live, real-time snapshot of all Metro, Capital BikeShare, Metrobus, Circulator, and ART bus transit arrivals at a given location.

Jason Barnes speaks to leading figures from the automated enforcement sector about whether a truly international standard for automated enforcement systems is necessary or can ever be achieved. Recent reports of further press controversy in the US over automated enforcement (see ‘Focusing on accuracy?’, ITS International raise again the issue of standards and what constitutes ‘good enough’ in terms of system accuracy and overall solution effectiveness. Comparatively, automated enforcement has always expe

David Crawford reviews innovations in the comfort zone. Anyone who rides public transport knows that, perhaps second only to delays, overcrowding is a critical part of the passenger experience,” says Nir Erez, CEO of Moovit, the Israel-based social transportation app developer. The app is aimed at taking real-time user feedback on transit and making it available to a wider audience of travellers. Currently available on iPhone and Android, it plans to add Windows 8 and other platforms in the future. Moovit i