You can optimize your transit agency in many ways, but few can be as effective as intelligent transport systems.
We’ve put together this article to help you understand intelligent transport systems (ITS) for your transportation network.
Read on to learn what intelligent transport systems are and why they can be significant to your transit agency.
What are intelligent transport systems?
ITS are a combination of expert solutions that work together to create smart systems in your operations, and smarter journeys for your riders. Each of these solutions can offer an effective way of managing different aspects of your transport network.
For instance, innovative and advanced solutions for real-time monitoring of your vehicles, providing transport information for passengers or managing driver communications.
ITS not only gather data from your services but can also relay information and insights – helping you to efficiently manage and monitor your bus, train and tram fleets.
These systems can provide a superior way of managing your transit agency, with simple and effective solutions for your operations.
Why are ITS important to incorporate in your transit agency?
There are many reasons why ITS can be beneficial to your transport operations:
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Optimized vehicle services
ITS can help you effectively manage and structure your vehicle services, and is one of the main reasons you should consider implementing them into your transit agency.
You can use real-time vehicle monitoring of your transport network to accurately monitor your vehicle locations.
This data enables agencies and operators to predict how long each vehicle will take to reach the next stop in their journey, and identify late running services, ensuring a reliable and quality service.
ITS and the information it provides not only helps you to ensure each vehicle arrives on time at each stop, it can also identify unmet demand across all travel routes, and help you to manage your fleet of vehicles and potentially fill any gaps.
This provides a more efficient service for both drivers and riders.
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Reduced operation costs
You can also use ITS to help reduce operating costs.
Using real-time vehicle monitoring, you’ll have clear visibility of where your vehicles are and how they can complete their journeys more efficiently.
This can help you avoid certain costs that could arise from less effectively managed transport. For instance, you can optimize capacity across your network so that all the necessary routes are covered sufficiently by the vehicles in your fleet.
This means you won’t be spending extra on additional vehicles to cover routes that can already be completed with fewer vehicles.
Also, you can plan your routes to be more fuel-efficient based on the quickest routes revealed by the information provided by your ITS.
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Improved rider experience
ITS can help provide a more satisfying experience for riders — another reason why they can be important for your transit agency.
You can implement ITS that provide real-time passenger information for your riders. This can be shown on displays at stations, stops, platforms, and inside your vehicles, helping your riders to navigate and plan their journeys whilst on the go.
These systems can analyze data to predict the arrival times of your vehicles, and show this to the riders via the displays. If certain factors delay these times, the information will be altered in real-time.
This can give your riders an accurate idea of how long their overall journey will take, and help them base their travel around this real-time information.
With greater satisfaction from your riders, you can make the most of the opportunity to increase revenue from loyal passengers.
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Now you have a wider understanding of ITS and their importance in transport, will you be considering these expert solutions for your own transit agency?
