STEP #10

Support Smart Traffic

CLOGGED ROADWAYS NEED NEW APPROACHES

Due to anticipated traffic, 35 percent of drivers have cancelled a vacation trip in the last month. Sixty-three percent say traffic problems are getting worse, with 24 percent saying they are “much worse.”

These and other startling statistics were reported in the first IBM Commuter Pain Survey released in May of2008. With input from 4,000 commuters in 10 of America’s largest metropolitan areas, IBM’s survey showed that more than a quarter have experienced such bad traffic congestion that they’ve turned around and gone home. In big cities like Miami and Los Angeles, as many as a third had done the same.

“These new insights from U.S. commuters highlight the urgent need for the use of technology and creative policies to reduce congestion on our community roadways,” Scott Belcher, president and CEO of Intelligent Transportation Society of America, states on IBM’s website subtitled, Losing Sleep Over Your Commute? You’re Not Alone. “We believe relief is in sight for those cities that implement congestion fighting programs that combine technology, tolling and public transportation.”

Relief is certainly necessary with cities across the nation fighting an increase in demand and an inability to build sufficient infrastructure to cope. For example, as the U.S. population grew nearly 20 percent between 1982 and 2001, traffic jumped 236 percent, indicates IBM in a section subtitled A Smarter Planet: Smart Traffic. Since 2003, an estimated seven billion hours have been wasted sitting in traffic congestion world-wide, wasting another five billion gallons of gas.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 67 percent of all electrical energy is lost due to inefficient power generation and grid management, reports Samuel J. Palmisano, in the February 2009 online edition of Gulf News. Palmisano goes on to report that congested roadways in America cost $78 billion annually in the form of4.2 billion lost hours and 2.9 billion gallons of wasted gas. Consumer product and retail industries lose about $40 billion annually, or 3.5 percent of their sales, due to supply chain inefficiencies, according to one report.

IBM goes on to report that building new roads and new lanes often just isn’t possible anymore, but building intelligence into the roads and the cars—with roadside sensors, radio frequency tags, and global positioning systems—certainly is. Take Stockholm for instance, where a new smart toll system has reduced traffic congestion and carbon emissions by impressive percentages. In London, a congestion management system has lowered traffic volume to mid-1980s levels. In Singapore, a system can predict traffic speeds with nearly 90 percent accuracy. With future enhancements, the system will help predict rather than merely monitor other traffic conditions as well.

With the population of Stockholm County growing at a rate of 20,000 people a year, that inevitably means more traffic and an even greater burden on city streets. So simply building more roads isn’t the answer, because road building cannot keep pace with the increased demand, and the environment wouldn’t be able to sustain the impact. And even though authorities in cities across the world have encouraged people to make greater use of public transport, the bottlenecks continue to get worse.

With that, the Swedish National Road Administration and the Stockholm City Council set out a few years ago to find another way to reduce both the number of traffic jams in Stockholm and its air pollution levels. With help from IBM, the solution was an innovative, high-tech traffic charging system that directly charges drivers who use city center roads during peak business hours. The hope was that this pilot project launched in January of 2006 would encourage more people to leave their cars behind and use public transportation instead. The charge was also intended to bring about an overall improvement in the urban environment in Stockholm, particularly in air quality.

To remedy this problem, the Swedish National Road Administration and the city had to find a way to recognize, charge and receive payment from vehicles, according to a section on IBM’s website entitled How it Works: the Stockholm Road Charging System. The section states that with help from IBM and its partners, a plan was devised to charge vehicles as they passed control points on the way in or out of the Stockholm city center during weekday rush hour times. The city implemented a free-flow roadside system using laser, camera and systems technology to seamlessly detect, identify and charge vehicles. In the plan, 18 roadside control points located at Stockholm city entrances and exits identify and charge vehicles depending on the time of the day. The tax per passage was SEK 10, 15 or 20 (about $1.50 to $3.00) depending on the time of day. The highest amount charged was during rush hours, from 7:30 to 8:29 a.m. and 4:00 to 5:29 p.m. The maximum amount per vehicle and day was SEK 60, or about $8.50.

IBM’s results showed the road charging system had an impact in congestion and overall quality of life for the citizens of Stockholm. By the end of the trial, traffic was down nearly 25 percent, and public transport schedules were redesigned because of the increase in speed from reduced congestion. And even inner-city retailers saw a 6 percent boost in business.

The benefits go beyond fewer cars. For instance, during the spring of 2006, 40,000 more travelers used Stockholm Transport on an ordinary weekday than the year before an increase of 6 percent. The reduction in traffic reported in the Stockholm Trial led to a drop in emissions from road traffic by 8 to 14 percent in the inner-city. Additionally, greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide have dropped by 40 percent in the inner-city and by 2 to 3 percent in Stockholm County.

Microtechnology makes it possible to put sensors almost anywhere. In the future, IBM predicts that some experts think we’ll see automated highways, where cars are connected to a grid that dynamically redirects them and optimizes traffic flow. Smarter roads may hold the key to reducing traffic congestion, but we do not yet understand the many ways that people, vehicles, freight and goods actually move through the urban landscape.

With that, IBM emphasizes that getting the data is the vital first step. Then, we need innovative ways to apply the data if we are to unsnarl today’s traffic troubles.