The 1998 Government White Paper on Integrated Transport emphasised the increasingly important role of efficient bus-based public transport services in cities. The emergence of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) over recent years is now offering substantial potential for improving bus operations through a variety of ITS applications. This paper reviews the achievements of the applications to date, using examples from the UK and elsewhere and discusses the opportunities now evident. The paper is based on the results from the first phase of a 2 and a half year EPSRC project concerned with developing guidelines for the use of ITS in improving bus operations. ITS applications are discussed in at least five main areas, including: (i) Priority strategies buses in advanced traffic control systems, including selective detection, bus advance areas, queue relocation and congestion management; (ii) Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems for bus fleet management, passenger information and bus priority; (iii) Automatic Ticketing Systems; (iv) Automatic camera enforcement systems for violations affecting bus operations; and (v) Variable message signing applications. For some applications, such as bus priority at traffic signals, substantial progress has already been made and results from various applications are drawn together in a comparative analysis, including recent AVL-based priority applications. However, in many other applications, the contribution of ITS to improving bus operations is less well established. The measurement and/or prediction of benefits are therefore a key topic of discussion in the paper, including requirements and methods for modelling where appropriate.
Samenvatting