TRANSINPOL: POLICY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INTEGRATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR

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1 TRANSINPOL: POLICY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INTEGRATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR Dr. Dirk-Michael Harmsen, FhG-ISI, Germany Dr. Anke Matuschewski, FhG-ISI, Germany Mr. Thierry M. Verduijn, TNO Inro, The Netherlands Mr. Johan Gauderis, TECHNUM, Belgium Abstract TRANSINPOL is a strategic transport research project for the European Commission, DG VII, which addresses the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) and services, of navigation and payment systems in transport. The objective of the project is to provide policy requirements for the development and deployment of ICT in transport and to develop a framework for policy assessment which supports policy makers in their task to identify new opportunities by indicating the relationships and links between transport, ICT and policy. Furthermore, the project provides background information on all issues that policy makers may encounter in defining policies for the integration of ICT in transport. A major issue to be considered is the interaction between private and public actors in the field. The paper indicates what kind of concepts, systems or services are appropriate or required with a focus on the contribution of ICT services and systems to the realisation of Common Transport Policy (CTP) objectives. It describes the main problems that can be solved and/or tackled through the integration of ICT systems and services in transport and presents the major challenges in development and deployment of ICT services and systems at a European level. Traffic management as well as travel and traffic information issues will mainly be addressed in this paper which serves as an input to a panel discussion of the topic. 1 Introduction: The project TRANSINPOL - Transport Information Systems Policies TRANSINPOL is a strategic transport research project, funded by the European Commission, DG VII, with the objective to identify transport policy requirements for the integration of information, communication, payment, and navigation systems and services in transport. In order to reach this objective, TRANSINPOL covers political, technological, organisational, institutional, legal, and socio-economic aspects and will support policy makers in identifying the most pressing issues and appropriate policy options, primarily at the EU level, but also at the level of national and local authorities. TRANSINPOL was launched in January 1997 and will be finished by the end of The project is organised into seven Work Packages (WP) and three phases (see Figure 1).

2 - 2 - From the very start of TRANSINPOL comprehensive payment systems (WP3) and satellite communication and navigation systems (WP4) were already identified by the European Commission as areas for which policy requirements have to be defined. Consequently, these are considered as specific systems within the overall scope of WP2 'System Integration of Information and Communication Services'. Evidently, WP2 will concentrate on the remaining telematics services in transport. These include, for example, traffic management systems, vehicle management systems (driver support systems like navigation and route guidance systems), fleet management systems (positioning, dangerous goods information systems, mobile communication systems), logistics and passenger management systems (travel and traffic information, ordering and reservation, tracking and tracing). Figure 1: Project Phases and Project Workpackages WP1 Assessment Framework PHASE 1 WP2 System Integration of Communication and Information Services WP3 Comprehensive Payment Systems WP4 Satellite Communication and Navigation Systems WP5 Legal Issues WP6 Socio-Economic Issues PHASE 2 WP7 Transport policy requirements PHASE 3 The diversity of different information and communication systems and services, which can facilitate and support processes and activities in transport systems, can be grouped into seven generic application areas: (1) market information, (2) transactions, (3) operations management, (4) navigation, (5) travel and traffic information, (6) traffic management and (7) other transport related services. The activities during Project Phase 2 have been organised into four steps: review; synthesis; confirmation; requirements. In the review step, the wide variety of information and communication services for passengers and freight transport in the various modes and member states has been examined. Besides an overview of the major current and on-going developments in information and communication systems and nine in-depth case studies of some specific transport telematics applications, the analysis has also provided a first list of policy issues and concerns based on these case studies [1]. In the synthesis step, a list of policy issues was established and a limited number of generic schemes were developed reflecting the 'needs and opportunities' relevant for policy making. The generic nature of the schemes allows experts, service providers, users, industry and policy makers from the various transport modes and member states to recognise these issues within their own environment. The confirmation step will check the comprehensiveness of the schemes and will identify the aspects which are specific to a particular transport mode or information system. It will develop priorities for policy making by means of expert meetings, like the 32 nd ISATA meeting in Vienna, the ITS meeting in Amsterdam or the European Transport Conference in Cambridge, and a postal survey.

3 - 3 - Finally, in the requirements step a further refinement of the schemes and the policy issues will take place. The final deliverable of WP2 will consist of policy requirements and guidelines to enable EU policy makers to include the integration of information and communciation services in transport in their comprehensive approach to formulate and further develop the Common Transport Policy of the European Union. 2 From User Needs to Policy Issues The actors or stakeholders in the area of road transport and their interests are quite heterogeneous with the result of various conflicts of interests. It was and is part of the Common Transport Policy (CTP) Action Programme [2] and its Agenda to avoid as far as possible such conflicts of interests and to encourage win-win-situations across traditional boundaries. The following actors in the area of road transport can be distinguished [cf. 3]: (1) drivers, (2) logistic service providers, transport operators, (3) infrastructure (roads) providers and operators, (4) providers of travel and traffic information, (5) producers of ICT systems and equipment, (6) automobile manufacturers, (7) operators of ICT networks, (8) public authorities, (9) legislative bodies. The interdependencies between user needs with respect to ICT deployment in road transport, the Common Transport Policy formulated by the European Commission, the techno-economic opportunities of ICT to fulfil the user needs, the barriers to ICT deployment, and the policy issues aimed at removing or diminishing perceived barriers are shown in Figure 2. It is possible to consider the needs of actors or stakeholders as a 'bottom-up' approach and the formulations of objectives of a Common Transport Policy as a 'top-down' approach when describing needs. Figure 2: From needs to policy issues with regard to ICT deployment in road transport Policy Issues Objectives of CTP Needs Technoeconomic opportunities Barriers to ICT Deployment ICT Deployment Needs of stakeholders The Common Transport Policy (CTP) aims at the development of an efficient, accessible and competitive transport system that ensures a high level of safety and the protection of the environment. As stated by a recent communication by the European Commission about sustainable mobility and its perspectives for the future [4], "considerable progress has been made over the last three to four years in deepening the internal market for transport services; the development of more integrated transport systems, particularly the trans-european transport network, including compatible traffic management systems; the promotion of intermodality throughout the sector and of best practice in local and regional passenger transport; improvements in safety in all modes; the conception and exploitation of transport related research and development at Community level."

4 - 4 - However, in the opinion of the European Commission there are areas where progress has been slower than hoped: "Whilst there is a valuable debate on the desirable approach to charging for infrastructure and external costs [5], divergences of opinion and practice remain [6]. It is of vital importance that the Member States give a constructive response to the suggestions, procedural and substantive, made in the recently published White Paper 'Fair Payment for Infrastructure Use' [7]." The current CTP work programme for the period 1999 to 2004 envisages among others the following relevant actions and priorities for road transport (see [4]): promotion of intelligent transport systems through the implementation of the Action Plan for global navigation by satellite (GNSS) [8]; measures to encourage the deployment of traffic management systems for different modes; new rules for intermodal freight transport [9]; improvement of the quality of local public transport; deployment of cross frontier and intermodal reservation and ticketing services; creation of a single electronic transport document for goods and passengers; proposal on electronic fee collection convergence and standards. In view of the various ICT applications in road transport, as there are (a) travel and traffic information (TTI), (b) automatic debiting and toll collection (AD/TC), (c) network and traffic management (NTM), (d) vehicle control (VC), (e) fleet management (FM), (f) transactions and market information (TMI), the following needs of actors or stakeholders can be distinguished: (1) demand for real time information, (2) comprehensive traffic information, (3) permanent availability everywhere, (4) reliability of systems and services, (5) data protection, (6) easy usability, (7) effective information filtering, and (8) availability of cheap systems. Not every actor has the same need for a given ICT application. This is shown, as an example, in Figure 3 for the need "demand for real time information". Figure 3: The need "demand for real time information" for different ICT applications by various actors Application of ICT Travel and Traffic Information Automatic Debiting and Toll Collection Network and Traffic Management Vehicle Control Fleet Management Transactions and market Actors TTI AD/TC NTM VC FM TMI Drivers Logistic Service Provider/Transpor t Operators Infrastructure (Roads) Providers and Operators TTI Providers ICT Producers ICT Network Operators Public Authorities Legislative Bodies Regarding the ICT application "travel and traffic information" this need exists for drivers, logistic service providers, transport operators, infrastructure (roads) providers and operators, providers of travel and traffic information, and public authorities. For the ICT application "transactions and market information" this need is particularly important for drivers, logistic service providers and transport operators. For the ICT application "vehicle control" it is important for drivers and for infrastructure providers and operators. For the ICT application "fleet management" it is articulated by

5 - 5 - logistic service providers and transport operators as well as by public authorities as they also operate large fleet of vehicles. In order to fulfil the needs articulated by actors and stakeholders in road transport with respect to the different ICT applications, the following technological opportunities and trends can be named: (1) dynamic systems with real time data capture, (2) open network provision, (3) interconnectivity of mobile and fixed communications networks, (4) standardisation (data formats,...), (5) portable terminals (e.g. PTA Personal Travel Agent), (6) intelligent network management systems, (7) cryptography, (8) data mining techniques, (9) quality control for ICT equipment by manufacturers, (10) usability engineering techniques for the production of ICT systems and equipment, (11) mass production possibilities for the European market, (12) enhanced diffusion of transport telematics systems. However, not all needs can currently be satisfied by appropriate technological and organisational opportunities due to the fact that there are still a number of barriers which must be reduced and eventually removed. Some of the barriers to ICT deployment are: (a) amount of data, (b) lack of interconnectivity, (c) complexity of data and functions, (d) stand alone solutions for transport telematics applications, (e) industrial competition and lack of co-operation, (f) lack/degree of diffusion of advanced ICT (e.g. in private households, public authorities), (g) costs of products and services, (h) persistence of existing standards, regulations etc., (i) uncertain revenues, (j) differences in national regulations, (k) uneven distribution of power of actors, (l) operational deficiencies, (k) commercial basis for ICT deployment. Viewed from a policy perspective, these and other barriers must be regarded as part of policy issues which should be addressed. 3 Policy Issues Due to a variety of economic, organisational, social and legal barriers the CTP goals and the specific needs of the actors involved cannot easily be fulfilled. Some of the resulting problems can be dealt with by policy action while others are considered as not necessarily being a public task. Table 1 provides an overview of some of the important policy issues addressing the barriers encountered for ICT deployment in the transport sector. The policy issues identified are structured according to the operational level that has to be addressed. It becomes obvious that most of the policy actions needed are not connected with technological aspects as ICT for road transport has already reached a relatively advanced stage. Therefore, most of the problems can be grouped into organisational, legal, social and economic issues. In the following, some examples for policy issues are illustrated. Traffic management systems as well as travel and traffic information systems in connection with route guidance are usually based on a combination of various information from different sources and involve a number of different actors from both the public and the private sector. Moreover, the costs and the revenues of the systems have to be shared between the actors involved. Thus, one of the key problems of the implementation and operation of such systems is the co-ordination of the different actors in so-called public-private-partnerships (PPP) [10]. To reasonably organise such PPP appears to be a policy issue which should be addressed explicitly by the European Commission in its framework of CTP. There exist already, in other contexts, operational/business models for PPP. Best practice models of PPP and their functioning should be studied for an appropriate transformation, adaptation and implementation on different levels (local, regional, national, Europeanwide) for the task described above. The deployment and use of traffic information and management systems largely depends on the size of the market. As the costs for the technical equipment, the implementation and the operation of the

6 - 6 - systems are still very high, the suppliers must reach a critical size of the market for commercial viability. On the local level the markets may not be large enough for even one supplier. A possible solution to this problem could be co-operative procurement for ICT systems and services by several local authorities. This would strengthen the role of public actors in price negotiations with private suppliers of systems and services, but it would also enhance the deployment and the commercial viability of telematic systems. Currently, there are risks of infringements of privacy in various transport telematics systems. This is a policy issue to be taken into account [11]. Based on the common understanding within the European Union as well as in other parts of the world that the use of data processing systems must respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, notably the right of privacy, it is of paramount importance that all transport telematics systems are implemented only under the condition that the principle of minimisation of personal data collection is realised. This principle is written into article 3.3 of the German Act on Data Protection in Teleservices (Gesetz über den Datenschutz bei Telediensten - Teledienstedatenschutzgesetz - TDDSG) of 13 June 1997 [12] and should be translated into European law.

7 References [1] TNO Inro, Fraunhofer ISI, Impetus, Intermodal Transport Foundation, Report on current developments in communication and information services for different transport modes, Appendices, TRANSINPOL Deliverable 8, 98/NL/264, Delft: TNO Inro, October [2] European Commission, DG VII, Common Transport Policy (CTP) Action Programme , Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions, COM(95) 302, ISBN [3] Harmsen, D.-M. and A. Matuschewski, Needs and Opportunities for the Use of Information and Communication Technology in Road Transport, TRANSINPOL project funded by EC DG VII under contract ST-96-AM-1152, Technical Working Document WP2/ISI/006.0, Karlsruhe: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (FhG-ISI), , 10 p. [4] European Commission, DG VII, The Common Transport Policy (CTP). Sustainable Mobility: Perspectives for the Future, Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions, COM(1998) 716. [5] European Commission, DG VII, Towards fair and efficient pricing in transport policy options for internalising the external cost of transport in the European Union Green Paper, Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions, COM(95) 692 final, [6] Difficulties have affected the proposals for a Council Directive restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products (COM/97/30 final of 12 March 1997). [7] European Commission, DG VII, Fair payment for infrastructure use: a phased approach to a common transport infrastructure charging framework in the EU - White Paper, Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions, COM(98) 466 final, [8] European Commission, DG VII, Towards a Trans-European positioning and navigation network: including a European Strategy for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions, COM(98) 29 final, [9] European Commission, DG VII, Intermodality and intermodal freight transport in the European Union A system's approach to freight transport Strategies and actions to enhance efficiency, services and sustainability, Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions, COM(97) 243 final, [10] Matuschewski, A., Public Private Partnership: A Policy Issue in Transport Telematics Applications, TRANSINPOL project funded by EC DG VII under contract ST-96-AM-1152, Technical Working Document WP2/ISI/004.1, Karlsruhe: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (FhG-ISI), , 9 p. [11] Harmsen, D.-M., Data Protection and Security in Information Technology Applications: A Policy Issue in Transport Telematics Applications, TRANSINPOL project funded by EC DG VII under contract ST-96-AM-1152, Technical Working Document WP2/ISI/005.0, Karlsruhe: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (FhG-ISI), , 6 p. [12] German Act on Data Protection in Teleservices, Gesetz zur Regelung der Rahmenbedingungen für Informations- und Kommunikationsdienste (Informations- und Kommunikationsdienste- Gesetz - IuKDG) in der Fassung des Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestages vom 13. Juni 1997, BT-Drs. 13/7934 vom

8 economical organisational/institutional legal social technical cross-national harmonisation of payment systems (e.g. for road pricing, traffic information, parking etc.) assessment of user's willingness to pay for traffic information and use of infrastructure financing of Traffic Information and Management Systems offered by public authorities (terminals, signals, monitoring equipment...) internalisation of external costs sharing of costs and benefits within PPP competition size of market (e.g. cooperative procurement) operational/business models for intermodal traffic information and management systems (PPP) EC-regulation for data security (minimisation of personal data collection) role of public authorities/bodies in the future with regard to data supply and - consequences of misuse of demand, operation of traffic traffic/traveler information infrastructure and telematic systems... access to publicly owned data resources and infrastructure for private actors (ICT provider, information provider, transport operators...) co-operation between local, regional, national authorities (minimum set of data items to be exchanged between travel information centers) dynamic allocation of infrastructure capacity for different travel purposes (slot management on roads) consequences of neglect of speed limits or other elements of dynamic traffic management systems for drivers definition of minimum level of publicly available traffic and travel information provided to all users (prevention of "informational segregation") provision and maintenance of minimum traffic (information) services in rural, sparsely populated areas raising of awareness and acceptance for road pricing (necessity, benefits, transparency about use of revenues...) interconnectivity of systems and services (harmonisation of data formats and interfaces, standards, payment systems...) improvement of the functionality and usability of systems (Human Machine Interface, ergonomy and design of systems) Table 1: Policy issues for the integration of ICT according to the needs within the transport sector