Driving the future
While urbanisation and increased car ownership suggest growing affluence, they also lead to traffic congestion, accidents, pollution and productivity loss. Fortunately, a wide range of tools available to manage traffic effectively, and most importantly, reap the benefits of urbanisation fully.
Overview
In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half the world's population was living in urban areas, according to a UN report. The report highlights that this is an accelerating trend that will see almost 5 billion people living in urban areas by 2030, which is projected to be 60% of the world's population at that time. The trend is set to be particularly strong in Africa and Asia.
While urbanisation is meant to be a positive development, it also presents many challenges, such as urban transportation. Cities worldwide are struggling to deal with the surge in their population and the strain on their transport infrastructure, leading to increasing traffic congestion problems. An example of this is Sao Paulo, Brazil, which has seen a huge increase in urban traffic congestion over the past decade. It now has the second-highest per capita helicopter ownership rate in the world, because it takes just seven minutes to fly from Alphaville, an upmarket suburb, to Avenida Paulista, the city's financial district. By car, this trip would take two hours.
Los Angeles, in the United States, is another example, with the Texas Transportation Institute regularly ranking the city first in the country for both total and per capita congestion delays. Furthermore, it estimates that the annual cost of traffic congestion in greater Los Angeles is close to US$10 billion. This highlights that traffic congestion is not a mere inconvenience, but has real and measurable costs.
Among the many negative effects of traffic congestion are the following:
Decreased productivity: People are unable to get much done when they are stuck in traffic jams or are always late for meetings.
Environmental impacts: Traffic jams increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Increased risk of traffic accidents and fatalities: Congestion leads to a general decrease in the safety of roads in the urban environment.
Loss of competitiveness: People and businesses are less likely to move to cities that are polluted, congested and inefficient.
Dealing with these issues can be challenging, particularly as rapid urbanisation puts greater strain on a city's resources, and governments are asked to spread their resources across a wide range of allocations. Yet there is much to be done, both in terms of reducing traffic congestion and mitigating its negative effects.
Facts on the ground
Cities have not been blind to the issue of traffic congestion. Many have made good progress in improving their traffic conditions, often through the implementation of innovative new solutions. Some of the approaches to reducing traffic congestion include:
Managing traffic demand: Urban road tolls have been adopted in cities such as London, Oslo and Singapore in an effort to regulate car usage in core urban areas.
Increasing public transport capacity: Improvements to public transport infrastructure and service to make it a more appealing option.
Increasing traffic capacity: Improvements to road infrastructure by widening roads or adding new roads.
Improving traffic management systems: Introducing more efficient traffic signal management, incident management and traffic flow control.
Besides dealing with the level of traffic-and realising that it is not a problem that will be quickly reduced, let alone eliminated-it is also important to mitigate the effects of traffic congestion, such as pollution and accidents. To this end, many governments have implemented emissions reduction programmes. For example, California, the US state where Los Angeles is located, has long had some of the strictest emissions standards in the US.
Often, finding solutions to urban problems boils down to two issues: first, there has to be the will to seek out solutions, both on the part of governments and companies developing the solutions; and second, a practicable way to test and evaluate the solutions is needed. In this regard, Singapore provides a useful test-bedding environment for urban transport solutions providers.
Singapore's modern and efficient transportation system, overseen by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), includes an extensive road network and highly evolved public transport services. The LTA takes a proactive approach to traffic management, which includes:
Electronic road pricing to regulate peak traffic on high usage roads;
Expansion of road networks (at a rate of around 1% per year);
Aggressive efforts to improve the efficiency of the public transport system;
Extensive expansion of the Mass Rapid Transit rail network;
Improving bus services through increased use of priority bus lanes and technologies to enhance commuters' experience; and
Promoting environmental sustainability of transportation through increased use of public transport and more energy efficient vehicles to reduce overall carbon footprint.
To implement its strategies and achieve its goals, the LTA works closely with partners across various transport-related industries, as well as academia.
One of the areas that LTA has been keen to explore is the improvement of coordination across various modes of public transportation, as well as enhancing the user experience. As Dr. Robert Schumacher of Delphi Electronics & Safety explains, "Multi-modal travel information empowers users to make intelligent choices for their mode of travel - car, rail, bus, ferry, etc. It enables a coordinated effort to distribute travellers across numerous transportation systems."
Collaborations in this area have included a joint effort with IBM to develop an algorithm to better predict bus arrival times, and a project with Steria to improve a route planning algorithm to help commuters determine the shortest or fastest point-to-point travelling experience using a combination of public transport modes, such as buses and trains.
The Singapore difference
LTA's partnership with Steria stems from an agreement with the French firm under the Singapore Urban Transport Solution (STARS) initiative. It is meant to promote Singapore as a centre for world-class research on urban transport solutions by promoting collaboration with leading research and industry partners. Key areas of research include the dissemination of public transport information via mobile platforms as well as incorporating real-time traffic information with advanced road monitoring and management.
The LTA co-invested with Steria in the pilot project with US$10 million of funding from its Land Transport Innovation Fund, which is meant to accelerate the development of innovative ideas and the adoption of strategic technologies. In its collaboration with IBM, LTA provided comprehensive historical traffic data and real-time traffic input from the i-Transport system to drive the testing and development of IBM's Traffic Prediction Tool. The 5-month study provided results that were well above the 85% accuracy target.
Another area of focus for Singapore and the LTA is the use of electric vehicles. A multi-agency Electric Vehicles Taskforce comprising the Energy Market Authority, Economic Development Board and the LTA is leading this initiative, and is investing S$20 million to study the robustness, cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of electric-powered vehicles in Singapore. Working together with industry partners such as Renault-Nissan, Keppel Energy and Mitsubishi Motors, the Taskforce is developing a network of charging stations to support test fleets of electric vehicles from 2010/2011.
Mr Thierry Koskas, Renault-Nissan's electric vehicles programme director, sees the test-bedding project in Singapore as an important element of the company's ability to further develop its electric vehicle technology. "Renault and Nissan aim to become leading brands in zero emission vehicles. Singapore is for us a key priority as the geography of the country and the focus on environment issues can enable fast and strong development of electric cars."
Overall, these three initiatives point to the willingness and ability of Singapore to partner with global companies to develop unique solutions that can be applied in markets worldwide. Recognising LTA's open approach to developing traffic management solutions, numerous companies have taken the opportunity to develop and test new technologies and solutions here. In 2008, Steria launched a new innovation centre in Singapore dedicated to innovative services supporting mobility, such as urban transport optimisation, real-time traffic information, optimised taxi dispatch, and emergency services management.
Companies looking to develop new urban transport solutions, not just for Singapore or Asia, but for a global market, will find a willing and able partner in Singapore.
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OCT 201015
Posted by Kim, UnitedStates
I don't see any mention here of car sharing, which is becoming quite popular in the US in densely populated cities, or cities with large student populations.
There are two models: one where a car sharing service buys cars to place on the road (with reserved parking spaces) for members to use at a reasonable hourly rate (petrol included), and a newer model, where individual car owners rent/share their own cars with their neighbors, thus receiving a financial incentive, and covered by an enormous insurance policy and the cars are equipped with keyless entry.) Singapore would be an ideal location for such a program, since its success is very dependent upon population density, and the idea is to use the cars for short distances.
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