TANGENT kick starts a webinar series

On 15/11/2023, TANGENT kickstarted its webinar series focusing on ‘Network and Traffic Management’.

The Webinar titled ‘Navigating through Network and Traffic Management: An Urban Phenomenon’ was moderated by Lakshya Pandit from Rupprecht Consult, a TANGENT partner, and included two speakers.

‘Towards Multimodal Network Management in Urban Areas’ – Laura Babio Somoza from POLIS

The main points of her presentation include:

– Differences between traditional traffic management and multimodal network management were presented, with examples from the city of Groningen which aims to be a liveable, clean, and healthy city. The city does this by making better use of existing infrastructure.

– EU policy to drive ITS implementation was shared through the ITS Directive (2010) and RTTI Delegated Regulation. For instance, RTTI was recently reviewed to include urban areas, as earlier it focused on highways and motorways.

– Implications at the urban level were stressed upon, which included more obligations on road authorities to publish data when it is digitally available, the mandate to digitize certain ‘crucial data types’, obligations on service providers to provide (in-vehicle generated) data to public authorities as major points.

Click here for Laura Babio’s Powerpoint presentation

Laura works as the Traffic Efficiency coordinator at POLIS Network, coordinating activities related to ITS, Digitalisation, Data and Automation within the membership and managing EU research projects in similar topics, such as DIT4TraM and MobiDataLab. She is a Civil Engineer with an MSc in Transportation systems.

‘Network and Traffic Management: A TfGM Perspective’ – Hannah Tune from Transport for Greater Manchester

The main points of her presentation include:

– Greater Manchester 2040 Transport strategy was shared, where the vision is for 50% of all journeys in Greater Manchester to be made by walking, cycling, and public transport by 2040. This will involve desired outcomes including (but not limited to) predictable journey times, safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians, healthy travel options, and efficient, predictable public transport, accessible to all.

– The national approach in the UK Department for Transport to better use data and technology was focused upon. This included examples like the Manual for Smart Streets (MfSS) where the management, operation, and maintenance of streets and highways are enhanced through the application of technology; and Digital Local Roads, where digitization strengthens mobility transition and makes mobility more efficient, smoother, and safer.

– The current network management assistance from the ITS platform was shared, which included existing assets (e.g., VMS, CCTV), Open data (e.g., Bus Open Data, roadworks, floating vehicle data), and future data sets (e.g., CAV data, AQ Sensors). This would provide tools for strategic multimodal interventions, enhance customer information, and improve the efficiency and coordination of highway networks.

– The roadmap to outline the future of ITS for Greater Manchester was shared. This included the current capabilities and plans for 2024, 2025, 2026 and beyond.

Click here for Hannah Tune’s Powerpoint presentation

Hannah Tune is ITS Development Manager at Transport for Greater Manchester. Primarily managing projects, ranging from traffic signalling and ITS schemes , to more recently Smart Cities, IoT and CAM projects. She’s currently working in the Highways operational team to ensure that TfGM are embracing technology, data and new mobility solutions to improve multimodal customer journeys and network efficiency. Currently delivering pilot schemes with various technologies, including Vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications, deployment of 5G connected corridor for smart traffic signals utilising AI for adaptive signal control and working on Horizon 2020 funded project TANGENT to develop Multimodal traffic management solutions that address the real world challenges of city stakeholders.

For more information, the Webinar Meeting minutes are available on the TANGENT Forum. If you’re interested to join the Forum, please contact Lakshya Pandit.