News

A SmartStation research and design project has worked with PTV Group and Raumobil to develop ideas on how to turn analogue stops into digital hubs, in Karlsruhe. The scheme, commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, set out to reveal the importance of networked stations for multimodal mobility. The initiatives 18-month research phase identified that intelligent stops that include analogue facilities such as information terminals, escalators, elevators and lockers need to

Siemens has appointed Wilke Reints as managing director for its ITS business unit in the UK to succeed Tom MacMorran, who retires at the end of the month. He most recently held a global position responsible for all research and development and product lifecycle management for ITS. Reints joined the company in 1992 and has held a variety of positions including working in project management for the Athens Olympic Games as well as other large traffic management-related projects. Wilke said: “Siemens has a

Sociedad Ibérica de Construcciones Eléctricas (SICE) has chosen technology provider GMV to design and manufacture ticket vending machines (TVMs) that will replace the traditional personnel-attended ticket windows at the Santiago de Chile Metro’s line six and the future line three. Since opening late last year, line six is said to carry an average of 100,000 passengers daily and is helping to reduce congestion on other lines of the network. Through the agreement, 80 TVMs will vend and recharge the Chilean

Cubic Transportation Systems’ (CTS’) business division and Transport for New South Wales will extend its trial of contactless ticketing across the entire Sydney ferry and light rail network. The project aims to allow users to purchase one-off fares quicker and easier while also allowing them to pay for journeys using American Express and Visa cards. More than 15,000 passengers are estimated to have used their Mastercard to tap on and pay for travel across Sydney harbour since the trial began on the Manly

Groupe PSA has announced a partnership with Harman International at the Geneva International Motorshow to develop a cyber security strategy that aims to protect its next-generation connected and autonomous vehicles. Both companies have collaborated over two years on projects such as analysing potential threats and security design. They have also conducted a feasibility study of advanced intrusion detection systems for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous and next-generation vehicle

Jesse Norman, the UK government’s road minister, has announced a three-year regulatory review to examine any legal obstacles to the widespread introduction of self-driving vehicles and highlight the need for regulatory reforms. It aims to ensure that the country remains a primary location to develop, test and drive these vehicles. The inquiry will be carried out by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission. It is also part of the government’s Future of Mobility Grand Challe

Highways England has appointed David Picton as interim executive director for commercial and procurement on the 13 March. He will take over from David Poole who is leaving the company on the 16 March. Picton has led safety and supply chain development at Carillion as well as sustainability strategies over the past six years. He was previously a director at Sky and Motorola and also spent 20 years in senior strategic and operational leadership roles as a wing commander in the RAF.

2,000 Washington-based volunteers are taking part in an Emovis project which will replace the gas tax with a pay-per-mile travelled charge. The results of the year-long trial will help shape the state’s future transportation funding policy. Called the Washington Road User Charge Pilot Project, it will also test multi-jurisdictional charging by relying on the location-aware capabilities of on-board mileage recording devices. The simulated charges applied to trips will vary depending on the location of each

Commuters in the US state of Maine travel 9.8 miles to work on a daily basis, a 72% longer journey than the 5.7-mile median commute in Wyoming, according to the latest report by StreetLight Data. The transportation analytics company conducted its study on nearly 30,000 ZIP codes in areas with over 1,000 residents as part of a strategy to help encourage businesses and governments to start fixing the accessibility gap. The inquiry also highlighted the longest and shortest commutes in each state by ZIP cod

Winners of the ITS (UK) Apprentice Essay have collected their awards from the Society’s president Steven Norris, at a ceremony in London. The competition set out to encourage and recognise talent in the next generation of transport professionals. Dan Johnson, apprentice transport planning technician at the Suffolk County Council and Leeds College of Building, won the award with his driverless vehicle essay Chummy Saves Christmas, based on the children’s TV show Brum. Joel Shevlin, apprentice transport

The London Borough of Newham has installed Videalert’s CCTV-based system to provide unattended enforcement of bus lanes and moving traffic contraventions with a focus on box junctions. The open network video interface forum Profile S certified digital high definition cameras and processing units are based at 22 locations that have high levels of driver non-compliance. Newham has also invested in additional data storage capacity to accommodate future system expansion at other sites that need enforcement

The US Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and National Parking Association have agreed to work together on updating their respective Parking Generation Manual and Shared Parking tools, last revised in 2010 and 2009. Fresh analyses in the former will differentiate levels of demand in rural, general urban/suburban, dense multi-use urban and core city centre locations, said ITE CEO Jeffrey F Paniati