摘要: |
This report demonstrates a unique solution to the challenge of providing accurate, timely estimates of arterial travel times to the motoring public. In particular, it discusses the lessons learned in deploying the Vehicle Tag Project in San Antonio, Texas, as part of the Metropolitan Model Deployment Initiative (MMDI). As one of four sites participating in the MMDI effort, San Antonio was committed to pursuing integrated deployments of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) designed to address gaps in existing traveler services and to provide improvements in areas such as customer satisfaction, safety and mobility. Of these gaps, the one receiving perhaps the most attention under the effort was in the quality and coverage of critical traveler information systems. Currently, there are many deployments of advanced traveler information systems around the country. To date however, most have been lacking in at least one very critical element. While many systems do a good job at describing the latest freeway conditions, few, if any, provide adequate information about conditions on the surrounding arterials. Furthermore, they have been particularly deficient in providing travel times for those critical networks in answering that important question for the traveler: how long? San Antonio attempted to address this shortcoming through the collection of travel speed data derived from a series of readers and voluntarily distributed vehicle tags. Subsequent evaluation revealed that while the system functioned well and provided accurate speed information, an appropriate level of market penetration was never reached. This report details the lessons learned from this deployment and describes how a vehicle tag system can be successful in virtually any metropolitan area. |