Brussels, 18/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Directorate General of the European Commission tasked with transport and mobility has made the guidelines for the urban development of intelligent transport systems (ITS) available to the local authorities. After two years of work, various expert groups have drafted recommendations on this subject, and more specifically for information on transport, traffic management and smart ticketing. These recommendations argue in favour of common standards and are accompanied by best practices. The European Commission “strongly encourages local decision-makers to consult and use the guidelines for deployment, in order to strengthen interoperability and continuity of ITS deployment across European cities”.
As regards traffic management, the experts (from local authorities and their partners) recommend the use of standards and of automatic systems “which are better equipped than humans to perform basic operational functions”. For smart ticketing, the experts stress that it is not just a question of replacing a paper ticket system, but of rethinking all ticketing functions on the basis of consumers' mobility needs. The experts recommend considering a “smart portfolio”, which allows pre- and post-payment, and integrating other mobility services such as bicycle or car sharing. They therefore recommend that data protection be assured. As regards transport information, the expert group recommends that the transport databases remain in the hands of the public authorities. The multi-modal data will be accessible to private players, to ensure fair competition between the service providers. (MD/transl.fl)