Rush hour

Rising traffic levels and overstressed transportation infrastructures have created a number of transport issues in most of the major cities in the Middle East region. Mohammed Serroukh, Director General of ITS-Arab explains the challenges that governments face in terms of managing road infrastructures.

“Everybody has a slightly different approach, but they all have the same appetite. They all want ITS and they all want it now”
-Mohammed Serroukh

The next decade is set to see exponential growth in traffic on the roads from passengers to freight and with much road infrastructure increasingly overstretched the Middle East has reached a breaking point. The region is in dire need of dynamic traffic management to better control the flow of traffic on the roads. Mohammed Serroukh is Director General of ITS-Arab, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting a partnership between transport professionals, decision makers, academic institutions and the industry. Serroukh believes that while the challenges facing the Middle East are no different to anywhere else around the world he admits that the region as a whole is still quite busy building the infrastructure itself, whether bridges, new roads or bypasses. So, while elsewhere in the world is maximising the use of existing infrastructure the Middle East have an opportunity to build new systems and take advantage of emerging traffic control measures, jumping ahead of the technology curve.

"Governments have recognised that they are able to take advantage of new technology and many of them are now focused on intelligent traffic solutions (ITS) because they want to get ahead. We've actually seen a number of either full-scale ITS projects already on the way and then there are a number of pilots, not to mention the number of studies, consultancy areas and master plans taking place across the region," says Serroukh.

While all technology is being considered, including an equivalent congestion charge on a particular corridor in Dubai, which has been trialled, Serroukh goes on to explain that there is yet to emerge any specific technology that is ahead of the pack. "In Saudi ad Bahrain for example they still see charging for the use of the road as being politically unacceptable and the situation hasn't reached the point in which it actually warrants the use of such technology to try to reduce congestion." As such, softer ITS measure have since been more popular such as technology that helps manage congestion and safety.

Competition

While all areas are concentrating on dynamic traffic management there certainly seems to be an element of competition between them. Serroukh explains that Dubai for example has an element of build now, and then go back and correct any mistakes later, whereas Saudi Arabia are more likely to implement a master plan and engage various stakeholders on key issues before any deployment. And different again, Bahrain will do exactly what the consultant has advised and get halfway through the project before it is realised that lots of elements are missing and then have to delay because a number of things hadn't been considered. "Everybody has a slightly different approach, but they all have the same appetite. They all want ITS and they all want it now," confirms Serroukh, who goes on to explain about the combined dynamic traffic management project in Saudi Arabia called ATVAM. "They've identified a number of corridors and main roads across the kingdom as a whole and have divided the contract into three regions and the contracts have already been awarded. The basis of the project is that it does an average speed check and also monitors junctions for red light violations, U turns and so on, all traffic safety related issues. And in terms of traffic management it is definitely the leading project across the region because all the other regions are deploying radar-based speed cameras."

ITS has been used fairly extensively over the US and Europe, as well as the Far East to a certain extent, so does Serroukh see innovative approaches that could be adopted in the Middle East region? "There's been a number of visits that have taken place over the last year or so to see traffic systems in action in both the UK and Germany. So we've looked at equipment control rooms and the history behind it, as well as a visit to local authority traffic control centres to get an idea of both urban and inter-urban sites. And there is another visit planned to either the US or Asia to identify innovative solutions and what can realistically be implemented into the region."

Holistic systems

And as much as the region is focused on ITS solutions it is important that it also concentrates on developing public transport systems to a higher standard. With 97 percent of all trips in Saudi Arabia via private transport combined with an exponential rate of passenger transport expected in the next decade, it is vital that public transport infrastructure is developed if the country is able to cope with the rate of growth. Serroukh believes that this need has been recognised and it is only a matter of time before it becomes the development in this sector becomes more obvious. "One of the problems within the region is that public transport is either inadequate or almost non-existent. So that are places like Cairo that operate a reasonable underground system and bus network, and then there is Dubai, which although recently has invested heavily in light rail is yet to see a whole system in place."

Serroukh goes on to explain that the whole idea of road and transport management needs to be considered in a much more holistic way so that the whole system is developed together with a focus on technology and operations from day one. "While different countries are approaching this is different ways they all recognise that ITS is important and that it needs to be dealt with properly. Dubai for example has created a division that is equivalent to the UK's Highways Agency, except that it does everything as a whole, much like in Bahrain. And then in Saudi, because it's a much larger country they are actually linking together all the ministries through a committee. Called ITS Standard, that committee is very much focused on having an interoperable transport system that features ITS as a feature in every system from the very start of that particular project and the committee consists of very high level officials for every single ministry that has anything to do with transport in either build or operation. So, as you can see, every country is dealing with it in their own way."

Dubai Metro

The latest public transport initiative to be launched in the Middle East is Dubai's Metro system. According to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the Metro carried 1,018.030 passengers in the first 16 days after the 52 kilometre Red Line opened on September 9, proving that public transport infrastructure is indeed in demand in the emirate.

Dubai Metro in numbers:

3000 CCTVs in trains and stations
643 passengers accommodated per train
90 kilometre per hour is the fastest speed of the trains in automatic mode
87 trains in the system
75 kilometres long in total
51 trains in service on the Red Line by 2010
47 stations, nine underground
29 stations on the Red Line
5-car trains
3 classes
0 percent carbon emissions