The road to success

A Head-to-Head feature with Q-Free ASA and Siemens

Rising traffic levels and over-stressed transportation infrastructures are creating a number of issues in major cities across the Middle East. MENA Infrastructure speaks to Oliver Skisland, Regional Director of Central Europe, Middle East & Africa at Q-Free ASA and Peer Fischer, VP for the Middle East and Asia at Siemens Traffic Solutions, to find out what the future of transport infrastructure looks like.

“It is vital to base all system designs on standardised products with proven performance and to require open and standardised system interfaces”
-Oliver Skisland

INFRA. The next decade will see exponential growth of freight transport and a strong increase in passenger transportation. What challenges do these trends present to road transport agencies and managers in the region?
Oliver Skisland. The keyword here is ‘mobility’. It is all about motivating for change of behaviour through demand management. For this to happen, it must be made adequately worthwhile to use public transport and equally more expensive to use the private car. The reason why a road is blocked is that too many people are driving at the same time. A smart implementation of a congestion charging system will motivate people to drive at different times and then release the peaks of the traffic. The prerequisite is of course that there is a well functioning public transport system in place. If this is not the case, people can still only rely on their private vehicle and any extra charges for the private vehicles will only be seen as an extra tax. So, by increasing the availability of public transport services and controlling the demand for road services, the citizens will find that mobility is improved.

Peer Fischer. Traffic volumes continue to skyrocket. Every year, over one million people die in traffic accidents and 700,000 of those deaths can be linked to traffic-generated air pollution. The main challenge is to optimise the system to tackle problems like safety, environmental and mobility at the same time. Another positive impact can be achieved by exploiting synergies through a combination of different mass transport systems like public transport, urban transport and railway transport systems.

INFRA. It is clear that new traffic management solutions are needed alongside development of the region’s transport infrastructure. What role can technology play in helping transport management agencies address some of these issues?
OS. Intelligent Transport Systems are the key to obtaining a successful traffic management system. By using DSRC electronic transponders and Automatic License Plate Recognition systems for instance, the authorities get precise information about demand for road transport services. This information can in turn be used for several purposes, such as planning of new road corridors, definition of congestion charging fees and planning of public transport services. A congestion charging system, such as the system deployed in Stockholm, can also be used to feed information to the general public about the traffic situation.

PF. Since even relatively small disturbances can have massive effects on traffic flow, detectors need to be deployed at as many traffic-relevant spots as possible in order to record all pertinent traffic and weather data. Modern detection methods like floating car data (FCD) can deliver an area-covering clear view to optimise traffic flows.

INFRA. What criteria should road traffic agencies in the region consider when selecting an ITS solution to help manage congestion, reduce pollution and improve safety and security?
OS. ITS solutions will be constantly evolving. Keeping this in mind, it is vital to base all system designs on standardised products with proven performance and to require open and standardised system interfaces. Going for the global standards also means high competition on a later stage – you are not bound to one supplier for the rest of the systems lifetime. Any expansion can be tendered for and the best supplier will win. An excellent example of this is found in Norway where the road authorities are operating over 30 different systems where all systems comply with the same standard and are supplied by four different suppliers.

Improving safety and security can be done in many ways, but one extremely interesting solution that is coming to the market in the next few years is called CALM. This is a vehicle-to-vehicle technology that will make vehicles ‘aware’ of each other. One of the identified applications is ‘trailing brake lights’ where the first vehicle in a line transmits a signal back making the other vehicles aware that the first vehicle is panic braking. Another application is ‘active red lights’ where the traffic lights transmit a signal to the vehicle making it ‘aware’ of the colour of the light.

PF. Managing the balance of these requirements is ambitious. Therefore suppliers should be selected, who have proven success in building traffic management centres and most suitable also have operators experience.

As effective solutions can only be engineered by integrating all transportation modes, the solution provider has to be experienced in the different modes.

INFRA. “Readily available solutions already exist to help combat the issues of traffic management and safety in the Middle East; the key challenge is in expanding awareness as to the benefits of such solutions.” To what extent do you agree with this sentiment?
OS. There are definitely readily available solutions. The example from Stockholm clearly proves this. But remember that the challenge is not only about rising awareness; it is also concerning a viable application of the solutions. An electronic toll collection system based on proprietary technology will for instance carry out the task of toll collection nicely but will offer no further opportunities for enhancement or integration with other information systems.

PF. Expending awareness is an important prerequisite. Putting the available and possibly already existing solutions together into an overall system to optimise for all criteria is a deciding challenge. But some cities already follow this approach, like Dubai by its EC3 (Enterprise Command & Crisis Management Centre) project where Siemens also submitted a bid.

INFRA. The Middle East provides some interesting case studies in the development of ITS, such as Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City, where no expense is being spared to enhance motorist and pedestrian safety and ensure traffic moves smoothly. What are the most interesting initiatives you are currently witnessing with regards to ITS?
OS. The King Abdullah Economic City represents one of the few cases where the formation of a city is planned all the way. Thus, this Saudi initiative could constitute a reference model for other cities needing to reshape their transport systems. Most of the world’s cities are less fortunate than King Abdullah Economic City as they have to struggle with an infrastructure that has developed over hundreds of years. Still, a city like Stockholm, where traffic has been reduced by over 20 percent following the congestion charging system, also clearly demonstrates that the use of ITS gives advantages to all cities. What is special and the most interesting with the King Abdullah Economic City is the fact that they are building the city and planning the infrastructure from scratch – something no other existing city authority is able to do.

PF. Number one is integrating management and information of all transportation modes to come to an overall optimum. Second is ensuring effective traffic management by reliable area-wide detection. In general it is important to have the bigger picture and an overall concept in mind when making investment decisions regarding traffic management. However since budget constraints usually lead to a situation where not everything can be done at once. It can make sense to follow a modular step-by-step approach. Therefore sound ahead planning is mandatory and best done together with a reliable and globally experienced partner.