Urban Traffic Management and Intelligent Transport Systems: A European Perspective

The objective of this paper is to establish the state-of-the-art of urban traffic management in Europe, with a particular focus on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), using data collected from 34 cities directly with the help of a purpose-developed questionnaire. Several areas of traffic management are covered, such as: general statistics of the transport systems, organisational structures, monitoring and forecasting, provision of traffic information and urban traffic control. Special focus is also given to demand management, traffic control centres, public transport and parking. Broadly summarising the results, it can be said that a wide range of traffic management technologies and policies are used in Europe. It is encouraging to see that strategic plans and traffic control centres are generally present in the participating cities, as well as facilities for public transport, ITS technologies and real-time public transport information. In addition, most cities have cycling infrastructure, pedestrian zones and alternative mobility schemes, as well as good policies for weaker population categories, such as the elderly, the jobless and the disabled. While the study has some limitations with respect to the reliability of the data provided by the cities, mainly originating from different definitions or from the absence of data all together, it can be considered a fairly good overview of the state-of-the art of urban traffic management in Europe.