This
newsletter is available online in an Adobe Acrobat Reader
PDF
file (490k). You can view it using the Reader
plugin for your browser and/or download it for viewing
offline. Free Reader software is available at the Adobe
Systems Incorporated Website.
ITS
CANADA ACTIVELY SEARCHES FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
By
the time this newsletter is published, ITS Canada
will have begun the interviewing process to select
a candidate to fill the new Executive Director job
position, a key role that will lead the organization
in all areas of business. Reporting to the Board of
Directors, the Executive Director will be responsible
to facilitate strategic planning, champion the vision
of the organization, and lead organizational development
and strategic plan execution.
A
full-time opportunity, this contracted position replaces
the previous part-time General Manager role. The successful
candidate will have the opportunity to combine his/her
ITS industry knowledge with a strong mandate to help
the Society grow, supporting the strength of Canadian
ITS enterprises and deployments, and also promoting
Canadian expertise worldwide. Reporting to the Board
of Directors, the Executive Director will lead the
organization in interesting and challenging new directions.
Stay tuned … an announcement is anticipated
in November!
GETTING
THE MOST OUT OF YOUR ITS CANADA MEMBERSHIP
For
companies working on ITS projects in Canada, North
America and around the world, ITS Canada has become
the resource for project leaders to obtain the names
of member companies who may qualify as possible collaborators,
service providers or suppliers. As well, ITS Canada
members can search the online Members Directory using
keywords to locate specific ITS industry skill sets.
To
ensure your organization is considered for all potential
opportunities, Corporate and Sustaining Corporate
members are encouraged to update their membership
profile to list their products and services, highlighting
abilities and expertise. This is a free service with
membership that facilitates networking and partnership
connections.
Contact
ITS Canada today to ensure your profile accurately
reflects your organization’s current focus and
talents: askus@itscanada.ca.
PUTTING
THE “C” IN CVHS - A VIEW FROM THE UNITED
KINGDOM
By
Andy Graham, White Willow Consulting Ltd. - UK
Co-operative Vehicle
Highway Systems (CVHS) have been seen as a new way
of delivering transport outcomes, such as improved
safety, increased capacity of existing roads and a
reduced carbon footprint. They also could provide
ways that vehicle makers can improve their products
and reduce the stress of driving on ever more congested
networks.
The
basic technology of linking vehicles to vehicles,
and vehicles to the roadside and to central systems,
has been around on test tracks for many years, but
systems are not yet ready to deploy in practice. Autonomous
systems are emerging, like those that detect vehicles
in blind spots or detect if a vehicle crosses a lane,
but these are wholly within the vehicle. So why hasn’t
CVHS emerged yet?
The
thing that is missing in CVHS is the co-operative
“bit”. CVHS needs to balance a difficult
tension between the vehicle maker, the roads operator
and policy maker, and the customer.
Working
with this final stakeholder often gets overlooked.
Questions remain about whether customers will buy
a new automobile that could steer itself through white
lines – whether they would trust the technology
or bother to read through a 600-page instruction manual.
Some will prefer to maintain control. More questions
relate to whether police will be able to access speed
data and place fines. All these are real barriers
to customers.
Unless
there is a real benefit, customers may prefer to spend
their money elsewhere. Until there is mass market
“pull”, vehicle makers will focus on things
customers will pay for (like Ipod adaptors). Like
Canada, the UK doesn’t have any large vehicle
makers, so we get what other countries decide.
And
how do we in transport policy train, educate, enforce,
licence and test drivers in the new skills they will
need to operate these vehicles? While technology may
work well when brand new, do we need to check its
continued safe working with follow-up annual tests?
I won’t even start on liability when things
go wrong….
In
Europe, roads operators and policy makers are working
in projects like CVIS (www.cvisproject.org)
to address these problems. But there is much to do.
All
this may sound like “it’s too difficult,
so why bother?” Yet the potential for our industry
means it is worth pushing. There are quick wins happening
now through collecting data
from vehicles. But we need more stakeholders co-operating
to achieve this balance, not just the electronics…!
Andy
Graham (andy@whitewillow.biz)
welcomes thoughts from Canada on CVHS.
TRANSIT
TRIP PLANNING - AS EASY AS 1-2-3!
By
Irene McNeil, York Region Transit
In today’s fast-paced,
technology-driven world, it’s imperative that
transit systems provide customers with quick access
to route and schedule information, 24/7. Take the
example of the YRT/Viva system. Located just north
of Toronto, YRT/Viva carries about 20 million trips
per year. With more than 30 percent of its ridership
made up of highschool students, YRT was confident
that these young, tech-savvy customers would embrace
automated trip planning. A suite of three modules
integrates transit route maps, schedules, points of
interest and bus stop data to provide accurate, up-to-date
transit information. Of course, before the system
was launched, all of YRT’s 4,000+ bus stops
had to be geo-coded, and over 100 routes had to be
accurately traced into the map database, along with
points of interest and other geographic features.
This ensured that trip itineraries would be accurate.
Branded
as RideQuest, the automated trip planning tool offers
quick and easy features. Firstly, the data is accessed
by YRT’s customer service reps, to quickly provide
call-in customers with trip planning options. Secondly,
customers can access the data through an IVR (integrated
voice response – RideQuest Call) system without
having to wait in a queue for a customer service representative.
Alternatively, customers can generate online trip
itineraries through an interactive web-based system
(RideQuest Click). The next step is to make this feature
available with real-time information and accessible
to customers on any platform, including mobile wireless.
YRT will also be making transit information available
through the new Google Transit website. Stay tuned…!
ITS
CANADA EVENTS – PRESENTATION MATERIALS
Did you know that, after an
ITS Canada event is held, presentation materials are
regularly made available online, through the website?
ITS Canada’s
policy is that access is restricted to delegates for
the first six months after the event. Once that period
has passed, access is opened up to all members and
delegates. After two years, access is made available
to all site visitors. Also available are photographs
taken at events.
Visit
the website today to view presentations and/or photographs
from the following events:
ITS
Canada Annual Conferences:
Montreal (June 2008)
Niagara Falls (April 2007)
Whislter (June 2006)
etc…
World
Congresses – reports and photo galleries:
Beijing, China (October 2007)
London, England (October 2006)
San Francisco, USA (November 2005).
Workshops:
XML Workshop (May 2007)
ITS Training Workshop (November 2006)
Goods, Ports, Borders and Corridors (March 2006,
Sept. 2005, Dec. 2004)
Transit Workshops (December 2006, November 2005,
November 2004).
WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADVERTISE AN EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY?
Learn
more about advertising job openings to over 750 transportation
professionals located across Canada. Advertising is
done through ITS Canada’s website, along with
an email to all members. For information, contact
us at askus@itscanada.ca.
TIME
IS RIGHT FOR RATIONAL ROAD PRICING DISCUSSION
By
Marty Collier, Healthy Transport Consulting
Most
Canadians agree that there is an urgent need to bring
predictability and ease of mobility to the country's
transportation network -- especially in and around
large urban centres. Can road pricing play a role
in improving mobility, air quality and the state of
the nation's transportation infrastructure? Or is
it just a cash grab?
Long
advocated by economists and TDM practitioners, road
pricing can help manage congestion, motivate sustainable
modal choices and generate new revenues for Canada’s
transportation network. From an ITS research and innovation
perspective, road pricing policies could help create
new Canadian job and business investment opportunities.
However, road pricing also raises critical policy
and technical questions ranging from social equity
and privacy concerns to governance and financing issues.
After
weighing the pros and cons, Montreal and Vancouver
have made road pricing a component of their transportation
plans. But Metrolinx (and, by extension, the province
of Ontario) has recently decided to defer consideration
until 2013.
Since
a rational discussion of road pricing in Ontario cannot
wait another five years, the Residential and Civil
Construction Alliance of Ontario is hosting the Transportation
Futures Forum at the University of Toronto on November
13, 2008.
Over
150 transportation practitioners, policy advisors,
business leaders, academic researchers and NGO representatives
will directly learn how several countries have developed
road pricing policy and implemented systems for very
different contexts. They include:
London’s Congestion Charging Scheme
France’s Variable Tolling System
Germany’s Satellite-based Toll Collection
System for Heavy Trucks
Oregon’s VMT-Based Road Charging Pilot Project
Holland’s “Different Payment for Mobility”
Plan.
Road pricing has come a long
way since the 1800s!
Along
with a historical overview, each international speaker
will summarize how road pricing has impacted travel
behaviour, congestion, climate change, air quality,
social justice and confidentiality issues. ITS Canada
members will appreciate our presenters’ insights
on road pricing approaches (options, design, operations,
maintenance), revenue generation, marketing and evaluation.
Also of interest will be a round table discussion
featuring local experts who will assess which of these
road pricing approaches would be best for the Ontario
context and when the time might be right for implementation.
Based
on initiatives in other countries, it would appear
that more broad-based road pricing in Ontario is inevitable.
Rational discussions at the Transportation Futures
Forum will help guide us as we move forward in this
direction.
For
more information about attending and/or sponsoring
Transportation Futures, please visit www.rccao.com/events.
Early-bird rates are available until October 31.
Marty Collier is the Director of Healthy Transport
Consulting (HTC) and event manager for Transportation
Futures. Marty can be reached at marty.collier@sympatico.ca.
NEWS
bITS
Federal Government Signs Building Canada Agreements
The
Federal Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and
Communities, Lawrence Cannon, signed the three remaining
framework agreements with the Provinces of Alberta,
Quebec and Manitoba, formalizing infrastructure
investment commitments from the Building Canada
Fund. The signing of these agreements marks the
completion of all Framework Agreements of the Building
Canada rollout, which outline how the Building Canada
plan will operate in each province. They also establish
governance frameworks through which the governments
will work together to identify and address infrastructure
priorities, such as public transit, water and sewer
systems, roads and highways, bridges, green energy
and community initiatives. The value of the Building
Canada Fund for these provinces is $840 million
for Alberta, $1.95 billion for Quebec and $279 million
for Manitoba. For more information, visit the Building
Canada website: www.buildingcanada-chantierscanada.gc.ca
IBEC News
Traffic Technology Today
A
new website (www.traffictechnologytoday.com)
from the publisher of the award-winning Traffic
Technology International magazine is offering audio
interviews with key industry figures. With new interviews
added weekly, the site provides a unique opportunity
to hear ITS leaders talking about the latest developments
affecting the industry.
“This
is one of the great things about publishing on the
Internet,” explains web editor Richard Scrase.
“When you listen to these interviews, you
can really appreciate the stresses and emphases
in the spoken word that are absent from the printed
page.”
Launched
only last November, the site has already gathered
fascinating interviews with a large number of the
ITS industry’s top chief executives, as well
as leading traffic experts and pressure group leaders.
All the interviews are undertaken by professional
radio broadcasters and are easily accessible.
“Audio
interviews are just the beginning as far as we are
concerned,” says Scrase. “We already
provide an unrivaled breadth of news coverage from
our network of journalists located around the world,
and we have recently added a video capability, providing
an exciting new dimension to some of our reports.
We believe in supporting the ITS community with
the finest range of services. The magazine and website
complement one another very well. Our 25,000 readers
rely on the website to keep abreast of industry
developments as they happen, and they look to the
magazine for more in-depth, considered coverage.”
Visitors can sign
up for a weekly emailer that provides links to the
top 10 stories of the week and the latest audio
interview with a leading industry figure. The emailer
also promotes that week’s industry comment
and the job of the week, which was recently the
role of Executive Director at ITS Canada. ITS Canada
members looking to fill an ITS vacancy will be interested
in their new, free job ad service. The website promotes
ITS job ads for one month without charge. Details
on placing a job ad are available on the website
or by email at ttt@ukintpress.com.
ITS America Employment Opportunity
ITS America is seeking a Program Manager for Telecommunications
and VII. A mid-level position (to be located in
Washington, DC), the Program Manager will be responsible
for providing guidance to ITS America’s Board
of Directors and senior staff on matters involving
telematics, telecommunications, and Vehicle Infrastructure
Integration (VII). For a full job description, please
visit: www.itsa.org
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Newsletter
published by ITS Canada.
Submissions
or comments can be emailed to askus@itscanada.ca.
|
