RSSA joint initiative of 374 Ertico – ITS Europe, the 1690 European Commission and 478 Eurocities, a Forum on ITS for Urban Mobility was held in Brussels yesterday to discuss and provide feedback on the draft guidelines for the deployment of ITS in urban areas, developed by 5578 DG Move’s Expert Group on Urban Mobility. As Nicolas White reports, the guidelines discussed focused on three crucial aspects of urban ITS: multimodal information services, smart ticketing and traffic management & urban logistics.
Introducing the event, Hermann Meyer, CEO, Ertico – ITS Europe, highlighted the importance of the draft guidelines, explaining that they deal with two vital issues: how ITS can help cities meet the challenges they face and how ITS can be deployed effectively. He continued by explaining that the event served to bring cities, policy makers, industry and other ITS stakeholders together in order to cooperate on the establishment on an ITS toolkit to aid cities in their ITS deployments.
A common thread throughout the discussions was the opportunity provided by the financial crisis and recent elections in parts of Europe. Far from being seen as an obstacle to ITS deployment the new era of European austerity was seen as a means of convincing politicians of the value of ITS. Indeed, as the day’s moderator, Marshall Poulton, head of transport, Edinburgh City Council explained, squeezed budgets make the return on investment of ITS much more appealing to decision makers. Recent local elections in the UK as well as national elections across Europe were also highlighted as a potential opportunity. Politicians new to their office, it was explained, are often more receptive to new initiatives than those they replace.
While discussion of each guideline looked very different in many areas, a common thread relating to all guidelines was the need for more clarification on the intended audience. Panelists raised the question of who exactly the documents were aimed at. If they’re aimed at politicians and higher level decision makers, the message ought to be adapted accordingly, going into less technical detail and highlighting concrete benefits and best practices. Indeed, it was felt by many at the forum that there was not enough focus on past success stories and examples within the documents. Representatives of the ITS Expert Group however, highlighted the fact that there will be accompanying documents on the benefits of ITS systems for cities.
The need for improved cooperation and communication between ITS actors was also stressed during each panel discussion. It was explained that there has often been difficulty in organising cooperation between private industry and public authorities especially when there is not a clear definition of each party’s role in ITS deployment.
The sharing and ownership of data was also top of many people’s agenda. There were repeated calls from all quarters to facilitate the sharing of data gathered on transport networks. Following on from the issue of data sharing, the debate over who owns data and just how open collected data should be to local authorities, service providers and competitors came up in every session. While it was suggested that there are no viable business models for multimodal information systems, there was a broad consensus that this is not necessarily the case. Indeed, it was suggested that harmonising data standards and having EU curation of travel data could serve to kick start innovation in travel applications.
The European Commission pointed out that urban centres are at the forefront of new trends in mobility and, following the forum, it could be said that such events will serve to help ITS stakeholders identify and understand those trends going forward.
Introducing the event, Hermann Meyer, CEO, Ertico – ITS Europe, highlighted the importance of the draft guidelines, explaining that they deal with two vital issues: how ITS can help cities meet the challenges they face and how ITS can be deployed effectively. He continued by explaining that the event served to bring cities, policy makers, industry and other ITS stakeholders together in order to cooperate on the establishment on an ITS toolkit to aid cities in their ITS deployments.
A common thread throughout the discussions was the opportunity provided by the financial crisis and recent elections in parts of Europe. Far from being seen as an obstacle to ITS deployment the new era of European austerity was seen as a means of convincing politicians of the value of ITS. Indeed, as the day’s moderator, Marshall Poulton, head of transport, Edinburgh City Council explained, squeezed budgets make the return on investment of ITS much more appealing to decision makers. Recent local elections in the UK as well as national elections across Europe were also highlighted as a potential opportunity. Politicians new to their office, it was explained, are often more receptive to new initiatives than those they replace.
While discussion of each guideline looked very different in many areas, a common thread relating to all guidelines was the need for more clarification on the intended audience. Panelists raised the question of who exactly the documents were aimed at. If they’re aimed at politicians and higher level decision makers, the message ought to be adapted accordingly, going into less technical detail and highlighting concrete benefits and best practices. Indeed, it was felt by many at the forum that there was not enough focus on past success stories and examples within the documents. Representatives of the ITS Expert Group however, highlighted the fact that there will be accompanying documents on the benefits of ITS systems for cities.
The need for improved cooperation and communication between ITS actors was also stressed during each panel discussion. It was explained that there has often been difficulty in organising cooperation between private industry and public authorities especially when there is not a clear definition of each party’s role in ITS deployment.
The sharing and ownership of data was also top of many people’s agenda. There were repeated calls from all quarters to facilitate the sharing of data gathered on transport networks. Following on from the issue of data sharing, the debate over who owns data and just how open collected data should be to local authorities, service providers and competitors came up in every session. While it was suggested that there are no viable business models for multimodal information systems, there was a broad consensus that this is not necessarily the case. Indeed, it was suggested that harmonising data standards and having EU curation of travel data could serve to kick start innovation in travel applications.
The European Commission pointed out that urban centres are at the forefront of new trends in mobility and, following the forum, it could be said that such events will serve to help ITS stakeholders identify and understand those trends going forward.
