Thinking Highways North America November 2007

THIN KING

HIG HW AYS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION Volume 2 • Issue 4 • November/December 2007

ROBOT WARS

An emotional rollercoaster ride: Richard Bishop’s DARPA Diary LOUDER THAN WORDS

Phil Tarnoff’s call for increased productivity

EMISSION STATEMENT

Amy Zuckerman on the climate change trail

PAY AS YOU DON’T GO

Three differing views of congestion pricing

UNTHINKABLE, BUT...

Bruce Abernethy on the role of ITS in the war on terror

INTELLIGENT

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Foreword Thinking

It’s a long story... Kevin Borras is publishing director of H3B Media and editor-in-chief of Thinking Highways North American Edition.

Editor-in-Chief Kevin Borras Sales and Marketing Luis Hill, Tim Guest Design and Layout Phoebe Bentley, Kevin Borras Associate Editors Richard Bishop, Amy Zuckerman Contributing Editors Bruce Abernethy, Lee J Nelson, Andrew Pickford, Phil Sayeg, Phil Tarnoff, Darryll Thomas, Harold Worrall Contributors to this issue Bruce Abernethy, Bill Adaway, Dr William Bertelsen, Richard Bishop, Timo Gatsonides, Al Gullon, Mark Johnson, Bob Kelly, Dr Andreas Kossak, Bob McQueen, Lee J Nelson, David Schonbrunn, Mike Sena, Phil Tarnoff, Harold Worrall, Johanna Zmud Amy Zuckerman

Associate Editor Richard Bishop’s epic first-hand account of the DARPA Urban Challenge deserves a place among the literary greats... OK, that’s maybe going a little too far. And if anything is going to set a writer up for a fall of equally epic proportions it’s when his editor publicly describes his latest contribution as the best article he has ever received. But hey, Richard Bishop’s a man of experience (you don’t get to be recognized as the world’s leading expert on intelligent vehicles without a certain smattering of praise and disappointment in equal measure) and I’m sure he can deal with it in his own way. His “DARPA Diary”, to which we have given over a record nine pages (pp 12-20) is an extraordinary tale of the highs, lows, accomplishments and accidents that took up six days of his (and a lot of other people’s) life in November. As leader of Team LUX Richard was involved in every stage of development and build up to the event which took place in an abandoned US Air Force Base in California. This privileged insight into a highly competitive robot battle has made for fascinating reading since Richard started

contributing to Thinking Highways on a regular basis earlier this year, but his chronologically structured story, written on a daily basis “live” from the Challenge is almost as good as being there. Like a beautifully written war report can make you feel like you are on the battlefield (for me, it’s all in the adjectives), Richard’s blow-by-blow

mirror the events. I won’t give the game away by telling those of you that haven’t seen the result of the DUC and whether or not Team LUX won it, but just as interesting as the technical stuff and the tales of other teams’ occasionally calamitous and sometimes hilarious mishaps, were Richard’s thoughts on the boredom, frustration and evident helplessness that are just part of the territory when you are leading a team in the DARPA Urban Challenge. I wouldn’t typically encourage you to skip past other articles, and I’m still very much hoping that you’ll go back to the beginning of this issue and read them all, but this is no typical article. (literally sometimes) account “It was fun to write,” said transports you to the warm Richard last week. It was Californian sunshine, where certainly a joy to read. you are surrounded by teams Incidentally, we have now of engineers all frantically added two more Think Tanks tweaking and twiddling, to our range of activities in making last-minute adjustments to their automated North America in 2008, one vehicles. looking at Congestion Pricing And, just as any great writer and the other a VII Deployment will furnish you with, there’s no Workshop, both at Booz Allen small amount of the required Hamilton’s Washington, DC balance needed to make a facilities on 20/21 May. Robot story truly and accurately vehicles most welcome. TH

“Richard’s blow by blow account transports you to the warm Californian sunshine”

Thinking Highways

Sub-Editor and Proofreader Maria Vasconcelos Subscriptions and Circulation Pilarin Harvey-Granell Visualisation Tom Waldschmidt Conferences and Events Odile Pignier Website Code Liquid Financial Director Martin Brookstein EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING H3B Media Ltd, 15 Onslow Gardens, Wallington, Surrey SM6 9QL, UK Tel +44 (0)208 254 9406 Fax +44 (0)208 647 0045 Email [email protected]

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is published by H3B Media Ltd.

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Thinking Highways is published quarterly in two editions – North America and Europe/Rest of the World - and is available on subscription at £30/€40 (Europe/RoW) and US$60 (North America). Distributed in the USA by DSW 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Thinking Highways, 401 S W Water Street, Suite 201B, Peoria, Illinois 61602, USA.

Although due care has been taken to ensure that the content of this publication is accurate and up-to-date, the publisher can accept no liability for errors and omissions. Unless otherwise stated, this publication has not tested products or services that are described herein, and their inclusion does not imply any form of endorsement. By accepting advertisements in this publication, the publisher does not warrant their accuracy, nor accept responsibility for their contents. The publisher welcomes unsolicited manuscripts and illustrations but can accept no liability for their safe return. © 2007 H3B Media Ltd. All rights reserved. The views and opinions of the authors are not necessarily those of H3B Media Ltd. Reproduction (in whole or in part) of any text, photograph or illustration contained in this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Printed in the UK by Stones the Printers

Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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CONTENTS 04

COLUMNS Bob Kelly and Mark Johnson ‘s Legal Brief

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Harold Worrall’s Bright Ideas

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COVER FEATURE Thinking Highways’ associate editor Richard Bishop led one of the teams taking part in the DARPA Urban Challenge last month. His enthralling account of how events unfolded is essential reading Cover Feature

Climate Change Cover Feature

Richard Bishop’s DARPA diary

When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

Stunted growth

Dings, bumps and some amazing smarts: RICHARD BISHOP got a first-hand view of the DARPA Urban Challenge 12

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Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

Photos by Krithika Srinath

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

www.h3bmedia.com

As fate would have it, on the very same day in late October my teenage son Jimmy went for his driving test in Maryland, while 3000 miles away in the California desert, my robot went up against California traffic laws in the DARPA Urban Challenge semifinals. One passed, the other didn’t. DARPA’s Urban Challenge (UC) took intelligent vehicle technology into new territory – could sensor-laden vehicles plus some really smart software algorithms enable a vehicle to drive on regular streets, interact with traffic and negotiate intersections, at the same time using road knowledge to navigate efficiently? Could they do this without crashing into each other or impeding traffic while thinking? www.h3bmedia.com

89 contenders

The UC began with an announcement by DARPA in May of 2006, and by the deadline in October of last year, 89 teams had signed up. DARPA wanted to see a successful event as much as anyone, so 11 teams were selected for “Track A” and received funding of US$1m each. The rest were on their own. In April 2007, teams were required to submit short videos to prove they had working vehicles which complied to DARPA rules. Based on this, 53 teams were selected for the next stage – site visits in which DARPA officials observed the vehicles executing a variety of basic missions. After the site visits were completed, 36 semifinalists were announced in August. Most, but not all, of Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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THE THINKER ITS guru Phil Tarnoff suggestis an increase in productivity would improve transportation agency effectiveness

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Thinking analyst If the future Highways’ is assured,financial what form will it MARGARET take? BILL ADAWAY, PETTIT looks atwith the European Territorial the man credited starting the automatic licence plate Cooperation Programme finds that like with recognition (ALPR) industry,and puts his vision into words any other major programme, it’s a matter of It is priorities well over 25 years since I developed the world’s efficiency, enforcement or revenue collection. first automatic licence plate reader for the UK Home Office in 1979. Since that time CRS systems have been used for virtually every imaginable vehicle related application. Some examples are congestion charging, toll violation enforcement, average speed measurement, secure access control, car park management, stolen vehicle detection, detection of road tax evasion, border control, origin/destination analysis, journey time measurement, vehicle overweight detection and vehicle pollution detection. To be at the forefront of such a diverse range of applications requires a considerable investment in research and development. This investment has helped CRS to deliver many world firsts. Apart from the first ever ALPR we developed the first pulsed infrared illuminator, the first use of high resolution digital camera technology, the first use of multiple ALPR algorithms, the first use of loop storage for imaging before and after an event and the first delivery of vehicle make and colour recognition.

Johanna Zmud on what would make the idea of road pricing publicly acceptable...

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...although according to Al Gullon, congestion is all a matter of personal choice ITS and the WAR ON TERROR Bruce Abernethy assesses the crucial roles that Intelligent Transportation Systems could and should play if the US comes under terrorist attack again BUSINESS MATTERS Kevin Borras caught Dutch speed camera specialists GATSO entering the US market AUTOMATIC LICENCE PLATE RECOGNITION Bill Adaway is credited with starting the ALPR industry in the UK almost 30 years ago. Here’s how he thinks the North American market will shape up over the next decade

www.h3bmedia.com

When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

Stunted Image growth consultant

ROAD PRICING Mike Sena, on the other hand, wonders if anyone has come up with a better congestionbusting alternative in the last 20 centuries

The rest will follow

Other vendors have followed and now a significant market exists which is growing all the time. It is hard to imagine any developed country not requiring ALPR for some form of traffic monitoring whether it is for security,

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Climate Change

ALPR

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Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

So what of the future? One question that is often posed is whether there is a long term future for ALPR given the possibility of electronic licence plates. The answer is an emphatic ‘yes there will!’ Legislation currently requires all vehicles to have a visible registration mark. I cannot see this changing. Its purpose is to enable witnesses to identify vehicles for crime detection. As there should always be more people than ALPR cameras it seems unlikely that the option for using human surveillance will be discarded however unreliable it may be. Fundamental technical improvements will mostly be concerned with imaging. This is the most difficult aspect of ALPR and where most benefits can be obtained. Problems exist due to camera field of view restrictions, poor optics, licence plate materials, night time illumination requirements and weather – particularly the Sun. Camera field of view restrictions arise from the need to achieve a certain number of pixels across the character stroke width. The problem is worst in countries like North America and the Middle East, where characters can sometimes be thinner than elsewhere. In fact, reading Arabic characters in the Middle East can be particularly difficult due to similarities between characters, the non constant stroke width and the minuscule zero. Camera fields of view will gradually improve over time as larger and more sensitive sensors are develwww.h3bmedia.com

www.h3bmedia.com

Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Lee J Nelson joins TH and starts with a look at some smart cross-border plate applications SMART HIGHWAYS Does the humble highway really need an extreme makeover? Or would the addition of a few smart, new accessories do the trick? Bob McQueen has some fashion tips CLIMATE CHANGE Amy Zuckerman canvasses opinion on just how damaging idling cars are to our environment

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THE THOUGHT PROCESS David Schonbrunn, President, TRANSDEF

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Advertisers Index

Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Robert Kelly and Mark Johnson

Up close and impersonal

Robert Kelly is a partner with the Washington, DC based law firm Squire, Sanders, Dempsey

License plate recognition systems: should drivers be concerned? A companion article in this edition, “Plate Tectonics” by Lee J Nelson, describes the technology, benefits, and growing deployment of license plate recognition systems, especially at international border crossings. By automatically reading and confirming the information on license plates and other signage on cars and trucks, these systems have the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of border crossings while making it easier, and less time consuming, for border officials to scan license plates for a variety of purposes. These include checking for stolen vehicles or other law enforcement reasons, confirming immigration status, and processing commercial traffic. According to the article, the deployment of license-place recognition systems is expected only to increase in upcoming years, both in terms of the number of systems deployed as well as the variety of information to be confirmed. As we have discussed in previous columns, many ITSrelated technologies can implicate individual’s privacy concerns about the source of information that is gathered about them and how that information may be used and disclosed. The question is whether these same concerns also apply to these license-

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plate recognition systems. In any analysis of privacy issues, there is an inherent balancing between protecting the personal interests of individuals and the interest of society for collecting and using the personal information. An important factor in this balance is exactly the type of information that is

“License plate recognition systems appear not to implicate the same personal privacy concerns as other ITS technologies” collected and how it is to be used. License plate recognition systems, especially at border crossings, appear not to implicate the same personal privacy concerns as other ITS technologies.

A little light reading

The companion article describes how license plate recognition systems deployed at border crossings are able to “read” a vehicle’s license plate number and jurisdiction. This information is then checked against multiple state, federal and even international immigration, law enforcement and commercial databases.

Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

Cars and trucks can be more quickly processed by fewer border agents, thus freeing up agents and limited resources for other tasks. License plate information can be processed by multiple databases at the same time to check for stolen vehicles, felons, escaped fugitives, or other wanted persons or property. Any “hits” from these searches are relayed virtually instantaneously to agents, who can then conduct a secondary, closer inspection. License plate recognition systems are also more reliable than agents in detecting the correct license plate information as they are not subject to fatigue, illness or distraction. License plate recognition systems are also used to identify and clear commercial vehicles that are pre-authorized at certain border crossings.

Private information

The type of information collected by license plate recognition systems does not raise significant privacy concerns. The only information collected, license plate number and jurisdiction, is purposely displayed on vehicles in a manner to ensure that they are easily viewed by the public and transportation and public safety officials. It is not possible to glean any personal identifiable information about the driver, a car’s occupants, or the vehicle owner simply by reading a

Mark Johnson is an attorney at law with Squire, Sanders, Dempsey based in Buenos Aires, Argentina

www.h3bmedia.com

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including, significantly, to courts, law enforcement agencies and other local, state and federal governmental bodies in the course of carrying out their authorized duties.

Less concern license plate. It is also the case that, under US law, drivers and vehicle occupants and vehicle contents enjoys less privacy protections than does an individual does in his or her house. The more complicated question is whether the submission of license plate information to the multiple databases implicates privacy concerns. License plates are issued to individuals and organizations by state motor vehicle agencies. These agencies collect and retain personally identifiable information about vehicle owners and drivers in order to carry out their duties, including name, age, Social Security numbers and addresses. Under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (at 18 U.S.C. 2721-2725, state motor vehicle agencies are prohibited from disclosing personally identifiable information – termed “highly restricted personal information” – from their records, including an individual’s name, photograph, Social Security or other driver identification number, and medical or disability information. However, this information may be disclosed to third parties by motor vehicle agencies, but only in certain defined circumstances,

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License plate recognition systems do not raise the same privacy concerns as other ITS applications, such as congestion pricing systems (which we have discussed in previous columns). First, the license plates themselves are available are accessible to the public; indeed, that is a fundamental attribute of license plates. Second, it is not possible for the public to connect a particular license plate to a particular individual merely by viewing a license plate. Third, it should be noted that the type of information collected by motor vehicle agencies does not include personal financial information, except Social Security numbers, about drivers. And, except for a few, identified exceptions, motor vehicle agencies are required to protect the personal information they collect and retain about licensed drivers. On the other side, the societal benefits from using license plate recognition systems are manifest, especially at border crossings. Border agents can quickly and efficiently process vehicles while, at the same time, cross-check their license plates with multiple law enforcement, immigration and national security databases. License plate recognition systems are also more

Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

reliable than Empowering governmental agencies to search for and stop criminals and individuals who may threaten the national security of a country is clearly a public good. Presumably, the disclosure exceptions in the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act were included by Congress with the intent and knowledge that law enforcement and other government agencies’ access to such information is critical for them to function. Congress, therefore, appears to have attempted to strike a balance to protect from unnecessary disclosure drivers’ personal information but, at the same time, provide a mechanism so that the information can be used in a manner that clearly serves society.

Commercial confidence

Finally, pre-authorized border clearance programs for commercial vehicles present even less privacy concerns. Commercial operators that conduct frequent border crossings seek pre-clearance, providing the border authorities with specific information about their vehicles, drivers and cargo. Commercial vehicles are already subject to significant state and federal regulation on many aspects of their operations. Seeking pre-clearance for border crossings does not present any new privacy concerns. In sum, license plate recognition systems provide significant public benefits, especially at border crossings. The type of information these systems collect and how this information is used do not present the same privacy concerns as other ITS applications. TH www.h3bmedia.com

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Harold Worrall’s Bright Ideas

Harold Worrall’s Bright Ideas

A career in modelling HAROLD WORRALL looks at the US public toll company model The shortfall in public infrastructure funding is not just a US phenomenon. The European Union White Paper on Transport highlights a significant gap in transportation funding in order to be globally competitive. The new Eastern European member states are scrambling to ensure that sufficient transportation infrastructure is available to support the heightened levels of economic activity that have resulted from the admission into the EU. India, China and other fast growing economies have recognized the need to invest in transportation to support their economic growth. In the United States numerous transportation conferences, trade

publications and the mass media have repeatedly documented the shortfall in transportation investment. It is now estimated that the current transportation funding gap in the US exceeds US$2 trillion. Costs have skyrocketed as competition for basic road building commodities has increased globally and urban land has become a premium. It has become clear that to even begin to satisfy this gap in transportation investment will require the traditional sources of taxation revenue, tax exempt borrowing and the combination of private debt and equity funds. Taxation revenue will likely be modified to better reflect the relationship of cost and benefit and the highly efficient tax exempt

debt process will continue. However, to attract private debt or equity investment will require that transportation delivery organizations function as private concerns with a keen eye to profitability and efficiency.

Concessions

This is not a new problem in much of the rest of the world and the mechanism used to attract private investment is the concession. Since the Second World War, Europe has assessed relatively high taxation rates as evidenced by the tax amount on a liter of fuel, much higher than the rates found in the US. They have also attracted private capital to transportation through concessions. In Asia, South America, Australia and most parts of the world, concessions have been a mainstay of financing transportation facilities. In contrast the US has focused for half a century on developing the Interstate system and in the process has perpetuated the myth of the free highway, even terming some sections freeways. Now the US must maintain the 44,000 mile Interstate Highway system and other roadways developed in the first half of the twentieth century while developing new urban expressways and servicing other modes of transportation. These growing transportation funding needs have exceeded

Dr Harold Worrall is president of Transportation Innovations and is past chair of ITS Florida, ITS America and the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA). From 1992 until 2004 he was executive director of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority

Paul Harold Najarian Worrall’s Bright Ideas the revenue available through the gas tax. Politicians are unwilling to entertain gas tax increases, taxation is not indexed to price and more fuel efficient vehicles are entering the fleet and construction costs have skyrocketed. This combination of events has left transportation taxation policy inadequate to the task. Clearly gas tax alone is not a long term solution political or otherwise.

Capital letters

Concessions have begun to be awarded in the US over the last few years and have attracted large capital investments. The first were Brownfield investments in which existing pubic facilities were leased in exchange for large upfront payments to the government. More slowly Greenfield projects have begun to be developed. Recently, some resistance to concessions has begun to occur. To some extent xenophobia or concern for public facility “ownership” outside the control of the US has generated concern. Concern has also been expressed that there are no caps on profitability and no publicly available records on profits being excised from toll projects where the public is paying ever increasing tolls. The cultural expectation that transportation facilities should be public in nature has also contributed to the resistance to concessions.

Golden brown

Meanwhile public tolling agencies have quietly observed and continued to finance toll facilities with tax exempt debt at rates much lower than can be obtained by concessions. As more political leaders began to consider Brownfield options for funding transportation shortfalls, political resistance mounted

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and some public toll agencies were thrust into a competition with concessionaires. Two such examples are the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC). The NTTA was the result of a competition for development rights for a project in the Dallas area. Without consideration of the politics of the process or attempting to determine what is in the best interest of the public, a direct competition between these quite different organizations did occur. A bid was first submitted by the concessionaire and the agency was later asked to submit a bid. Based on a higher upfront payment proposed by the agency, the project was awarded to the agency. Regardless of whether one agrees with or even understands the motivation of the participants, the fact is that a direct competition between the public and the private sector occurred and it may be indicative of further competition to come. Pennsylvania was somewhat different. The Governor of Pennsylvania began the process of accepting bids for a long term lease of the Turnpike to offset the huge gap in transportation funding in the state. If awarded, the Pennsylvania Turnpike would have ceased to exist and the operations of the Turnpike would have been taken up by the successful concessionaire. The Turnpike Commission therefore decided to submit a proposal of its own.

DOT will be relieved of approximately US$100m per year in maintenance cost and would be given about US$1 billion annually by the turnpike commission from revenues collected on the Interstate roadway. Perhaps this new competition between the public agencies private concessionaires will spawn the emergence of a new transportation delivery organization. This new organization would have the ability to fund projects through tax exempt debt issuance, through the private placement of debt with pension funds and/or through partnership with concessionaries. It might be more likely to outsource operations in entirety to the private sector. This new public toll company may be a competitive factor in the process of providing transportation funding and efficient operations.

Public toll company

Finance is a prominent driver. Public agencies strive to attain high ratings in order to obtain the lowest net cost of tax exempt debt while concessionaires minimize equity investment by structuring with low investment grade debt, the usual mix of debt and equity being 25 per cent equity and 75 per cent debt. Once the public agency has placed the debt, attention turns to constructing and operating the facility in an open public manner. The private sector never stops considering the ability to restructure financing to yield a higher rate of return on Texas instruments investment. The public toll company must operate like the As was the case in Texas concessionaire, always striving political maneuvering began to attain returns on equity with the result that the investment similar to concesTurnpike has recently signed sions and outsourcing entire an agreement with the Pennsylvania DOT to take over operations for better Interstate 80 and place a toll on efficiency. Rather than funding the roadway. In exchange the new projects with exclusively

Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

tax exempt debt and waiting for the revenues to cover debt service, they must think in terms of attracting equity investors. Further, the public toll company must continually improve efficiency to reduce the amount of equity in a project and thereby increase the rate of return. Efficiency in operations must not take a back seat to other policy agenda. Toll rates must be maintained to optimize equity returns and management practices and compensation must be driven by profit and loss. Rather than accounting for the expenditures of a governmental entity, the public toll company must maintain accounting records more indicative of a performance based organization. The governing boards of public toll companies might be established to represent the equity investor and the debt community not just the political jurisdiction in which the project resides. This mix of

interests would serve to balance the interests of the public and the private investors that made the project possible. Management and key staff leadership would possess the skill sets necessary to operate a large scale business.

Public, private

These are but a few of the changes that will occur if the public toll company is to compete with concessions. Though such a major change will be difficult, it can be done in phases as new projects are developed and operations are contracted with the private sector and as financial arrangements are modified on new projects, the public agency can begin to change the nature of its decision making. Hopefully, the Public Toll Company will better serve constituents and provide a higher level of efficiency while protecting the public interest.

Lester Thurow, an economist and public administration academic authored an article entitled “Public and Private: Alike in all the unimportant ways.” The article highlights the basic differences between the public and the private sectors. Public infrastructure delivery is clearly at this boundary, requiring the efficiency of the private sector and the stewardship of the public sector. Public agencies may remake themselves into public toll companies that can compete with the private sector or they may not. The competition will stimulate a better product for the public and the user of the facility and will ensure the public interests are kept in focus. It may be that after all the machinations that the US will replicate the European concession model with the concession being owned by both the public and private sector. TH

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THIN KING

HIG HW AYS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION Volume 2 • Issue 4 • November/December 2007

ROBOT WARS

An emotional rollercoaster ride: Richard Bishop’s DARPA Diary LOUDER THAN WORDS

Phil Tarnoff’s call for increased productivity

you receive, register online now! It’ll only take you a minute and you won’t have to do it again for another 12 months.

EMISSION STATEMENT

Amy Zuckerman on the climate change trail

PAY AS YOU DON’T GO

Four global views of congestion pricing

UNTHINKABLE, BUT...

Bruce Abernethy on the role of ITS in the war on terror

INTELLIGENT

the

choice

COVER TH NADec.indd 1

Advanced transportation management policy • strategy • technology finance • innovation • implementation integration • interoperability

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Cover Feature

Richard Bishop’s

Stunted growth

Dings, bumps and some amazing smarts: RICHARD BISHOP got a first-hand view of the DARPA Urban Challenge 12

Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

Photos by Krithika Srinath

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

www.h3bmedia.com

Climate Change Cover Feature

DARPA diary

When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

As fate would have it, on the very same day in late October my teenage son Jimmy went for his driving test in Maryland, while 3000 miles away in the California desert, my robot went up against California traffic laws in the DARPA Urban Challenge semifinals. One passed, the other didn’t. DARPA’s Urban Challenge (UC) took intelligent vehicle technology into new territory – could sensor-laden vehicles plus some really smart software algorithms enable a vehicle to drive on regular streets, interact with traffic and negotiate intersections, at the same time using road knowledge to navigate efficiently? Could they do this without crashing into each other or impeding traffic while thinking? www.h3bmedia.com

89 contenders

The UC began with an announcement by DARPA in May of 2006, and by the deadline in October of last year, 89 teams had signed up. DARPA wanted to see a successful event as much as anyone, so 11 teams were selected for “Track A” and received funding of US$1m each. The rest were on their own. In April 2007, teams were required to submit short videos to prove they had working vehicles which complied to DARPA rules. Based on this, 53 teams were selected for the next stage – site visits in which DARPA officials observed the vehicles executing a variety of basic missions. After the site visits were completed, 36 semifinalists were announced in August. Most, but not all, of Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Cover Feature the well-funded Track A teams made it through, along with a large number of self-funded teams. The semi-finalist announcement also revealed a closely guarded secret – the actual race would take place at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville, California, now a vast area of abandoned residences that once housed officers and their families. The Marines had been using it for urban assault training in recent years, such that not a single home had a window intact. Years of neglect had caused most vegetation to die in this high desert area. To call it “bleak” would be an understatement – more like the set of a post-nuclear holocaust movie. But the roads were completely realistic for the purpose of testing untested robots!

DARPA-ville is born

DARPA invaded the Base to install operations trailers, several huge tents and a grandstand for spectators, camera access points for the media, pit areas to house the three dozen semi-finalist teams and about 10,000 portable toilets. That, plus 50 or more governmentsurplus Ford Taurus sedans, gutted inside except for a driver’s seat and with roll bars added – these cars, plus their brave drivers (professional stunt drivers hired by DARPA, as it turned out) would be the first in the world to share the road with robots. With the site ready, the teams rolled in on 25 October to vie for the chance to run in the final race. Some, such as Team Tartan (GM/Contentintal/Carnegie-Mellon) came with their vehicle ensconced in a racing tractor trailer and a small army of technical and marketing specialists. Others, like Team LUX (Ibeo Laser Scanners and Sick AG) drove their robot cars over the mountain pass from Los Angeles in manual mode, with the entire team inside as passengers. Imagine a NASCAR infield, full of RVs, pop-up tents, roaring generators and lots of vehicles. Add hordes of grubby engineers, all carrying either laptops,sensors, or cables, plus some slick marketing types. Throw in about 100 government officials for good measure. Let simmer at desert heat in bright sun for 10 days. Surround with cheap hotels and low-end chain restaurants. Now you have a picture of the Urban Challenge qualifiers! In the early days of the qualifiers, you wouldn’t want to be on the same road with some of these robot drivers. But some of the other robots might have been better than you (or at least your grandmother). As leader of Team LUX, I was deeply involved in all the goings on and can attest to the dramatic emotional highs and lows that come with hitting the ‘run’ button on our Passat’s console and then walking away to watch it take to the streets. (Yes, officially I was “the leader” but in a classic case of “leading from behind”. Ibeo’s four person technical team, led by Holger Salow, did all the hardware and software wizardry over countless long days and nights during the last year.)

The ABC of bot driving

Each team’s vehicle was required to complete “missions” on three test track challenges. For each track, the teams were given a Route Navigation Data File provid-

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Team Lux members (from left) Richard Bishop, Volker Willhoeft, Karen Tippkoetter, Martin Dittmer and Holger Salow await their bot’s turn on Day One of the semi-finals

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Cover Feature ing GPS points outlining the track (essentially a digital map) and a Mission Data File which specified specific points the vehicle must traverse. Track A consisted of an oval about a third of a mile in circumference plopped onto a parking lot, outlined in K-rail (concrete barriers). Vehicles driven by DARPA drivers circulated endlessly at 10 mph on the oval, creating a two-way traffic situation. The vehicle under test (universally called “the bot” by everyone) started inside the oval on a cut-through path. After watching traffic and waiting for an appropriate gap, it was required to successfully make a left turn into this two-way traffic, without impeding traffic. If traffic was impeded, the drivers were instructed to honk (as well as brake to avoid a collision). The bot then proceeded halfway around the track and make a left turn (again judging the gap) and re-entering the cut-through for another run at it. “Success” was roughly defined as the most number of laps with the least number of horn honks, during the 25 minutes allotted for each run. In terms of this criteria, the best runs were by Team Tartan (GM/CMU) - 15 laps and no excessive honks. Others, including Team LUX, did quite well, with 13 laps, about 10 honks and a lot of cheering by us on the sidelines. Other bots were a little wide in their left turns – with ample paint marks on the K-rail as evidence. At least one made a wild-U-turn instead of a left, incurring an emergency stop signal. It was not unusual for DARPA drivers to have to swerve out of the way when a bot crossed the center line while trying to track the lane on the oval. And, yes, it got even more interesting – one bot entered the intersection for its left turn when the space was occupied by two DARPA cars going opposite directions – resulting in the first car-to-car crash of the event, but thankfully just a smashed-up rear quarter panel. Sting Racing from Georgia Tech was most unfortunate – they accelerated out of the intersection straight ahead and plowed headlong into the K-rail with significant force. The DARPA scorers sitting just behind this point had, shall we say, a memorable experience – and were not allowed to sit there anymore.

Sensors working overtime

Sting’s sensor package on the nose of the vehicle was protected by a sturdy metal frame, but it was badly warped. As the most vivid example of the helpful spirit among teams which pervaded the Urban Challenge, Team Tartan offered up an expert welder plus equipment to re-build the frame – allowing Sting to be up and ready for their next run. Track B was on part of the actual race course. Bots meandered through a residential neighborhood, based on instructions in their mission file. Here, DARPA cars were parked on the curb, other cars were moving about or stopped in the road, and the road was blocked in some places. The bots had to handle all situations perfectly in line with California driving laws. There was also an area where a parking maneuver was required, plus some “sparse waypoint” areas - here, navigation had to be done by sensors only, as GPS alone was insufwww.h3bmedia.com

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Cover Feature ficient. Less than one third of the teams - including Team Tartan, MIT, CARolo, and Stanford - finished the course in the first half of the qualifiers. All the other teams’ bots got confused somewhere along the way, hit something, or was about to hit something, and DARPA officials disabled it. When this happened, the team leader and the technical lead were invited into the dreaded “recovery vehicle,” a large black SUV which whisked them from the DARPA operations center to the site of the dead bot. Although they lost points for the intervention, this provided the opportunity to re-boot, tweak, or re-position the vehicle to give it a chance to continue. Track B clearly won the prize for the most action. One bot tried to drive into the living room of a house, while Team Austin lost a roof-mounted Velodyne sensor by zipping up a driveway into a too-low carport. Team Oshkosh, the only truck in the game, hit a parked car and pushed it several feet. The start point of Area B required the bot to enter an open paved area, turn left, proceed to an exit point, turn right at a stop sign, and continue into the course. Alas, Gator Nation headed out of the start point and with apparently no steering control, drove very deliberately straight across the pavement and slammed into the K-rail border on the other side. Not long after, the team was in their pit area, with several guys under and in front of the vehicle, re-working the sensor mounts to salvage the situation for another run.

C-section

Area C exercised the four-way-stop behavior of the bots - did they perform like human drivers, obeying the “order of precedence” as to who goes first? DARPA orchestrated a virtual ballet of several vehicles to assume a particular configuration for each of the six passes thru the four-way stop intersection as the vehicle looped through the neighborhood. Many teams did quite well here, as the situation was similar to the requirements of the DARPA site visits in June. But not everyone – one technical team was dumbfounded (“It has never done that before!”) when their bot misread the situation in four of six instances - until a software “oversight” was identified after a few intense hours of analysis. Others went through before it was “their turn” or misread the situation in other ways. But there were more than four-way stops. The tricky part of Area C was a section with a railroad-crossing type barrier blocking the road. What’s tricky about that? There was no contact between the barrier and the ground in the road itself – it was all supported from the roadside. Bots who only scanned low didn’t see it and those that could see it, but whose algorithm required the ground connection for validation, were in trouble. As was the case with one hapless bot from the University of Virginia who ran into the barrier at speed and came back to the pits with a broken windshield. While it’s entertaining to tell these stories, the maddening frustration endured by the technical teams when these things happen cannot be put into words – a year’s worth of work blowing up in your face. And yet everyone knew that these are the “terms of engagement” if you’re going to build a robot car. Just as frustrating but

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less dramatic were the bots which left the starting point only to bog down within a few meters, dazed and confused.

Bad news first

After all the teams had taken a shot at each of the three courses over the first three days of the qualifiers, they were all scheduled for another chance to potentially improve their score. But not long after the schedule was announced, DARPA officials began making fateful calls to some team leaders. “Your vehicle is not showing the level of safety performance we’re looking for – you’re out of the race.” DARPA was keen to ensure that there were no bots operating in the final race which were a little too rambunctious – and threatening DARPA drivers and the other bots. First, four teams were quietly eliminated. The rumors started to fly through the pits. I started to dread the buzz www.h3bmedia.com

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DARPA Urban Challenge Finalists Ben Franklin Racing Team, Philadelphia, PA CarOLO, Caroline, NY Honeywell/Intelligent Vehicle Solutions,Troy, MI MIT, Cambridge, MA Stanford Racing Team, Stanford, CA Tartan Racing, Pittsburgh, PA Team Cornell, Ithaca, NY Victor Tango, Blacksburg,VA Team AnnieWay, Palo Alto, CA Team Oshkosh Truck, Oshkosh,WI Team UCF, Orlando, FL

pretended to walk off the stage... until he was stopped by the outcry from the audience, who were keeping count. “Oh yes, number 11,” he said. “Oshkosh.” With a whoop and a holler, all 30-plus Oshkosh team members jumped up from their chairs to celebrate. The biggest robot in the entire pack would be given a chance, even after terrorizing those parked cars a few days earlier. My team and a legion of others walked out of the event tent dejectedly, disappointed and at the same time proud to have made it so far down this road. So what if we collectively lost several years off our life spans from the stress of the previous week! And us LUX-ers were truly pleased that our laser scanners and sensing software worked perfectly – never did we even come close to hitting anything. Damage to the vehicle was more likely on the plane ride across the Atlantic than at the DARPA Challenge -- we came and went without a scratch. We couldn’t help but wonder what the outcome might have been with just a few more weeks of software development and testing - and we weren’t alone in that fantasy.

Noisy dry runs

in my pocket whenever my cell phone rang. By day five, 12 teams were out, based on unacceptable performance in their second runs. On day six, the last day of the qualifiers, the field had been reduced down to about 22 teams from the original 35. Team LUX’s prospects, unfortunately, had trended downwards each day – some good runs, some bad ones, but with a few surprising Track B moments on the last day that left us, shall we say, less than optimistic. That Halloween night was truly a nail-biter, because the finalists were not announced until Thursday morning. At 10.00am, DARPA Director Dr. Tony Tether took the stage and issued a shocker – only 11 teams would compete in the final race. The original plan called for 20 teams and although the word in the pits was for a few less than that, no one expected such a low number. But DARPA only wanted vehicles they could trust in the race – or almost. After the first 10 were announced, Dr. Tether www.h3bmedia.com

But much excitement lay ahead for the Big Eleven. The next day, on the eve of the actual race, a dry run was conducted for the race start process. All 11 vehicles were arrayed in their respective start chutes – a magnificent sight. Then, they began to malfunction. Was this just a really bad Murphy’s Law kind of day or what? Consternation transformed to groans of recognition as they realized that, when the bots got some distance from each other, all was well again. These vehicles had been built for every contingency except electromagnetic interference (EMI) from each other! It wasn’t terribly bad in actuality. When in small groups, the problems were manageable. So the start process was changed to a three-at-a-time protocol. Race Day arrived with a new influx of news media, although they had seemed ubiquitous all week. Print reporters abounded from the team’s hometowns as well as national and world press. Germany’s Stern TV was in attendance and the cable network Discovery had no less than three documentary teams there. The biggest Discovery team had the assignment to exhaustively document the entire event and was with us all week. On the day of the event, they had six film crews in action to capture everything – we were told that a sixepisode series will be aired in 2008. Another team is preparing a documentary on the causes and possible solutions to traffic congestion – and they got an earful about the potential for automated vehicle traffic to flow much better than the human-driven version.

Automation back in vogue

In fact, in numerous interviews, Larry Burns, GM’s vice president for research and development and strategic planning, made some of the boldest statements yet about GM’s return to vehicle automation as a part of their long term road map. Noting that “I’m more excited about this project than almost anything we’ve done,” he elaborated by saying automated vehicle technology “could Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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You would cheer too if your bot had just successfully completed a series of perfect intersection maneuvers

have enormous environmental and safety benefits in civilian applications. For example, elements of autonomous driving technology can be employed to improve urban traffic flow, thereby reducing traffic congestion and eliminating much of the fuel waste and air pollution that go along with it.” He proceeded with a refrain familiar to anyone in the intelligent vehicles industry, referring to future cars that could automatically adjust their speeds and space themselves to improve traffic flow at intersections, for instance, while also reducing crashes. He capped things off by making things crystal clear: “We are actively developing cars that can drive themselves, and the DARPA Urban Challenges gives us an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our progress.” Ten years since automated driving was demonstrated in a big way at Demo 97 based on USDOT’s cost-shared program with GM and others, and about nine years since that program was cancelled thanks to Congress changing its mind (on the program they started), this type of commitment to automated driving is truly significant, as it is primarily fueled by private sector investment on the part of GM. They’re not the only ones – automation is on Toyota’s roadmap as well and other car-makers are starting to make similar noises.

Slow motion racing

But I digress. What about the race? Intended to start off proudly with flawless technology, that didn’t quite happen. Team Tartan’s vehicle started to experience mys-

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terious malfunctions once in the start chute. Engineers were huddled over the back hatch of the Chevy Tahoe tinkering with and examining hardware while hunched over laptops as well. As the minutes went by, it didn’t look good at all. What now? Then, apparently, a CMU engineer had an idea – “let’s get DARPA to turn off that mega-screen TV next to the track and see what happens.” The spectator’s loss was the team’s gain – once again EMI was the culprit. This should be no surprise since these are research prototypes - EMI is relatively straightforward to fix and is a fundamental activity when designing automotive electronic products. At their appointed time, all 11 vehicles proudly left the start chute and more-or-less gracefully entered the track. Similar to the qualifiers, three specific missions were defined, each taking about 2 hours while observing a 30 mph speed limit. Most of the track was not visible to spectators, but the large event tent contained (another) big screen TV with multiple views from DARPA cameras stationed around the track, plus a helicoptercam. Color commentators added to the NASCAR feel, interspersed with interviews of team leaders. The vehicles proceeded into the neighborhood, and handled turns and intersections fairly well. Not once did I see a botched order-of-precedence maneuver at a four-way stop, for instance. Unfortunately, the “wild card” player Oshkosh did indeed get a little wild and plowed into the former Base Exchange building. They were pulled from the race. Both Intelligent www.h3bmedia.com

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Vehicle Solution’s F-250 and Team AnnieWAY’s VW Passat got stuck at intersections, interminably thinking and blocking traffic. They were pulled. CarOLO’s VW Passat nearly collided head-on with MIT’s vehicle in a traffic circle and when the vehicle later blocked MIT again, the judges pulled it. For its part, MIT’s vehicle basically did its job, but in a very jerky manner. Cornell’s car looked OK, too, but almost nailed a K-rail at speed. UCF’s Subaru Outback rammed into a house, dashing their hopes. But several of the vehicles looked solid – very solid. After completing every turn,Team Tartan’s Chevy Tahoe roared forward to keep its mission time down to a minimum. As far as we know, Tartan made no mistakes whatsoever. Stanford’s Passat was more mundane in its driving but nevertheless very capable, except for one questionable passing maneuver. Virginia Tech’s Ford Escape hybrid, Odin, lost its way along one stretch of road (likely GPS reception problems) and rolled its two right wheels along the sidewalk for a bit – but quickly recovered.

Making crash history

The first-ever public bot-to-bot crash occurred during the second mission when Team Cornell’s vehicle slowed to a stop for unknown reasons just after making a right turn onto Nevada Avenue. Behind was its dedicated DARPA chase vehicle. A few moments later, the MIT vehicle approached, and with mission speed in mind, did a quick pass of the chase vehicle. Not missing a beat, www.h3bmedia.com

MIT again left its lane to pass Cornell – but at about that moment, Cornell finished its deliberations and began to proceed again. MIT hadn’t planned on a disabled vehicle coming alive again, or its sensors were blind on its right front corner. Whatever the reason, when MIT sought to merge back into its lane, its bumper-mounted sensor suite smacked Cornell just in front of the driver-side wheel. Ouch! They both came to a startled stop while DARPA officials and team members came to take a look: the worst nightmare for any team was to be taken out by another bot, and Cornell faced just that prospect. With a few minutes scrutiny, though, both teams deemed their bots roadworthy, and they were dis-entangled and allowed to continue. As the third and final mission ended, Stanford’s Passat was the first to cross the finish line, followed by Tartan’s Tahoe and Virginia Tech’s Odin vehicle. Ben Franklin, Cornell and MIT also finished the race. But who was the winner? No one knew. What was the performance criteria? Simple, actually – follow California driving laws and be the fastest to complete the missions. It was possible then for the fastest bot to lose due to poor driving etiquette. Further, the vehicles had been launched at different times, so no one knew the shortest times either. The determination was left to an overnight DARPA scoring session, with the winners announced by Dr. Tether the next morning. Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Cover Feature Collecting the pot of gold

Number One – receiving the US$2m grand prize – was Team Tartan, followed by Stanford Racing (US$1m) and Victor Tango from Virginia Tech (US$0.5m). Tartan made no traffic mistakes and had a commanding time lead, with Stanford finishing about 20 minutes later, with Victor Tango coming in about 20 minutes after that. Dr. Tether said Tartan’s vehicle averaged about 14 mph throughout the course, which covered about 55 miles. Stanford averaged about 13 mph, and Virginia Tech averaged a bit less than that. Informally, Dr. Tether said MIT came in at fourth place. As it turned out, the three winners were exceptionally well-behaved – a California highway patrolman would have had little to zing them with. In fact, without the rooffull of sensors and the nice paint jobs, could the average observer have distinguished the winning robot cars from the human-driven DARPA chase vehicles? Probably not. All of the finishing teams were funded Track A teams except Ben Franklin from the University of Pennsylvania. Their team’s car, sensors, GPS system, and computers cost a mere US$200,000. By contrast, funding for Team Tartan and Stanford Racing was well into the multimillions over and above the DARPA seed funding. Oh, and there was one more unofficial prize for the stealthiest, best integrated bot -- unanimously awarded to Team LUX by the other teams during the qualifiers. The Ibeo LUX sensors were completely out of view, tucked into the bumpers, ready for the showroom floor. As one GM engineer put it, “Ibeo put a shot across the bow of most automotive manufacturers, to highlight to them that these sensors can be integrated and make it look so that the customer can appreciate having active safety sensors on their car.” Ibeo was also pleased to see that its laser scanner sensors were used by all three of the winners.

Shall we dance again?

More photos and video of Team LUX and the DARPA Urban Challenge are at www.team-lux.com

All photos by Bjoern Gantert www.bjoerngantert.com © 2007 Bjoern Gantert / Marie Cevey

What’s next for DARPA? Rumors abound as to another Urban Challenge next year, possibly including inter-

vehicle communications to enable collaboration and information sharing between vehicles. Or, upping the ante to address more complex urban situations, such as pedestrians or traffic signals. On the other hand, Dr. Tether has noted that the extensive private sector involvement this year signals that maybe DARPA’s job is done – their mission is only to get technology moving, not to create products. What’s next for vehicle automation? I believe the idea has truly taken root this time. Not as a massive publicprivate partnership as was pursued in the 90s; instead as a market-driven innovation, a natural outgrowth and extension of active safety technology. Add the intervehicle communications technology that is well underway around the world, and we’ll have vehicles which are both smart and well-connected plying the roads. We shift from being machine operators to machine supervisors. This will most likely happen first for cars as Traffic Jam Assistants, vehicles which take over both lateral and longitudinal control in low speed stop-and-go traffic. Also keep an eye on developments in the US to build exclusive truck lanes to relieve congestion on major routes – once trucks are segregated, the economics of the trucking industry will lead to semi-automation and eventually full automation and even platooning of heavy trucks. In this mode, labor costs go down and fuel economy goes up – a premise so attractive that it’s only a matter of time before it becomes reality. So now you know. Between my son and my bot, the bot failed its test and Jimmy is thrilled to be driving on his own now. He’s quite good, although I wouldn’t mind having the mind of LUX along as a co-pilot while he’s getting up to speed. TH The Team LUX vehicle will be demonstrated at the Intelligent Vehicles and Intelligent Roads course at the University of Delft in the Netherlands on 3 April 2008, as well as at the ITS World Congress in New York City next November.

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The Thinker

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Critical mass productivity Actions speak louder than words – productivity can improve transportation agency effectiveness, says PHIL TARNOFF 22

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Climate Change When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

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The Thinker In his thought-provoking book “The World is Flat” , Thomas Friedman describes the efforts of businesses such as Dell Computer, WalMart, and UPS to ensure that their operations are managed as efficiently as possible. Obviously, their incentive for focusing on efficiency is improved profitability and improved service delivery in a highly competitive business environment. The success of these companies is achieved by establishing a supply-chain management process that minimizes costs through a number of actions, one of which is maximizing their employee’s productivity. The success of these companies is evidence of the effectiveness of their strategies. Efficiency improvements are not limited to the manufacturing or retail sectors of our economy. As described by Friedman, the Boeing Aircraft Corporation in its “head-to-head competition with archrival Airbus Industries, has incorporated Russian engineers into their aircraft design team. In addition to the fact that Russian salaries are about a third of their US counterparts, their participation has permitted Boeing to operate on a 24hour workday, using two shifts in Moscow and one shift in America. The availability of fiber-optic communications, modern data compression technologies,sophisticated work flow software and video conferencing has permitted the design teams to collaborate seamlessly. In other words, Boeing has creatively used modern technology to reduce the cost and time required for aircraft engineering and design. Efficiency gains can be achieved without relying on foreign outsourcing. JetBlueAirwaysCorporationhasdemonstrated the efficiency of creative staffing by allowing their reservation agents to work from their homes. (They call it homesourcing.) JetBlue President David Needleman has found that reservation agents working from home are 30 percent more productive – they take 30 per cent more bookings, just being happier” . Each of these examples demonstrates that the effectiveness of an organization can be improved through a focus on its primary resource; people. The competitive environment has compelled these organizations, and many others, to continuously examine their business practices and procedures in order to “squeeze” the last ounce of inefficiency from their operations. Obviously the public sector does not operate within the same competitive environment. Funding for public sector services is based on legislative appropriations, which in turn are based on perceived public demand for transportation services. To a greater or lesser extent, public sector employees have greater job security than their private sector counterparts. There are few rewards for efficiency within this structure. As a result of these cultural differences, the public sector rarely performs an introspective examination of its own efficiency. When faced with budget decreases, transportation

agencies often respond with a reduction in services (less frequent equipment and vehicle maintenance, degraded pavement quality, outdated signal timing, etc.). Many state legislatures impose personnel ceilings on their operating agencies. When faced with staff reductions or hiring freezes, the typical response is to either increase private sector outsourcing (if adequate budgets are available), or again, to reduce services. Rarely, if ever does a transportation agency consider actions that might be taken to offset these resource reductions with improved efficiency. Since most of their activities are labor-intensive, improved efficiency can best be achieved through increased staff productivity. Ironically, many opportunities for improved staff productivity exist, but only the obvious ones are given serious consideration.

What is productivity?

In economics terms, productivity is the amount of output created (in terms of goods produced or services rendered) per unit input used. For instance, labor productivity is typically measured as output per worker or output per labor-hour. Opportunities for improved labor productivity include: • Increased use of automation including technologies as computer aided design and engineering, optimization of maintenance cycles, dispatch and routing software, etc. • Improved management techniques including the use of performance measures for increasing the awareness of productivity as an agency priority • Reorganization to make better use of existing staff such as a review of the relative efficiencies associated with centralized vs. decentralized operations • Training to ensure that all employees are using the most effective and efficient procedures in the execution of their responsibilities • Outsourcing of agency functions that can be more efficiently performed by the private sector • Creative use of work schedules and locations (telecommuting). For example in some states freeway service patrol operators are allowed to take their state vehicles home. There are many instances of these drivers stopping to help motorists with disabled vehicles or assist in clearing an incident while they are on their way to work. Perhaps the most effective technique is the use of a process through which employees are encouraged to identify potential productivity improvements, and receive awards for those ideas that are accepted. A process of this nature increases the focus on productivity, and provides incentives for employees to improve their effectiveness. When considering the productivity of an organization, there is a temptation to make a distinction between productive and unproductive labor, in which the former is directly responsible for producing the needed goods

“Opportunities for improved staff productivity exist, but only the obvious ones are given serious consideration”

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Freedom is key, how about safety?

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The Thinker

and services (design engineers, service patrol drivers, maintenance personnel, etc.) and the latter is considered a support function (building maintenance, trainers, cleaning personnel, etc.). This concept was abandoned in the early 20th century both because of the difficulty of allocating activities to one of these two categories (for example is the human resources staff considered productive or unproductive labor), as well as the fact that all positions within an organization contribute to the productivity of the organization. However, these biases of the 18th and 19th century remain today. This is exhibited by the fact that, when required, reductions in staff tend to have the greatest impact on job classifications that may be considered unproductive labor. Obviously this can be a counterproductive action since, for example, employees who are worrying about the status of their health insurance due to cuts in the human resources staff, will not operate effectively.

ated. The conclusions of this second assessment were very instructive. Not surprisingly, the national results showed only very modest improvement in signal operations during this relatively brief time period. However, a relatively small group of jurisdictions responded proactively to their initial results, by instituting an aggressive signal management and operations program. The productivity impact reported by the City of Austin to this approach is so compelling, that the relevant aspects of its experience are cited here in their entirety from the NTOC final report. “According to Ali Mozdbar, city traffic signal engineer with the City of Austin,TX, USA,“We are constantly under pressure from the public to improve our signals. Once we got the self assessment tool, we concluded that the most important items are managing and maintaining a good system. When we received our grade, it was clear what areas we needed to improve.” As a result, the City began to put more emphasis on timing plans and updates and became more proactive in its approach. Mozdbar credits the self assessment with helping the City focus staff on critical areas. “We sat down and brainstormed,” says Mozdbar,“and decided to assign different zones to each person. This allows engineers to feel a sense of ownership for their signals. We provide incentives such as time off for engineers who manage areas that are doing well.” The City of Austin made its signal improvements with no additional funding, just a reallocation of dollars. Instead of spending money on the back side by responding to signals that have problems or receive a lot of complaints, the City spends money up front by proactively checking every signal for preventative maintenance. This has helped reduce maintenance calls from 5,000 to 2,500 in one year. From this description it is obvious that Austin was able to significantly improve staff productivity through organizational changes, employee incentives, and modifications to maintenance procedures. This is a vivid example of the manner in which productivity improvements lead to provision of improved agency performance. Example 2, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT): While a few State DOTs mention productivity in their promotional material, most of these references are related to the productivity of the transportation system (vehicle miles of travel, tons of goods shipped, etc.) per mile of roadway. However, the NCDOT is a significant exception. In recognition of the importance of employee productivity, NCDOT established an internal management consulting unit whose mission is to bring “innovative approaches to process management improvement, problem solving and positive organizational change”. The Unit promotes continuous improvement in the effectiveness of NCDOT by influencing policy, processes and change. Two specific pro-

“While productivity of transportation agency staff is rarely considered, there are some noteworthy exceptions”

Success stories and other possibilities

While productivity of transportation agency staff is rarely considered, there are some noteworthy exceptions. Example 1, the City of Austin Texas: In 2007, the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) conducted its second assessment of the Nation’s traffic signal systems. The initial assessment was conducted in 2005. This self assessment was conducted to increase awareness of the impact of traffic signal operations on the transportation system, and to encourage agencies and their elected officials to provide adequate resources to ensure that these systems are being effectively oper-

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The Thinker

“The list of ways in which productivity can be improved is endless”

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grams serve as representative examples of the Unit’s activities: 1. An incentive pay pilot project has been authorized by the General Assembly for the purpose of improving staff productivity. This pilot project is currently being applied to the State Road Maintenance Road Oil and the Bridge Inspections Units. Financial incentives are well known techniques for improving staff productivity that are rarely applied by public agencies. 2. A continuous Process Improvement (CPI) program has been established to promote ideas and opportunities for the application of new techniques for improving the Department’s efficiency. This program includes CPI Awards for inventive ideas that lead to more effective performance. Among the 2007 CPI Award winners was the acquisition of robotic total station survey equipment for stadia surveys. A stadia survey is one that measures angle and distance, using a traditional transit and rod. The DOT had required the assignment of a spotter along with a rodman during surveys at high speed locations. The acquisition of the robotic total station survey equipment eliminated the need for the spotter at these locations and also led to an estimated 10 to 25 per cent reduction in survey time. This is an example of the application of technology to improved employee productivity. It is also an example of the manner in which employee participation in the process can lead to creative and useful techniques. The robotic survey equipment is just one of an entire range of ideas receiving awards from the NCDOT Productivity Unit, that include items such as enhanced database and processing for the State’s Adopt-A Highway program, and improved sign racks for the State’s sign trucks. One of the most visible and effective productivity improvements adopted by the transportation community is the use of electronic toll collection systems (such as EZPass) which have enabled significant toll collection productivity by reducing the need for toll collectors and increasing the throughput at toll plazas. So the list of ways in which productivity can be improved is endless. All that is required is the will and the focus to identify and implement these improvements on a continuous basis. The key to an effective program is continuous measurement, encouragement and incentives. There is little doubt that improved productivity is a more positive response to resource limitations than a reactionary cut in services.

Concluding thoughts

Productivity should not be considered the holy grail of the public transportation agency. It is possible to improve productivity while reducing the quality of life and morale of an agency’s employees. However, it is also possible to improve productivity by enhancing the work environment, and reorienting the priorities of the staff. A balanced approach is obviously critical to successful productivity enhancement. Based on the available evidence, the current public agency culture has a long way to go before it needs to be concerned about placing too much emphasis on productivity. TH Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Road Pricing Special

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

If not tolls, then what? As MIKE SENA explains, road tolling is hardly a new idea, but what better alternatives have been invented over the last 2000 years? 28

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Climate Change Road Pricing The word “toll” has many meaning and most of them having negative connotations. As a noun it is a “fixed charge or tax for a privilege, especially for passage across a bridge or along a road”. It is also a charge for a service, such as a long distance telephone call. Toll as a noun can also mean “an amount or extent of loss or destruction”, as in ‘The storm took a heavy toll on life and property’. As a verb, it means “to sound a bell slowly at regular intervals”, or, “to announce an arrival with such sounds”. Toll, as in “Ask not for whom the bell tolls…” derives from the Middle English tollen, which means “to ring an alarm” derived from the Old English word tyllan in fortyllan, which means “to attract or allure”. The word toll as a “tax” comes from the Greek telos, tax, through to Old English, toln. Tax collector in Greek is telones. The Greek for toll booth is teloneion, in Latin it is teloneum, and in Medieval Latin it is tolonium. Toll as “tax” is translated into French and German as tribut, into Italian as tributo. Since there are Latin and Greek words for tolls and toll booths, one might naturally assume that tolls were collected back in ancient times. Rodolfo Lanciani, in his book Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries wrote: “Travelling on the great consular roads of Italy was always made disagreeable by publicans, or toll and octroi collectors.”

User pays (early version)

In earlier times, kings and local lords taxed their subjects to travel on their roads and across their bridges. Later, it was a building society or corporation that incurred the debt to pay for the road or bridge. Today, it is governments who take for themselves the privilege of imposing economic restrictions on movement to achieve a variety of goals, such as to channel that movement into collective forms of transportation. There are also tolls that are charged for entrance into a city, region or state. From ancient times and well into the 19th century, walls surrounding cities were built to ensure that trade routes passed through the cities’ gates. Tolls or customs were levied by the ruler of the city region on people and the goods they carried into the city. The records of customs for the City of London in 1260 are recorded in a volume called Liber Albus, which list the customs to be paid for goods passing into or through London. In 1856, there were 117 toll gates within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross, the official “centre” of London. Approximately 150 years later, in February 2003, London re-instituted a tolling system. Instead of bars and turnpikes, it consisted of cameras that photograph the license plates of vehicles entering the so-called Congestion Zone. Initial results during the first few months of the congestion charging scheme in London were all positive. Traffic was supposedly down by 30 per cent, with 65,000 fewer vehicles entering the charging zone. Transport for London was claiming that the large majority of these people had simply switched over to public transport. But 18 months later, The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry published their Third Survey of the effect www.h3bmedia.com

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Road Pricing on the retail sector painting a very different picture, one that showed a severe effect on business in the charging zone. It seems that instead of switching to public transport, many people just did not travel into London. The “non-essential trips” made by shoppers, tourists and some business people, were the reason the numbers had fallen, and it appears that these had the greatest effects on the businesses in the charging zone.

And so to Sweden...

A similar system to London’s was put into place in Stockholm on 3 January 2006 on a trial basis. The Environmental Charge (the opponents called it a Congestion Tax) would be tested for close to seven months and then put to a vote in the City of Stockholm to decide whether it would be scrapped or continued. The cost of this test was approximately €400m. As opposed to a single flat charge for entering the zone, as in London, there were variable charges based on time of day, and charges were incurred both when entering and exiting the zone. The system read the license plates of cars, as in London, and kept track of each car’s total toll for the day. After three months, the group responsible for the scheme reported that total road usage inside and around the charging zone dropped by 25 per cent. It seems that 15 per cent of the people who had been using up space on the city’s streets were there with no real purpose because they simply disappeared after the congestion charge was instituted. A total of 100,000 “vehicle passages” left the roads, but only 40,000 new riders showed up on the collective transport system. According to reports by the city authorities, they “have not detected any traffic diversion”. The 25 per cent traffic reduction in traffic is similar to the London reduction, and, as in London, it appears to be to the maximum number of cars that can be taken out of the pool of cars before the economic viability of the scheme becomes questionable. In other words, if the price is so high that more than 25 per cent of the drivers avoid the congestion area, the costs of managing the collection of tolls is much larger than the income generated by it, and the costs to businesses and individuals exceeds any benefits from traffic congestion reduction. Shortly after the trial closed at the end of July 2006, a report on the local economic effects of the charging scheme that had been commissioned by the authorities was released. Rich men paid the most congestion tax. It was reported that approximately 4 per cent of the private car drivers paid one-third of the total fees. These car drivers were men, high income wage earners, and residents of the inner city. Men in general paid twice as much as women; medium income wage earners were those who reduced their automobile usage the most. In other words, those who continued to drive were those who could afford to do so. They, along with commercial drivers and service vehicles, were the principal beneficiaries of the reduced traffic. Removed from rush hour traffic during the first days are all those who cannot afford to pay the tolls, or those,

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Photo by Robert Bain (www.robertbainphotography.co.uk)

A battle of the sexes

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Road Pricing who out of principle, refuse to do so. This has generally been around 15 per cent of travelers. They travel out of the rush hour times; they switch to bus, train, foot, cycle or pool car; or they take an alternate route that is not within the toll area. Another group who have been shown to remove themselves permanently from the tolled roads are those who make incidental trips into the toll zone. They represent between 10 and 15 per cent of the travelers. This group stop using the services inside the congestion charging zone, and they do not take public transport into the zone, so they are not recorded in the ranks. However, they do not just disappear. They do their shopping or conduct their business outside the zone, in part helping to fill the parking lots of suburban malls.

Left, right

It may seem remarkable that many of the strongest proponents of inner city road charging are politicians of the left, who should be, in theory, supporters of egalitarianism. Closing a street for all drivers is fair; leaving it open for all drivers is fair; but closing it for drivers who cannot afford to pay for the privilege discriminates against people with lower incomes. As a concept, “congestion charging” implies that people who can afford to pay the toll have a greater need to use the road, and therefore a greater right than people who cannot. One highway manager put it bluntly: “Not everyone can travel at the same time. Pricing is the means of rationing.” The fallacy of congestion charging it that it is a final solution to congestion. The reality is that in time, a new equilibrium is established. From the baseline established in the wake of congestion charging, traffic volumes increase along with population growth if, and only if, commerce and industry in the area increase as well; or, traffic volumes decrease if the population shrinks and/or if businesses move beyond the tolling zone. If traffic volumes increase over time, rates have to be made substantially higher to create a new shock to the travellers’ pocketbooks. If traffic volumes decrease to levels that either do not sustain the costs of collecting the tolls (if the scheme should be self-financing), or if reduced car usage has such a negative effect on the businesses in the tolled areas that they are forced to close, rates will have to be significantly reduced or eliminated altogether. If governments of any colour on the political spectrum insist on using road charging as a tax revenue option, then it should be a fair tax. Rather than basing the sizes of a toll on the time of day, or, worse, having a flat toll as in London, why not base it on ability to pay and the need to drive? Shouldn’t a low income, two-job wage earner who needs to get across town between her third and first shift, have priority to use the roads over a high-income executive? She should pay a lower fee, one that is commensurate with her income and circumstances. Does it really make sense to charge an executive earning a six or seven figure income the same amount to use the roads as a person making the minimum hourly wage? How could this differentiation on the basis of fairness be accomplished? Governments have no problems www.h3bmedia.com

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Road Pricing

Some alternatives

Are there alternatives to tolls? There are, and those cities that use them instead of tolls do so for sound reasons. In order to really compare these alternatives to paying directly for driving on a road, over a bridge or through a tunnel, or driving into a district, it is essential to be clear on the fundamental reasons for instituting any form of driving restriction. A list of possible reasons would include the following: • Provide a source of revenue to pay for the constructed infrastructure. • Provide a source of revenue for maintenance of the infrastructure. • Provide for economic transfer payments to subsidize collective transport. • Provide an economic advantage for the collective transport alternative by making private automobile use

prohibitively expensive. • Reduce the number of private vehicles to increase the average speeds and on-time arrival of buses or surface rail systems. • Reduce the overall number of vehicles in order to reduce CO2 or other emissions, accidents involving pedestrians or cyclists, space allocated to parking, noise related to heavy traffic. “Reducing traffic congestion” is not a valid reason on its own because it is a euphemism for getting the economically challenged drivers off the road in order to make more room for the economically advantaged.

Bolognese source

There are other ways to reduce the overall number of vehicles without instituting regressive taxes on all drivers. In 1972 one Italian city, Bologna, began to introduce restrictions in its historic centre. Areas were made pedestrian-only and bus lanes were added to streets, limiting space for private cars and trucks. In 1984, the people of Bologna voted in a local referendum to implement even further restrictions on private automobiles in the centre. Access to the centre became totally restricted between the hours of 07.00 and 20.00, except for certain vehicles, such as hotel guests, taxis, buses, residents and shop owners. Speed limits were reduced to 30 km/h on all roads and parking spaces were reduced. One of the main objectives achieved was the reduction of carbon

“There are alternatives to tolls and cities that use them do so for sound reasons”

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Photo by Robert Bain (www.robertbainphotography.co.uk)

using income tests to gauge what its citizens should pay for certain services, including their state and federal tax burden and how much they are able to pay for their children’s higher education. Why not apply the same tests to road usage? If the toll payment technology can match license plates to people who have paid and people who have not, and to track the toll evaders down to their doorsteps in order to deliver a fine, that technology can surely keep tabs on a database that says what fee an individual should pay, and whether the fee has been paid.

Road Pricing monoxide levels by more than 75 per cent. Congestion reduction also improved the efficiency of businesses in the district and increased safety for pedestrians.

Another way of doing it

The City of Gothenburg, Sweden has attempted to make driving within the old city compound a nightmare without actually closing streets, instituting tolls or charging excessive prices for parking. Gothenburg is Sweden’s second largest city with approximately half a million residents. It is also home to two of Sweden’s vehicle manufacturers, Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks. It has an old centre that has a design reminiscent of Amsterdam, with circumferential canals and radial streets. While traffic congestion in Gothenburg was never as severe as in the country’s capital, Stockholm, the city’s planners decided that they wanted to maintain the quiet, pedestrian-oriented environment that had existed before the advance of car and truck traffic. In the early 1960s, Gothenburg’s central district was divided into five traffic zones. Cars and trucks could drive into each of the zones, but driving between zones was highly restricted. To move between zones, it is necessary to drive out to a low-speed parkway that circles the district and then to drive into the next zone. Traffic was reduced inside the district by almost 50 per cent when the restrictions were introduced, pedestrian and bicycle accidents were reduced by 45 per cent, and buses and trolleys significantly improved on-time performance. The system is still in force. Restrictions on the number of parking places, sky-high parking fees for workers and free parking for shoppers have been the most common alternatives to congestion charging in the large northeastern US cities. This approach actually reversed the pre-1980s city planning recommendations for new tower offices in downtown areas to provide a maximum number of parking spaces for employees, usually beneath the building. One example of this is Boston, Massachusetts, one of the oldest cities in the US with a tortuous street pattern in its business and financial district. The city has had bridge and turnpike tolls since cows were grazing on the Boston Common. It has also had one of the most extensive public transportation networks in the country comprising underground, trolley, bus and commuter rail. Still, by the 1980s, following a construction boom in the city, congestion on the clogged arteries threading through the city of Boston seemed to be an intractable problem. Gradually, the parking rates in the central business district were raised from a few dollars per day to over ten times that amount by the mid-1980s. At the same time, large park-and-ride facilities were constructed at the fringes of the city where commuters could park for the entire day for free.They were patrolled and safe. Office building continued. The number of jobs in the city actually is higher than the number of residents, 671,000 versus 600,000, with services accounting for half of the total. Boston has succeeded better than other cities with getting commuters

to use public transit, and they have done it without instituting congestion charging schemes. Park-and-ride is the key. Almost 40 per cent of Boston workers use public transit to commute, either from their communities on the south shore, north shore or western suburbs, or from the park-and-ride facilities. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ridership has increased by 30 per cent since 1970. Around 15 per cent of residents of Boston walk to work.

Keeping the city alive

Cities and city regions are sensitive organisms. They are born, they grow and prosper. Sometimes they stagnate, decline, fall into decay and die. They have good periods and poor periods, depending on countless factors, including those that can be affected by humans and those that are completely out of human control. When city governments attempt to modify the movement behaviour of the people who live in, work in or otherwise use the city, they must be aware that their actions can have unforeseen effects. While the short-term results of instituting congestion charging schemes may be easy to measure in reduced traffic on the streets and reduced emissions in the air, the long-term effects may not be evident until after a long period has passed, after the mayor who pushed for them has gone on to another place. Before rushing into congestion charging, governing bodies should consider all the potential consequences, both positive and negative, and seriously test all of the other available options. In my book Beating Traffic: Time to Get Unstuck, four specific recommendations are made to help you and your family get unstuck from traffic. They relate to the daily school run, using the car for recreational trips, shopping, and trips to work. Practical steps are presented on how you can change your behavioral patterns to avoid getting into traffic jams in the first place. The final chapter provides a description of tools you can use when you are on the road to see potential congestion dangers well before you are in the middle of them, and to assist you in planning your journeys so that you reach your destination when you had hoped to get there. My goal with this book is to help you develop a plan that will accentuate the positive experiences of daily travel for you in the future, and, if not eliminate, at least minimize the negative effects of traffic congestion. Knowing the enemy, especially the one within, the one who gets in the car when it would be just as easy to walk, and turning the enemy’s weaknesses into your own strengths is the key to overcoming our over dependence on our vehicles and minimizing our risks of landing in a traffic jam. You can change how you get to all the A and B points during a normal day, and you can even change where those points are on your travel map. TH

“Cities are sensitive organisms. They are born, they grow and prosper”

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Mike Sena is principal of Michael L Sena Consulting AB, based in Asa, Sweden. He can be contacted via email at [email protected] Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Road Pricing

The public supports road pricing if... JOHANNA ZMUD tackles the issue of public acceptability and examines just what, if anything, would make ‘the people’ embrace the idea of paying to use the roads

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

34 Vol 2 No 4

Thinking Highways

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Climate Change Road Pricing The potential benefits of road pricing have been advocated for some time and the technology to implement pricing schemes has been operational for years. Singapore introduced its first congestion-pricing scheme in 1975. London has implemented a major scheme, and San Francisco and New York City may not be far behind. Public authorities in states across the US, from California and Texas to Virginia, are pushing forward with plans to implement high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. Pay-asyou-drive pricing programs have been tested in Oregon,Washington, and Minnesota. But other public authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere have found it difficult to advance road pricing programs. If the benefits are good and the technology can deliver, why are not more public authorities around the world implementing road pricing as a source of infrastructure funding, a means to manage congestion and improve air quality, and as a way to expand traveler options?

When DAVID SCHONBRUNN Why have diverse attempts to introduce tolling and road pricing been successfully implemented, while read the April/May issue ofothers have failed politically? The bottom line is that the Thinking Highways feasibility of these efforts depended nothe only felt on public support but also on to elected officials’ compelled write anperceptions articleof public support. In many places, a gulf offering his own exists between elected officials’ perviews onthinks… and ceptions of what the public whattransportation’s the public actually thinks.

“A gulf exists between elected officials’ and Be impacts careful what onm you say... perceptions of The power of surveys to climate illuminate the solutions for, attitudes of citizens means that results what the public are often used change as the foundation for thinks… and policymaking. As aptly said by Earl American Petroleum Institute, what the public Newsom, nearly 50 years ago, “Today’s public actually thinks” opinion, though it may appear light as

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air, may become tomorrow’s legislation – for better or worse.” Ipsos MORI, a survey research firm in the UK, recently found that public opinion tended to swing in support of road pricing when people were informed about how the revenues could be used to bring

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Road Pricing Table 1: Public Opinion based on Type of Pricing Survey Results

Majority Support Majority Opposition Neither Majority Total Percent Total Cases

HOT Lanes

Type of Pricing Project Traditional Tolling Express Toll Lanes

73% 15% 12% 100% 26

71% 26% 3% 100% 35

benefits (1). A nonscientific web poll sponsored by the American Automobile Association (AAA) Mid-Atlantic in the latter part of this year found most respondents from six Mid-Atlantic States and the District of Columbia favored paying higher tolls to maintain roads and bridges – not higher gas taxes. These are singular public opinion events, and it would be easy to find surveys or polls that have found opposite results. Given the link between policymaking and public opinion, the quality of public opinion data is critical. But who controls the quality of the measures of public opinion that are communicated to public officials and policymakers? The quality of scientific research is typically controlled through the process of publication and replication. The way in which surveys or public opinion polls are reported often misses the checks and balances developed as part of the scientific process. So how does one know what the public actually thinks?

What does the public actually think?

NuStats recently conducted a systematic review of how the public feels about tolling and road pricing(2). Our synthesis provided a broad perspective on public opinions across the U.S. and internationally. It was based on a thorough review of the published literature, a scan of national and international media stories on the topic, and contact with organizations with interest in or experience with tolling programs and road pricing. Among the 110 polls and surveys reviewed in this “survey of surveys”, 56 per cent of them showed support for tolling and road pricing. Opposition was encountered in 31 per cent. Mixed results (i.e., no majority support or opposition) occurred in 13 per cent. As a point of comparison, NuStats also reviewed public opinion on tax-related initiatives for infrastructure funding and found almost the opposite pattern of support and opposition. The aggregate level of support for tax-related initiatives was 27 percent, with 60 per cent opposed. In the aggregate, the public supports tolling and road pricing. Popular discourse would have politicians and their constituents believing that the public is categorically opposed to tolling and road pricing. The reality is that, in the case of road pricing, the nuances matter. A lot.

The “If’s”

Public opinion was more supportive: • If a specific project was targeted or referenced in the poll versus general questioning on tolling or road pric-

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62% 23% 15% 100% 13

Cordon / Area Pricing

Private Ownership

32% 53% 16% 100% 19

0% 60% 40% 100% 10

ing with a specific reference. • If potential users of the tolled facility were surveyed rather than the general public. • If clarifying information or a description of benefits were presented to respondents as part of the survey question, such as “would you support tolls, if the revenues were invested in improving public transport?” An important finding of the ”survey of surveys” was that support varied according to the type of project on which public opinion was solicited. The notable standouts are cordon/ area pricing and private-ownership, both of which showed higher opposition than support. Public opinion was supportive in the vast majority of surveys or polls asking about HOT lanes, traditional tolling, or express toll lanes. See `Table 1.

So what does the public want?

Our research identified eight ideas related to building public acceptance. • The public wants to see value. When a concrete benefit to an acknowledged problem is linked to the idea of tolling or road pricing, public support is higher. • The public prefers tangible and specific rationales. When public opinion is measured in the context of a specific project as opposed to as a general principle, the level of support is higher. • The public cares about the use of toll revenues. When revenues are linked to specific uses (i.e., public transit improvements or local infrastructure improvements) and not to general pooled funds, support tends to be higher. • The public learns from experience. When the opportunity to use a tolled facility already exists, public support is higher than when it is simply a possibility for the future. Support from a majority of citizens cannot be expected from the outset. Building support is a longterm, continuous process that should not stop after implementation. • The public uses knowledge and information available. When opinion is informed by objective explanation of the conditions and mechanics of tolling and its pros and cons, public support is higher than when there is no context for how tolling works. This factor explains why members of the public may express negative opinion about tolling as a theoretical concept but will use a priced facility when it opens. • The public believes in equity and fairness. When there is perceived fairness in the application of tolling or road pricing schemes, public support is higher. This www.h3bmedia.com

Road Pricing is why having an alternative cost-free route is so important to the public or why support is generally higher for tolling new facilities than for tolling existing facilities. In terms of equity, there is general agreement that decisions to use or not use a priced facility is a matter of individual choice – revolving around motorist’s situational needs and preferences. • The public wants simplicity. When the mechanics of tolling or other user fee programs are simple, and therefore, easy to understand, public support is higher than in situations where there is a high level of complexity in how the pricing scheme will work. • The public favors tolls if the alternative is taxes. When given a binary choice, most people prefer tolling to taxes. With toll revenues, the public is more assured of “getting a fair share,” since revenues are generally generated and applied locally.

Delivering the Goods

The political nature of a community and its interest groups can often shape the public debate on tolling and road pricing and tend to obscure the majority opinion on the issue. A very vocal minority can often transform the complex subject of road pricing into an object of politicking. Rather than stimulate discussion, the transformation of pricing into a political issue has in some places resulted

in policies that possess superficial majority appeal but fail to address the real issues of how to deal with infrastructure financing, congestion management, or global warming. An early pioneer in the science of public opinion measurement, George Gallup, suggested that, with the measurement of public opinion, politicians “will be better able to represent… the general public by avoiding the kind of distorted picture sent to them…by overzealous pressure groups who claim to speak for all the people, but actually speak for themselves” (3). The public may have little daily contact with many issues on the public agenda, yet their opinions greatly influence policymakers. What can we do about it? We need an informed public. The public needs to say, “We consent.” But, the public still lacks credible, available, objective information on the benefits and challenges in tolling and road pricing. The public needs to understand the problems so they can accept a solution. We also need to track public opinion over time, particularly in the context of regional or local initiatives – from the idea stages to implementation and ultimate usage by the public. It is important to track the nature of support and opposition across variations in project type and to document how public opinion can shift with changing values, new knowledge, or a new state of the world. TH

“When the mechanics of tolling or other user fee programs are simple to understand, public support is higher”

References

1 Ipsos MORI. http://www.ipsos-mori.com/polls/ 2007. 2 Report to be released by the Transportation Research Board in early 2008. 3 Gallup, G., and S. Rae. “The Pulse of Democracy: The Public Opinion Poll and How it Works.” New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940. Dr. Johanna Zmud, Ph.d, is president of NuStats – A PTV Company, based in Austin, Texas. She can be reached at [email protected] www.h3bmedia.com

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Road Pricing Special

You don’t have to queue if you don’t want to Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Traffic congestion, suggests AL GULLON, is not the tragedy of the commons that some make it out to be 38

Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

Following my rant in the last issue of ETC, etc on the hidden tolls imposed by modern-day trolls on both urban congestion pricing and on motorway tolls my thoughts have been several times drawn back to traffic congestion in general. Not the least of those ‘drawbacks’ was welcome feedback from Wiebren de Jonge from the Netherlands. In a nice ‘turn’ of phrase in his email he suggested that I had“missed the right exit” from my motorway story. He explained that metaphor by correctly pointing out that my traffic safety argument against motorway tolls (more fatalities overall because the toll diverts traffic to the less safe infrastructure of secondary roads) was too simplistic. It can only be strictly applied to situations in which motorways are more expensive than other roadways and thus is not an argument against congestion pricing in general. Following that idea led me to the thought that, sooner or later, someone with a limited understanding of economics (but much practical experience in politics) was going to declare traffic congestion a ‘tragedy of the commons’ (TOC) and thus amenable to ‘fixing’ through the ‘price mechanism’. That led me back to a presentation I made in RECYCLE ‘94 in Davos, Switzerland in which I www.h3bmedia.com

RoadClimate Pricing Change Special

discussed the origins of the concept of TOCs. In the intervening years I have revisited the subject in various presentations and the text box below now includes ‘acronymical’ advice to governments on the careful extirpation of environmental TOCs (those acronyms allude to the ticking of the Doomsday Clock so often invoked by activists to encourage faster action on the environmental front). Having read that text box (admittedly it’s at the end of the article, so I’ll forgive you if you haven’t yet) you can now see that traffic congestion is not a TOC. The roadway infrastructure is not “overused to the point of extinction”. It will still be there for tomorrow’s commute. Indeed having disappeared beneath a sea of vehicles it will reappear in only a few hours. Moreover it is neither a natural resource nor in limited supply since more lane length could be added whether longitudinally or horizontally … or vertically!

Neither tragic nor common

The above shows that congestion is not a TOC but neither is it a case for “user pay”. In the lead-in to the previous rant I pointed out that it is a fundamental function of government to provide adequate (actually a small surwww.h3bmedia.com

DAVID SCHONBRUNN feit When is better) transportation and communication (T&C) infrastructure to facilitate economic read the April/Maydevelopment. issue ofThe welfare, economic and otherwise, of every citizen is so Thinking Highways he feltless intimately bound up in efficient T&C that anything than perfection (which of coursean unattainable but compelled toiswrite article could be more closely approached with wiser governoffering his own views on ments) detracts measureably from that welfare. The impacts sign,transportation’s “Je roule pour vous.”, on the back of some trucks in Franceonm is absolutely true. and solutions for, The governmental responsibility for T&C thus imposed climate includes a duty to recognize change that, in an expanding economy/population, traffic is only going to increase and therefore roadway infrastructure must be built with an eye for future demand, including using that infrastructure to ‘suggest’ directions for urban expansion. Thus any restriction of access to the present infrastructure, including ramp metering and congestion charging, is an attempt to cover up an error of omission with an error of commission. Before suggesting some alternates to access restrictions it is perhaps useful to review briefly the economic concepts of the ‘price mechanism’ and monopoly. To economists the price mechanism achieves an optimum allocation of resources through, in a free market, balancing supply and demand. An increase in demand raises the price and the price increase encourages new producers to enter the market … and the increased supply lowers the price. In stark contrast a monopoly is, like a TOC, a “market failure” in that the price mechanism is inoperative and thus most governments have laws against monopolies, e.g. the just-concluded EU case against Microsoft. Although the provision of roadways is a ‘natural monopoly’ any government operating a congestion charging scheme is doing exactly the same thing as the muchdecried monopolist who takes the position that his profits are maximized if he limits production and charges an extortionate price. Alternatives to access restriction exist!

The first is to recognize the huge impact that busses have on traffic congestion. As an illustration I take you back to Toronto in the late 1970s when I was head of mobile sources emission control for Environment Canada. When a bus driver strike was announced I phoned my Ontario counterpart to see if, rather than waiting for the monthly report, he could get immediate access to the air pollution monitoring data so we could see how much of an increase in automotive-related emissions would result from the increased automobile traffic. To our surprise automobile pollution went dramatically down! It turns out that each slow-moving, multi-stopping bus has a congestion impact, and thus a pollution impact, equal to 30 or 40 cars! Thus considerable congestion relief can be had by re-arranging the allocation of existing laneways. In suburbia ‘bus only’ lanes can be designated for the two ‘rush hours’ each day. As the commuting traffic approaches the urban core, buses can (usually) be switched to alternate routes designated as “Local Traffic Only”. Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Road Pricing Special No truck with India

Further to urban congestion I suggest something which was used to good effect in both ancient Rome and modern-day New Delhi (my childrens’ suspicions aside I have personal experience only with the latter): ban all trucks from 07.00 to 19.00. During the visit to New Delhi in 2000 (for an evening lecture/discussion on my research with SAE’s Northern India Section) I didn’t notice the absence of trucks until I saw, and asked about, large numbers in, mostly informal, parking areas outside the city during the day. Trucks are not a large percentage of total traffic but, like buses, each has a HUGE congestion impact. Although some extra pay for the night shift may be necessary I expect that driver’s time would be cut by a third and fuel consumption by half for the same tonnage delivered… and there would certainly be a longer term benefit to maintenance costs.

To mitigate congestion during the two rush hours each day, I would suggest that city authorities abandon ‘extortionate pricing’ in favour of helping the private sector optimize ‘staggered hours’. City officials would try to balance commuter traffic between suggested start times of, say, 08.00 and 10.00, by maintaining a register of start-of-day times for the larger corporations. Office efficiency might even get a boost with two hours of internal ‘file maintenance and face time’, either before or after ‘core hours’, which would be relatively uninterrupted by client meetings. In closing I should mention that the latter two suggestions, alone or combined, will bring an environmental bonus. Both the total daily emissions and maximum daily pollutant concentrations will be greatly reduced. TH

“Each slowmoving, multistopping bus has a congestion and pollution impact equal to 30 to 40 cars”

Al Gullon can be contacted via email at [email protected]. Visit his website, www.alsaces.ca

Governments, the “Tragedy of the Commons” and a Ticking Clock “The tragedy of the commons” (TOC) is one of a small number of market failures recognized by economists. In a TOC at least one of the factors of production costs nothing or very little and thus will be overused to the point of extinction. In the dry, dispassionate (dismal?) language of economists,“ the price mechanism is partially or completely inoperative and thus the actions of economic agents result in an allocation of resources which is sub-optimal.” The classic example is one of cows on the commons.The herdsmen in the local village all have free access to a common grazing land. Milk production per cow remains steady over the years, yielding a profit of 10 per cent over the costs of production, as the herd grows to the maximum carrying capacity of the commons. Beyond that capacity however the addition of a half-dozen extra cows causes both a reduction of available feed and extra effort by each cow so that milk production falls by 2 per cent (but, since costs remain the same, profit falls by 20%!). With no better place to invest, the individual herdsman can still make a sound investment in additional cows but his additional income is now coming out of the pockets of his fellow herdsmen. Moreover, the natural human reaction to a reduction in income is to work harder, i.e. to increase his herd size! By now the nature of the “tragedy” should be clear to the reader but not necessarily to the individual herdsman.Without such a neatly measured overview he is much more likely to attribute the loss to the vagaries of weather or the age of the herd. In order that this concept can serve as a guide to proper government action one must examine the semantics more closely. In spite of both the lovely pastoral image called to mind by the classic example and the fact that it sometimes results in damage to the environment, the TOC is not an environmental tragedy. It was recognized and named at a point in history when humans had not yet harnessed sufficient energy to do irreparable damage to nature and, more important to our understanding, when the word ‘tragedy’ had not yet been banalized to mean any very sad or disastrous event.At the time the word alluded to ‘Greek tragedy’, a theatre play in which the central personage is inexorably impelled to destruction by a fatal flaw in his/her character. It is thus easy to see that the phrase might jump quickly and naturally to the mind of an early, classically educated, economist who suddenly understood that any factor of production which cost nothing would be over-used until it was destroyed ... and with it the truth and beauty of Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’.The ‘tragedy of the commons’ was, and remains, an economic ‘Greek tragedy’ ... but one which often leaves environmental tragedies (current meaning) in its wake. Governments and TOCs : Since resource-related TOCs are caused by the actions of a group on what to them is ‘common’ property they can only be solved by group action. In a democracy this can only mean government action. BUT, just because government must be there doesn’t mean that they will do the right thing when they (finally) arrive at the scene of the ‘tragedy’ nor, and perhaps of more importance, that they will exit the scene on cue, i.e. immediately after the TOC has been fixed. [Most often, as in the offshore fishery, they arrive too late and then hang around meddling with this’n’that until their contribution is ‘net negative’ – pun intended.] The problems posed by pollution can also be fruitfully viewed as TOCs Although human activity impacts the environment most obviously at the two ends of the chain of production, i.e. resource extraction and waste disposal, it is the latter which most often carries no price tag and thus generates the most TOCs. Now the particular atoms, in various combinations, which we call ‘pollution’ in our air, waters and lands got there by a very complex route. It is only by detailed study of that route that the most efficient means of dealing with that pollution can be found. Therefore, as we move into the new millennium, the correct government action with respect to the environment, whether resource depletion or pollution, can be summed up as the ticking of a clock: TLC, TOC, TLC – Tender Loving Care of this planet requires correcting Tragedies Of the Commons by means of Total Life Cycle analysis … and then exiting on cue!

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Vol 2 No 4 Thinking Highways

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Roads Scholar

Highways are getting smarter. They look the same,

With IRD technology, our roads can monitor, record and

black asphalt and white lines but look a little closer.

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ITS and Terrorism

Preventative measures

Stunted growth

BRUCE ABERNETHY presents an update on intelligent transportation systems’ role in the war on terrorism

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Research statistics indicate that the terrorist are not from poor, impoverished families, but generally from middle to upper class families. According to Richard Miniter of the New York Times and the Hudson Institute, (“Composition of the Enemy”), about 60 per cent of the terrorists identified today attended college and less than 15 per cent were from poor families. About 70 per cent of them are married. Their education is primarily scientific, medical or engineering related; few major in liberal arts or even religion in college. They become terrorists at the average age of 26. According to Marc Sageman, a specialist in Terrorism Research at the University of Pennsylvania, Individuals are drawn into the grasp terrorist organizations after they have left their home countries for study and work. They “seek their own kind” and end up in “ghetto like”

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areas of foreign countries where they are drawn to “community religious centers” that teach radical religious beliefs. When you get down to the basics, terrorists are brain washed by radicals, using religion as a clock for a political objective to overthrow the democratic government and to replace it with a dictatorship that supports and enforces control of radical religious doctrines that takes away most of an individual’s freedom. The world saw this during the reign of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The major point is that the free world is dealing with an intelligent, educated enemy. It is an enemy that was perhaps educated through Socialism in European countries as well as the education grant funding awarded to these emerging radicals on the basis of providing a more diverse college student group. As the free world develops strategies to deal with their www.h3bmedia.com

Change ITS Climate and Terrrorism When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

acts, they will obviously adapt counter strategies. The best solution is to eliminate centers for radical teachings in the free world; however, they know that this is not allowed in a free society and is a breech of free speech. This article discusses alternatives from an ITS perspective.

What to do in a free society

Assuming that a free society cannot prevent the preaching of radical religion and conversion of students to terrorism, then detection during preparation for terrorist acts must be the primary goal of the free world. We recently saw the success of this in Germany with the apprehension of a terrorist cell preparing for multiple bombings. Unfortunately, early detection requires intelligence gathering, constant surveillance of key targets, detection/recognition of suspicious activity and providing this information to counter-terrorism resources. Obviously, intelligence gathering and surveillance impacts public privacy. However, it is important to note that counter-terrorism activity is for the purpose of protecting public safety and our freedom, rather than supporting their overthrow and the ultimate transition to a state run by a group of fanatical people believing that society should reverse itself by thousands of years, based on radical religious doctrines developed for the sake of controlling society for the benefit of a religious sect. ITS has cameras deployed along corridors that support video surveillance. In addition, ITS initiatives deploy CCTV cameras at special event sites (ball parks, stadiums, concert centers, race tracks, etc.) and at other sites that are traffic generators. In addition, the public transit element of ITS deploys CCTV cameras at transit centers, transfer points and within transit vehicles to support traveler safety. The world saw the effectiveness of CCTV surveillance within the transit system in London. Unfortunately, there www.h3bmedia.com

is inadequate deployment of automated image processing equipment for the video to support detection/recognition of suspicious acts and the London CCTV video only became useful in identifying the terrorist postattack and was instrumental in their capture.

Emergency management

Emergency Management, Traffic, and Public Transit Management functions of ITS are not currently highly integrated. This is perhaps because Emergency Management receives its funding from the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, rather than through the Department of Transportation. Emergency Management in many jurisdictions is deploying CCTV cameras independently and is not considering existing CCTV cameras deployed by Traffic and Public Transit operations. A jurisdiction should have a comprehensive video surveillance plan that considers surveillance needs of all operations and determines which video sources are candidates for providing early warning of terrorist activities. It is this video that would be subject to automated analysis with the object of detecting suspicious events or in support of continual intelligence data gathering on individuals known by the intelligence community. Terrorists, being smart, plan their attack. This requires information gathering by them. They need to know the best place to attack innocent civilians in order to achieve maximum kill and maximum economic impact. Their objective is the success of their attack and avoidance of any security barriers that would prevent their success. Generally they utilize simultaneous, multiple attacks and this requires more complex planning and coordination. They must acquire their attack weapons materials, the easiest being conventional explosives. They must store the attack weapons materials until they depart for their attack. Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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ITS and Terrorism

Table 1: ITS Devices Applicable to Supporting Homeland Security ITS Sensor or Other Field Device

Pre Terrorist Attack

Post Terrorist Attack

CCTV Surveillance

Suspicious Activity

HAZMAT

Vehicle Transporting HAZMAT Detection/Location/Report Suspicious Vehicle Activity

Damage Assessment, Evacuation Route Surveillance, Assistance in Attack Area Security Surveillance. Post Attack Assistance in Identifying Terrorist Possible Identification of Attack Agent Used Evacuation Route Surveillance and

VIDS

Detection/Location/Reporting Vehicle Detection Sensors (Radar, Microwave, IR, Acoustic, etc.)

Detection of Unauthorized Vehicle Entry

RWIS

Initial Conditions

Video License Plate Readers

Detection/Identification/Location Report of Vehicle of Interest by Homeland Security Seek Citizens Assistance in Locating a Suspicious Vehicle Identified by DHS No Assistance

Dynamic Message Sign Reversible Lane Signs Electronic Pathfinder Signs

Traffic Signal Controllers Commercial Vehicle Electronic Tag Readers Public Works and Police Vehicles with MDs and AVL Police Vehicle Cameras

Security Sensors Around Critical Transportation Infrastructure

Evacuation Messaging to Citizens on Corridors Allocation of Lanes to Evacuation; Closing Vehicle Access to Areas Special Routing for Special Events in Support Dynamic Establishment of Appropriate of Enhanced Surveillance Evacuation Routes based on Attack Locations and Pluming No Assistance Central Control of Evacuation Route Signalization Possible Support in Apprehending Illegal Identification of Vehicles Authorized to Transport of HAZMAT Support Evacuation Possible Manual Sighting of Suspicious Activity Tracking and Digital Management of Vehicles and Reporting to DHS Associated with Post Attack Response and Emergency Evacuation Automatic License Plate Read/Check Local Video Supporting Evacuation Resulting Possible Detection/Reporting of a Attack Site Security Management and Vehicle of Interest to DHS Coordination Possible Early Detection of Suspicious Post Attack Securing of Critical Infrastructure Activity around Critical Infrastructure

Security begins at home

The objective is to obviously apprehend the terrorist prior to departing for the attack. Their intelligence gathering will have identified the weakness of security at an attack location, and thus when they depart; their probability of success will be generally high. While it is possible that a security guard could detect the terrorist during the attack, rules of engagement in a free society would prevent the guard from firing on the terrorist until it is too late! Thus, early detection/identification of suspicious activity during the preparation phase of the attack is critical. During data collection of the attack, the terrorist will visit candidate attack sites and gather information. They

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Congestion Statistics/Evacuation Progress Reporting Supports in determining Evacuation Route Congestion and Speed (Evacuation Progress). Weather Conditions Impacting WMD Plume Propagation Prediction Post Attack Assistance in Identifying Terrorist Vehicle and Identity

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will most likely take photographs utilizing cell phones and possibly draw sketches. They will observe locations of security provisions and guards as well as the patrol habits of the guards. It is during this period that they may be vulnerable for detection.

What ITS can do

ITS deploys automated barriers for access to reversible lanes, parking areas, and areas requiring special access. There are sensor available that can automatically detect conventional explosives and nuclear materials utilized in explosives. When a terrorist deploys for an attack, most likely the materials will be in a state that they are more readily www.h3bmedia.com

ITS and Terrorism detectable. Even some chemical traces may be detectable at this time. By using automated detection devices at controlled entrances to major centers, a terrorist attack may be stoppable. The barrier must prevent a “crash through” and guards must be provided with appropriate rules of engagement to absolutely stop a vehicle with detected weapons of mass destruction. If detected, the terrorist will most likely detonate the bomb at the detection point. This will not be in the best interest of the health of the entrance guards but will most likely save the lives of hundreds or thousands of people, depending on the terrorist target.

The role of ITS in a terrorist attack

After a terrorist attack, Emergency Management will respond. First responders will assess the extent of the attack and identify needed, additional emergency resources and area security resources. ITS surveillance video cameras can assist in this assessment. Traffic Management resources of ITS will assist the Emergency Operation Center in setting up and managing the appropriate evacuation route. If the jurisdiction has a Construction and Maintenance Management Center, it will coordinate with the EOC and TMC in identifying corridors where debris must be removed before the corridor is usable. This may also involve shutting off (or managing the shut off) of water flow to broken water mains, gas flow on broken gas lines, and electricity for downed power lines.

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The Emergency Management Center of the jurisdiction will become a resource of the Emergency Operation Center supporting response to the emergency, assessment of the attack weapon and attack site dangers, and executing of the appropriate procedures for extinguishing fires, removing the injured, and controlling the safety and security of the attack sites. Table 1 summarizes roles of ITS devices during pre-attack and post attack periods.

Summary

We know that we have terrorist cells within our free society. We know that they are in the process of planning attacks of innocent, freedom-loving people. We must consolidate all of our resources to assist in detecting and identifying the individual terrorist before they initiate their attack. Free society allows apprehension action when positive evidence is available that they are planning to destroy property and kill people. Thus we should better integrate all of our sensor and information processing resources to assist in detection, identification, and location of suspicious activity. Otherwise, we will be utilizing our ITS resources to support Emergency Response and Emergency Evacuation. TH Bruce Abernethy is President of Vector Alpha Systems Inc. based in Allen, TX. He can be contacted by email at [email protected]

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Business Matters

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Brand

republic

In Europe the name Gatso is as synonymous with speed cameras as Hoover is with vacuum cleaners. KEVIN BORRAS met up with TIMO GATSONIDES, grandson of Gatsometer’s founder, as the CEO brings his Dutch firm to the US ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2008 46

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ClimateMatters Change Business SCHONBRUNN the When World and DAVID reticent about attempting to ‘break’ the North American market. However, a very brief Google read the April/May issue of search will tell you that GATSO USA is no longer a pair of Thinking he felt words that generatesHighways a question that begins “Did you mean to search for....?” clearly enthused Gatsonides compelled toA write an article takes up the story. offering his own views on “This is big for us! Until this year, we’d spent decades transportation’s impacts basing our operation for the development and supply of photo-enforcement technology from our headquarters onm and solutions for, in the Netherlands, expanding our business throughout change the world byclimate working alongside third-party distributors, agents and partners. That’s not changed but in the US we felt the time had come to move up a gear. “Our own facility, our own efforts, our own staff and our own technology – but more than that, we’re not only supplying the technology, but running the entire enforcement program, too.” This entails working closely with cities to provide an end-to-end solution, from installing the cameras and running the program to issuing the citations and educating the public about the success of the program. In other words, from violation to citation. “We incorporated the company at the end of the summer and have based ourselves in Massachusetts. We have also opened two outpost offices in Arizona and Illinois. We’re very excited about our new company.” Timing is... everything

A few years ago the British satirical magazine Private Eye ran an article about ‘mobile offices’. The journalist, somewhat lazily, consistenly and mistakenly referred to them throughout the piece as ‘Portakabins’ - the brand name of Britain’s most famous manufacturer of mobile offices. Amazingly, despite what amounted to thousands of pounds worth of free advertising, Portakabin’s CEO wrote a letter of complaint to the editor. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to imagine that if this had been an article about speed cameras and the journalist had referred to them as Gatsos, Timo Gatsonides, the CEO of Gatsometer, would be rubbing his hands with glee and not rifling through his desk drawers to find his fountain pen. Gatsometer, which celebrates its half-century next year, are based in Haarlem on the outskirts of Amsterdam and until very recently have been primarily focused on, in Thinking Highways terms, Europe and the Rest of

The obvious question is “Why now?” Why wait for your 49th year of operation before, metaphorically at least, setting sail for America. “There is a prolific growth of red-light-camera programs being seen throughout the US right now. Although the US market is still in its infancy when compared to the mature programs working around the world, the growth per month is far outpacing all other markets and this wasn’t happening until this last year. Now is the time. For over 12 years, we’d been supplying our technology to the US market through one of our third-party partners, butt with the prolific growth we’ve been seeing, especially in smaller cities of less than 60,000 people, we felt it was time to provide the US market with something more than just another camera system.” Time for another obvious question, then.What are you providing the US with that it’s never had before? “Put simply – stability and credibility. You have to keep in mind that while the US growth is rapid, it’s also happening within a vacuum. As you know, there are rigorous standards for photo-enforcement technologies being used outside of the US, but none exist within the US. “Growth in the US market has often been based on a company’s ability to sell rather than a company’s ability to provide court-proven, credible solutions. With virtually no government recognition, either on a state or federal level; the competitive field in the US has grown from two or three companies to six or seven. Competition is always healthy, but when you’re working in law enforcement technology, we think high standards in accuracy

“There are no rigorous standards for photoenforcement technologies within the US”

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Business Matters and chain of evidence should come first.We believe that the very strengths and successes that have driven our company forward over these many years will be valuable commodities at this exiting time.” So, given this already tough, competitive landscape what makes Gatsonides think his company can make a significant mark? “We’ve met the challenges of international standards and we’re using those same techniques, products and experience in the US. We’re coming into a very special time for Gatsometer. Next year is going to be our 50th anniversary in this business and whatever line of business you’re in, to be doing it successfully for that long shows that you’ve been treating your clients with a long term commitment to improvement and not a short term commitment to make the next month’s accounting sheet look good. “By using the very same technical solutions in the US that we’ve passed approvals with in Europe, we’re bringing violation certainty and by combining that with 49 years of best practice experience, we’re bringing credibility. I can’t think of any city in the US, or anywhere else in the world for that matter that would want anything less.” The Dutch are known for being the tallest Caucasian nation on earth (the average Dutchman is nearly an inch taller than the average Brit) and having worked with many a Netherlands native over the last decade and a bit, they are also, almost by default, a naturally confident people. Gatsonides is over 6ft tall and certainly is not lacking in confidence either. “I am confident, yes. When you look at three main indicators; growth market, established company and strong technology credentials; I think we have a great story to tell. We’re certainly changing the way we do business in the US, but our company mantra remains the same – chain of evidence and established credibility.”

Snapshot

“This is a long term commitment to improvement, not a short term one to make the next month’s accounting sheet look good” Gatsometer’s

So what else is new in world? As if a new, US company wasn’t enough to occupy the firm’s time, they are also hugely happy with their new product: the GS11 camera. “The GS11 will be the camera that we’ll be carrying across to all of our product sectors – red light enforcement, fixed speed and mobile speed. The GS11 is more than a camera though - it’s an imaging engine.” I think I must have recoiled (albeit unintentionally) as Gatsonides is quick to defend his new-found phrase (that same day I had been for a consultation with my eye surgeon and had heard, for the first time, my eyes described as ‘individually functioning vision systems’). “No, really, it is. I know that it sounds corny perhaps, but with so much research and development effort driven into the simple process of capturing the clearest of images in the widest spectrum of weather or light and then encrypting those images at the time of the violation; we believe the descriptive title is warranted.We’ve

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kept the ‘camera never lies ethos in the world of photoenforcement. Well, as far as Gatsometer products go, anyway.” Although the GS11 was not developed primarily for the company’s US push, the ebullient Gatsonides is certain that it will go some way to enhancing the firm’s new, TransAtlantic efforts. “With so much new focus on new redlight photo programs, the GS11 is going to provide the kind of images that cities will insist on. Listen, I spoke earlier about the lack of technical approvals or standard in the US, but sometimes the drive for better technology comes from the customers and not the regulatory bodies. As cities see programs becoming mainstream, they’ll want to see technology and especially images, in step. But it’s not just images; it’s the driving factors behind those images; such as accuracy of vehicle detection, the certifiable measurement of true speed and the manner and time in which the images are encrypted. It sounds boring to some perhaps but the chain of evidence must sometimes be proven in court and it’s these attributes that make the difference in the eyes of a judge, the press and the public. We’ve seen it around the world time and time again, with a growth in new programs being adopted by cities; there almost inevitably lies a growth in contested tickets. As a city, you’d better be sure you’re betting on the right horse when you make those choices. “We’re looking forward to celebrating that, not just with champagne, but with early successes for GATSO USA and of course, some exciting new product launches from Gatsometer in Europe. Being 50 isn’t a time to stand still and I can’t wait to see where we’ll be at the end of another 50 years.” TH

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Congestion Pricing Think Tank McLean, VA 20 May 2008

OBJECTIVES • Examining diverging viewpoints and questioning basic principles of Congestion Pricing will constitute one of the objectives of this Think Tank, jointly organised by H3B Media and Booz Allen Hamilton. • Reviewing the ways the US administration can tackle this subject at the national, state and local levels as well as analysing any political impacts that such a transport policy approach may incur will mark a second step of the discussion. • Speakers will then question the existence of any prevailing factor (political, financial and environmental) before assessing the potential contribution of side-activity sectors to finding solutions. • Real-life success stories will demonstrate how multi-faceted the debate can be and how it may modify significantly the consumers’ habits for the next decades. • This first class event, held at Booz Allen Hamilton’s McLean, Virginia conference facilities, will gather knowledgeable stakeholders acting in the industrial, economic or political arena, all aware of what Congestion Pricing embraces and poses as challenges.

For sponsorship details please contact Luis Hill on +44 208 254 9406 or [email protected]

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ALPR

Stunted Image growth consultant Thinking analyst If the future Highways’ is assured,financial what form will it MARGARET take? BILL ADAWAY, PETTIT looks atwith the European Territorial the man credited starting the automatic licence plate Cooperation Programme finds that like with recognition (ALPR) industry,and puts his vision into words any other major programme, it’s a matter of It is priorities well over 25 years since I developed the world’s efficiency, enforcement or revenue collection. first automatic licence plate reader for the UK Home Office in 1979. Since that time CRS systems have been used for virtually every imaginable vehicle related application. Some examples are congestion charging, toll violation enforcement, average speed measurement, secure access control, car park management, stolen vehicle detection, detection of road tax evasion, border control, origin/destination analysis, journey time measurement, vehicle overweight detection and vehicle pollution detection. To be at the forefront of such a diverse range of applications requires a considerable investment in research and development. This investment has helped CRS to deliver many world firsts. Apart from the first ever ALPR we developed the first pulsed infrared illuminator, the first use of high resolution digital camera technology, the first use of multiple ALPR algorithms, the first use of loop storage for imaging before and after an event and the first delivery of vehicle make and colour recognition.

The rest will follow

Other vendors have followed and now a significant market exists which is growing all the time. It is hard to imagine any developed country not requiring ALPR for some form of traffic monitoring whether it is for security,

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So what of the future? One question that is often posed is whether there is a long term future for ALPR given the possibility of electronic licence plates. The answer is an emphatic ‘yes there will!’ Legislation currently requires all vehicles to have a visible registration mark. I cannot see this changing. Its purpose is to enable witnesses to identify vehicles for crime detection. As there should always be more people than ALPR cameras it seems unlikely that the option for using human surveillance will be discarded however unreliable it may be. Fundamental technical improvements will mostly be concerned with imaging. This is the most difficult aspect of ALPR and where most benefits can be obtained. Problems exist due to camera field of view restrictions, poor optics, licence plate materials, night time illumination requirements and weather – particularly the Sun. Camera field of view restrictions arise from the need to achieve a certain number of pixels across the character stroke width. The problem is worst in countries like North America and the Middle East, where characters can sometimes be thinner than elsewhere. In fact, reading Arabic characters in the Middle East can be particularly difficult due to similarities between characters, the non constant stroke width and the minuscule zero. Camera fields of view will gradually improve over time as larger and more sensitive sensors are develwww.h3bmedia.com

Climate Change When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

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ALPR oped. CRS first addressed this problem in 1997 when we pioneered the use of high resolution digital cameras in the USA. Our current high resolution digital cameras guarantee a horizontal field of view of over 20 feet for high performance ALPR and can achieve over 30 feet in many circumstances. Of course higher resolution sensors require higher performance processors to cope with the increased data flow. Fortunately there seems to be no end in sight for increased processor power, particularly with the arrival of useable multiprocessor architectures. Poor optics continues to be a problem if consumer grade lenses are used. This is common at the low price end of the market and is a major source of dissatisfaction for many unsophisticated customers. CRS avoids this segment of the market and strives to use the best optics available. This is one of our major strengths because we are also a worldclass optics design and manufacturing company. We are therefore perfectly placed to select the best lenses to match the sensor if off-the-shelf components are available to the required specification (focal length, aperture etc). Alternatively we have the in-house capability to design and manufacture the optimal lens for any particular application should this be required.

and to allow the imaging system design to be optimised for the highest percentage of vehicles passing at any given site. It is not possible for a single imaging system (illuminator, optics and sensor) to be optimal for all licence plate materials and in the future multiple imaging systems will be combined to provide the overall best performance. Providing the optimum night time illumination is a research frontier. Many vendors seem to think that all plates are retroreflective and have concentrated on providing pulsed infrared illumination. This is a reasonable approach in the UK, which after all was the cradle of ALPR. However it is certainly not adequate in large parts of the world. In any case pulsed infrared, which must be low power for eye safe reasons, cannot provide good quality night time images of the whole vehicle and occupants. Vehicles are not generally made from retroreflective material! Also all colour information would be lost.

“Visible illumination mounted near the camera will provide unacceptable distraction to drivers”

Material witness

Licence plate materials vary greatly: some use a retroreflective background material but many do not. In many countries colour is an essential part of the identity. Different materials will appear differently in any given imaging system. Imaging systems must cope with these variations appropriately. Laboratory investigations are necessary to identify precise spectral characteristics

Driven to distraction

Visible illumination is required to determine colour, but visible illumination mounted near the camera will provide unacceptable distraction to drivers except for rear plate reading. Rear plate reading can overcome this problem but rear plate reading will always deliver lower performance than front plate reading and loses the advantage of imaging the vehicle occupants – unfortunately many USA vehicles do not have front plates. Of course it is for legislators in each country to determine the acceptability or otherwise of imaging the vehicle occupants. There is a balance to be struck here between privacy and security/safety but it does seem

CRS Skyhawk

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ALPR that security is winning in most countries at present. Weather is a major source of problems. If it is snowing heavily and all licence plates are completely obliterated by snow then none of them will be read. Equally in floods or very heavy rain a ‘wall’ of water may obscure all licence plates and again none of them will be read. However these are extreme situations. In most countries, most of the time it is the Sun that is the biggest problem. If all ALPR was performed in tunnels with garage forecourt quality of lighting then we could consider the problem solved. After all Adaway’s first rule of outdoor imaging has always been “hide from the Sun”. Unfortunately this is not always possible and low sun angles must be coped with. A range of techniques exist. Siting the cameras to avoid East-West is a good start if this can be achieved within the application requirement. This minimises low sun angle problems. Carefully designed active illumination systems can reduce the affects of sunlight in two ways: Firstly, narrow pulse width illumination, synchronised to the shutter open time of the camera, can reduce the affects of the Sun by the ratio of shutter closed time to shutter open time. Secondly, the use of filters to pass/ block specific wavelengths can be combined with artificial illumination to illuminate the licence plate in the pass wavelengths. The disadvantage of these schemes is that they reduce the imaging system to near monochromatic, hence full colour information is lost. Coping with the undesirable affects of the Sun is by far the hardest of all of the imaging problems. At present no single imaging system can overcome all the problems and provide good quality clear colour images in all outdoor conditions day and night. Increasingly we are utilising multiple cameras with appropriately complementary imaging arrangements if the ultimate performance is required in all conditions.

Image is everything

Finally we must not forget the ALPR algorithms themselves. Of course it is always possible to make improvements but our state of the art multiple algorithms have been continuously developed over 25 years and now give near faultless performance given good images. In addition to the imaging improvements referred to above many other system improvements are now available. Features such as remote access and control using ultrasecure communications are becoming standard. ALPR will become multi-functional with integrated databases, digital video recording, make, model and colour recognition all included. Use of solar power will enable easier installation; high quality multi-focal optics will allow systems to perform both ALPR and wide-area surveillance. Beam steering optics, a CRS speciality, will dramatically improve the ease and cost of camera alignment. In summary, ALPR will be needed for a very long time. Applications are many and market demand is growing. The future looks exciting with many technical challenges ahead and I expect CRS to continue to lead the way. TH Bill Adaway is Managing Director of CRS www.h3bmedia.com

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Smart Highways

Gray is the new black Stunted

growth

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Perhaps living in Southern California is having an effect on me. Lately, I’ve taken to flipping through the fashion magazines at the supermarket checkout as an alternative to my usual perusal of the celebrity gossip rags. I mean, inquiring minds need to know, right? If you believe the magazines, every season there’s exciting new fashion, new looks to keep up with and more money to be spent. However, as I learned at the supermarket recently, “updating your wardrobe can be as simple as buying a few new accessories.” Start with your simple little black dress, add earrings, necklace, bracelets, belt, shoes, purse, wireless headset and voila - haute couture! This got me thinking that our simple “little black asphalt highways” might need some accessorizing, as well. Like, to keep them, like, modern and updated?

Our little black asphalt highways

They are so elegant and functional. Interstates in the US were built 50 years ago and they’re still in style! Millions of vehicles still travel on them every day. But to keep up

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with the times we may need to take a few cues from the fashion industry. The first of which is that it’s important to invest in a high-quality basic wardrobe. Look at the life cycle of a highway, compared, say, to a car (10 to 15 years) or an article of clothing (2 or 3 years) or a cell phone (6 months to a year). Highways are built for the long haul. The transportation industry designs for 30 to 50 year life cycles, builds long-lasting pavement, creates bridges that won’t fall down (with a few notable exceptions) and constructs transit systems that can endure for centuries (the New York and London underground railway systems, for example). We put a lot of effort into delivering highway facilities that we expect to stand the test of time. The life cycles of our highways are positively glacial compared to cars and cell phones. There is no question that this longevity is extremely desirable, but it does present us with a design challenge with respect to incorporating advanced transportation technologies. Cars and cell phones have the short renewal cycle advantage. If a new wireless technology or requirement www.h3bmedia.com

Climate Change Smart Highways When DAVID SCHONBRUNN Does the Interstate highway network really need to issue of read the April/May keep pace with the latest trends in Thinking fashion? BOB Highways he felt McQUEEN suggests something approaching anwrite an article compelled to extreme makeover... offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

emerges, the cell phone makers can incorporate it into the next version. Car manufacturers introduce model updates every year. We don’t have that opportunity in highways. Despite a huge push nationally and internationally for alternative transportation solutions (transit, telecommuting, etc.), the highway is here to stay. If we can’t take them out, we might as well dress them up.

A touch of bling

“The life cycles of our highways are positively glacial compared to cars and cell phones”

Accessorizing is actually not new to the transportation industry. From the beginning we’ve adorned our highways with signage and light standards, striping and guardrails – with the overall objective of making our highway system safer and easier to travel. As the highways have become more congested, we’ve added more ‘bling’. Infrastructure plans and designs are already being enhanced to incorporate ITS sensors and embedded devices. We’re making great progress. Already in the US today, just less than 40 per cent of freewww.h3bmedia.com

way miles have variable message signs installed. Almost a third have some form of electronic surveillance. Embedded devices are those technologies that monitor the movement and operations of a smart highway and support the delivery of information back to the traveler. A robust network of embedded devices is critical because it provides the basic building blocks (in terms of accurate, current and complete data) of information and management for the operation of infrastructure and traffic flow. Common embedded devices include, for example, dynamic message signs, moveable barriers, lane control signs, sensors and CCTV. And finally, telecommunications networks with a supporting power grid are how the information travels back and forth between the embedded devices, the vehicles and the operations centers. Most of these “accessories” have been retrofitted on to existing highways. I guess it’s a lot like those fashion makeover TV shows: “52 year old dork becomes fashion icon overnight!” Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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Smart Highways All of the accessories we’ve installed on our highways are making travel smoother and safer. But we in the transportation industry might want to set our fashion standards a bit higher – and consider today’s highwayabout-town to be well-dressed and sartorially elegant only if it’s decked out in the latest advanced technology apparel. It seems to me that as we consider the fashion world as a thought model, then many of our existing highways are, simply, naked. With the vast technological improvements in our digital world, we now have the opportunity to add some REAL bling!

Extreme makeover

I use the term “bling” loosely, because what our highway systems really need is an extreme makeover. Forget accessorizing, we need to make our highways smart

from the start! Smart highways – involving close interaction between vehicles and infrastructure – have always been at the heart of intelligent transportation systems. A smart highway could be broadly defined as a coherent combination of asphalt, concrete, steel, telecommunications, and information technology, carefully engineered to support higher levels of safety, efficiency and effectiveness. Vehicle-infrastructure interaction is where the automobile communicates with the transportation agency and vice-versa. This encompasses applications as broad in range as vehicle crash-avoidance technologies, dynamic speed control to smooth traffic and traveler information systems. In the transportation industry, we have a strong focus on programs (because they get funded) and projects (because they get done). In reality, however, it’s the

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services that are supported by the infrastructure – and the devices that we deploy as part of our projects – that produce the value and benefits that we all crave. Perhaps it’s a good time to redefine our view of the highway as more than just asphalt, concrete and steel. It’s a service conduit too. Maybe we should start thinking about the range of services that drivers need for the best possible travel experience and highest return on investment in highways and vehicles. Consider it like the “total shopping experience” in the high-fashion world. The transportation industry would offer several ways to pay for things, decision-quality information on how best to use the highways and transit, and guidance and instructions for safe use. The modern highway will have to support all of these new services – as well as doing a superb job at the original task of being a right-of-way and thoroughfare.

Back to black

In the US we’re currently investing upwards of three percent of our gross domestic product in our nation’s highway infrastructure. Widened roads and bridges, new alignments, managed lanes, and rapid bus transit facilities will make up some of the expenditures. Wouldn’t it make sense to build our highways now so that they, too, can be accessorized with future technological breakthroughs? Is there more that we can do to embed and integrate new technology as we plan,design, and build new highways? Can we make them smarter from the get-go and create an intrinsic sense of style, following the fashion metaphor? Some leading automotive manufactures have noted that if all highway striping was made up of radar-reflective paint, then vehicles could be easily equipped to recognize the road. This would represent a quantum www.h3bmedia.com

Smart Highways leap in our ability to realize our long-term vehicleinfrastructure interaction goals. Dutch inventors are working on a “Superbus” that can travel at 150 miles per hour on relatively flat terrain. Why not invest a bit more in leveling out those pesky hills and humps in our roads – or design new highways to be flatter and straighter – so that vehicles like the Superbus can travel on them? We even have the possibility of making the relatively dumb asphalt, concrete and steel infrastructure smarter by adding sensors that offer real-time monitoring of structural conditions and material performance. There’s a lot of discussion about motes or micro-sensors and web-servers-on-a-chip. These sensors can let us know when a structure might need repair, or, in the worst case, when a structural collapse is imminent. Imagine if every bridge and critical section of highway had its own web page, where it could post information on how it’s doing – a MySpace for bridges and highways. We could wire up our highways so that we’re connected to them 24/7 and they can support a meaningful dialogue with every vehicle running on them. We could extend and expand the new information technology supported services over time and space so that every driver has the very best experience with respect to safety, efficiency, and customer service support. You can certainly argue that fashion is superficial and transient. Today’s haute couture could be tomorrow’s fashion nightmare. However the kind of fashion that we’re talking about here is intrinsic and closely follows the design principle that “form should follow function.” We need smart little highways. I suppose it just goes to show you that brains prevail over beauty after all. Oh well, back to the tabloids. TH Bob McQueen, Senior Vice President & Senior Advisor at PBS&J, is an internationally recognized expert in the field of ITS, with more than 30 years of experience in the field. His track record incorporates extensive experience in conventional transportation planning and traffic engineering with a steady migration towards specializing in applying information and communication technologies to transportation. He has consulted in advanced technology for government agencies in Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim and in the USA. He has published more than 30 articles and two books and manages the MeTro Network of international cities collaborating on advanced technologies for traffic management, travel information and demand-, transit- and parking management. Bob is currently serving as Senior Advisor to the San Diego Association of Governments, providing expert level consulting and advice on the application of advanced technologies to transportation, the selection and use of management solutions (ways to do things) for transportation operations and the development of innovative business models for technology operations. Bob can be reached at 619-819-2788 or [email protected] www.h3bmedia.com

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Climate Change

Idle talk Stunted growth

Getting environmental benefits from traffic management technology means promoting smart strategies and lots of integration, as AMY ZUCKERMAN,Thinking Highways’ North American Associate Editor discovers

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

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ClimateChange Change Climate When DAVID SCHONBRUNN While the world argues over the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – that famed “carbon footprint” – the traffic management industry is slowly promoting technology and practices that can help reduce the 30 or so percent of greenhouse gas emissions that are attributed to transportation, particularly automobiles. The experts all agree that reducing the idling that comes from traffic congestion is a very general step in mitigating the greenhouse gases that are considered the cause of climate change. As Michael Replogle points out, traffic management technology and practices that only “squeeze more traffic” onto city streets and highways, while not managing growth at the same time, may be self-defeating. Says Replogle, who is transportation director, environmental defense, president and founder of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, in Washington, D.C., “the key is to improve mobility while reducing the environmental footprint and managing growth at the same time.” He urges transportation developers to promote “policies that push this key framework”. “If all we do with smart technologies is speed up traffic and make it more reliable to travel further and faster by car and truck, which means we consume more travel as a society, this will cause greenhouse gases to increase as we build more highway capacity and push out more sprawl,” he says. An alterative, according to Replogle, is the sort of smart growth initiatives underway at the Port of Long Beach, California, which is addressing ways to reduce the environmental impact of growth. “The port has talked about increasing container loads, but in a way that reduces the environmental impact (of the increased traffic this would create). They’re shifting more of the port traffic from the road to rail, looking at smarter, more efficient freight logistics and cleaning up the technologies they use,” Replogle explains.

Optimus maximus

Traffic tracking

At Quixote Corporation, a major developer of traffic management tools based in Palmetto, Fla., president Tim O’Leary says their mission is to “make the world a safer place to travel. The reduction of emissions is paramount. We’re looking to reduce traffic because of the cost of it, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, whether they’re caused by idling at a light or on a highway,” he says. To that end, O’Leary says Quixote has introduced an advanced traffic controller that allows urban traffic managers to more efficiently synchronize traffic throughout metropolitan intersections. This is the sort of tool used to create “green ways” where traffic signals can automatically adjust timing based on traffic flow and density. The new traffic controller boxes, which house the computer and technology required to manage signal timing, are now based on Linux, open source operating systems, which O’Leary explains allows for more flexible use of software applications. The boxes, which sit by intersections, also connect to non-invasive traffic detectors mounted on poles. Those utilize either lasers, videos or magnetic tools to detect vehicles, rather than the older sensor loops that require digging up the road surface at the intersection, O’Leary explains. The product is so new that only 2,000 units are now deployed nationwide with another 6,000 slated for release in 2008. Most are heading to New York and Chicago, which are undertaking major green initiatives, he says. Quixote also sells its Axle Light Counter Classifier™,

“It’s well known that vehicle speed correlates with emissions, especially idling”

Each region has to set its own priorities for reducing emissions and reducing congestion and then design a course that will be the most effective, while balancing approaches from promoting mass transit to deploying traffic management technology. It’s how you balance your program that will make the difference, says Joyce Wenger, principal at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean,Va. For example, if you’re encouraging transit rider ship you may adjust signal control algorithms to permit bus priority even though that may cause increased automobile stop-and-go traffic. It’s well known that vehicle speed correlates with emissions, especially idling. But Replogle says new research indicates that there is no one optimal speed as lighter-weight materials and energy-efficient engines make their way into new vehicle construction. He and Wenger agree that it’s the mix of technology and adviso-

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riesread to the public from signal timingissue to traffic sensors the-- April/May of to real-time traffic information feed - that can have a Thinking Highways he felt major impact on emissions. Axel Reissnecker, marketing manager ITS and trafcompelled to write anforarticle fic at Siemens North America, who is based in Austin, offering his own views on Texas, notes that most improvements made in traffic flow also transportation’s assist the environment. “If youimpacts make traffic move more smoothly you automatically have benefit,” he onm and solutionsafor, says. climate There are also correlationschange between speed, emissions and safety, says Reissnecker, pointing out that many ITS and telematics applications have been designed with safety in mind, first. Smooth-running traffic that is the hopeful by-product of proper signal timing not only avoids accidents, but helps prevent the gawking and traffic slowdowns that ensue when an accident occurs. Again, there’s a dual benefit, says Reissnecker, of reducing emissions and reducing accidents. Space doesn’t allow for covering the vast array of technological developments that are in the works to mitigate congestion and increase mobility – all of which can assist with mitigating greenhouse gases. In the months to come Thinking Highways will be address many of these technologies. Here are a few to consider.

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Climate Change which is its brand name for an automatic data recorder for developing highway traffic counts and sending alerts to traffic managers to indicate whether the traffic is “slow moving, free flow or at complete stoppage.” O’Leary says the units shoot a laser beam across the highway at different intervals. “When your front tire breaks the first beam of light and then the back tire breaks it at the other end, which is about a four-foot section -- the automatic data recorder will calculate traffic speed based the time elapsed (between breaks) and be able to determine how traffic is flowing.”

Advanced navigation and data integration

Rick Schuman, vice president for the public sector at INRIX, a transportation data integration company based in Kirkland, Wash., is working hard to develop a variety of ways to get maximum benefit from the vast amount of data now being generated from traffic tracking devices so it can be more effectively analyzed and utilized by traffic managers and drivers. Schuman says the time is fast approaching when vehicles with embedded navigation equipment will be able to receive turn-by-turn voice directions or real-time traffic advisories while en route, which could play a major role in reducing traffic congestion. Of course, that’s presuming the directions are accurate – not always the case - and the travel advice offered motorists considers the most environmentally sensitive route, as is now practice in Japan. “We’re at the early stages of understanding the optimization of traffic flow as it’s affected by weather or geography and what impact that has on the environment and economics. There are so many factors to consider when optimizing traffic flow. Our role is to provide the data and information that will allow professionals and drivers to avoid congestion. We’re at the nexus of creating the regional optimum for flow, price, emissions, and so on,” says Schuman, who doesn’t foresee a time when there will be “zero emissions from transportation. But the point is that with energy use rising, we can help with the environmental impact.”

portation related organizations, concerned with improving the flow of real-time traffic information. According to Siemens’ Reissnecker, a new standard for the advanced traffic controller devices is close to being published. When available to manufacturers, the hope is that the standard will help create uniform, interoperable equipment, laying the groundwork for information on traffic flow to be relayed nationally in real-time. All of which is very important to reducing congestion and reducing greenhouse gases, says Reissnecker, who considers the integration of different traffic systems “very important. We want to give travelers the information they need to make the right choices, especially in major urban centers where they have public transportation alternatives.”

Networked vehicles

And embedding standardized communication technology in vehicles is another long-term DOT goal, requiring the buy-in from major auto and truck manufacturers. Louis Brown, Government Technical Affairs Manager for Volkswagen of America, Inc., says that as a member of the national Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) Consortium, VW is conducting research with vehicles equipped with devices that can utilize the 5.9-GHz Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) protocol, a wireless communication protocol dedicated solely to automotive applications. Some of the DSRC-based applications, such as real-time traffic incident updates, can help drivers avoid bottlenecks and reduce drive time spent idling. Coupled with “owner-optional” features such as GPS mapping, DSRC technology could also help drivers choose optimal routes to dodge trouble down the road, Brown says. The VII program’s communications network, if deployed, will allow a vehicle owner to opt into a service that provides vehicle diagnostic information in real time to the vehicle manufacturer or maintenance provider. This will allow improved diagnostics of vehicle performance and, possibly, remote repair or upgrades of software in the vehicle, all of which could contribute to improved performance as well as lower emissions. Brown notes that DSRC’s multiple safety and mobility applications, including intersection safety, vehicle probe data, car-to-car information sharing, locationbased point-of-interest information retrieval, etc., would also be adaptable to mass-transit and commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks. . TH

“There’s a gap between the disparate data emerging from individual vehicles and from different agencies”

Mind the gap

Right now, he says there’s a “gap that needs to be pulled together between the disparate data emerging from individual vehicles and from different (government or municipal) agencies.” Part of the challenge is determining what is anecdotal information versus data from a city or state agency. “We’re putting this all together to create a picture of traffic conditions in real-time, using advanced modeling and forecast techniques.” Added to this mix, says Schuman, are weather conditions, special events that are date-specific like a festival and geography, among other factors, to “create a picture of how traffic will be on one day, a week or even a year.” INRIX is one of many players, including the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and trans-

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Mike Replogle and Joyce Wenger (and Congressman John Olver) are among the speakers at the H3B Media/ University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Think Tank “Climate Change: Transportation’s Impacts and Solutions” taking place at UMass’s Mullins Sports Center on 29 and 30 May 2008. Visit www.h3bmedia.com/networx/climate.cfm for more information www.h3bmedia.com

VII Deployment Workshop McLean, VA 21 May 2008 in association with

“Completing the picture...”

For sponsorship details please contact Luis Hill on +44 208 254 9406 or [email protected]

H 3 B Media

thinking

highways

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Stunted growth Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Plate

Climate Change ALPR

tectonics LEE J NELSON, in his first Thinking Highways assignment, looks at the past, present and future for Automatic Licence Plate Recogntiion Systems

In April, 1991, the Canada Revenue Agency (National Capital Region, Ottawa, Ontario) embarked upon an innovative program known as Customs 2000. To handle a growing influx of international travelers entering from the United States, Customs 2000 represented a blueprint for streamlining and enhancing operations. By establishing methods which distinguished low- versus high-risk traffic and expediting movement of the low-risk group, Canada hoped to dramatically improve border management and control functions. With the goal of minimal disruption to existing procedures, while augmenting safety and security, the project capitalized on one of the border official’s directives: to watch every vehicle passing into Canada and look for specific license plates. Such a tedious job often triggered bottlenecks, slowing inbound traffic and causing long waits to get through inspection stations. Of equally great concern was a potentially hazardous situation created for personnel who had to divert attention from the vehicle and its occupants while examining each plate and noting its contents. The benefits of computerizing, and thereby automating, entry and matching of license plates, were increased safety for officers as well as better accuracy and productivity. Freed from the burden of performing duties manually, inspectors were able to concentrate fuller awareness on an approaching automobile and driver, allowing maximum time to react to any threatening situation. Automatic license plate recognition (LPR) systems

(furnished by Perceptics, LLC, Knoxville, Tennessee) entered data faster and more consistently than humans. The technology was not subject to fatigue, illness or distraction. As a result, inspectors spent fewer moments with each traveler, saving precious seconds and reducing congestion.

Ready on the North

Fast-forward 17 years. Now, more than ever, safety is a priority alongside preparedness to deal with terrorists, drug traffickers and other criminals. Seeking to expand and modernize the technology, the Canada Revenue Agency - together with the Canada Border Services Agency (Ottawa) - again turned to Perceptics. As part of a broader nationwide effort, the Integrated Primary Inspection Line Program is outfitting additional inbound lanes with license plate readers. The new equipment will capture rear plates, compress and store those images, extract and report alphanumerics - including stacked characters commonly found on commercial plates - plus the issuing province or state and instantly display all that information for the Border Services officer. Drivers with a record of lawful travel will be permitted to pass through quickly; those of concern may be detained for secondary inspection and subsequent clearance. That determination will be made by realtime queries to numerous databases (see below) which are invaluable to securing Canada’s borders. Perceptics president, John Dalton, told Thinking Highways his company “...is pleased to be the preferred Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 4

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ALPR vendor in the ongoing quest to equip frontline officers at the border with state-of-the-art equipment and technology.” The LPR systems are easy-to-use and endow authorized users with quick access to reliable and verifiable information. “That helps to keep international borders secure in their crucial role as important gateways for tourism and commercial trade.”

Ready on the South

Customs and Border Protection (CBP; Washington, DC), a component of the Department of Homeland Security, undertakes to defend United States’ borders against entry of terrorists and terrorist weapons, illegal aliens, narcotics and other threats, while expediting passage for legitimate trade and travelers. Installation of LPR systems at the US/Mexico border began in 1998 when the US Congress allocated funds to CBP (then the Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service). That appropriation followed a successful pilot project on Interstate-5 (San Diego Freeway) at San Ysidro, California where 24 northbound and seven southbound lanes were furnished with plate readers. To date, 355 inbound and 52 outbound lanes across 65 ports-of-entry (in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas) have been outfitted with LPR. Equipment approaching the end of its useful life cycle, nearly constant release of new plate designs and fonts as well as more comprehensive communications and networking requirements, prompted a call for replacement systems. Last May, CBP circulated a competitive solicitation for up to 770 units which could read and transmit license plate data (including the issuing jurisdiction) on all types of vehicular traffic. In late August, CBP announced award of a contract to Perceptics. Of paramount import was the ability to have “accurate, automated realtime queries of license plate information”.

be disallowed a visa in event they request one. • National Automated Immigration Lookout System indexing records of individuals who may be excludable from the US. • Treasury Enforcement Communication System consisting of persons who could be denied admission or whose entry should be noted and watched by authorities. In addition, it generates stolen-passport lookout advisories. Through IBIS, inspectors also have limited access to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (Clarksburg, West Virginia) to tap into files on foreign fugitives, gangs, terrorist organizations and previously deported felons. And, users can interact with state-level databases via the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS; Phoenix, Arizona). IBIS terminals are able to retrieve records on wanted persons; stolen vehicles, vessels or firearms; license information; criminal histories and prior CBP inspections. A license plate’s alphanumerics and its jurisdiction are transmitted from the crossing point to IBIS. There, checks are performed against the various databases. If a match is found, an alarm is raised within seconds after initial plate reading. The system also alerts officials to a stolen automobile or a wanted felon, a fugitive or an armed and dangerous criminal associated with the vehicle. One shortcoming, however, is the absence of a standard which defines the style and content of files exchanged through NLETS. When law enforcement personnel in one location request information on a driver whose records are located elsewhere, the response contains state-specific elements, formats and definitions. Requisitioners must contend with 51 different data sets. The Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Institute of Justice, both agencies of the US Department of Justice (Washington, DC), working with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (Arlington, Virginia), developed a uniform format for driver and motor vehicle records - based on the Global Justice XML Data Model - for transmission over NLETS. Their standardized approach built upon the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (Washington, DC) Commercial Driver’s License Information System and the Problem Driver Pointer System, used to search the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (Washington, DC) National Driver Register.Today, the resource effectively bolsters interoperability, arming users with accurate and up-to-date data to augment law enforcement and criminal justice agency efficiency, public safety and national security. The Automated Commercial Environment, under auspices of CBP, also is being modernized to facilitate legitimate trade while further strengthening border security. Officers clear trucks and shipments using an electronic manifest which identifies pre-authorized vehicles by license plate, VIN (vehicle identification number) and

“If a match is found, an alarm is raised within seconds after initial plate reading”

Online resources

As with most border monitoring organizations, CBP employs a layered enforcement strategy. The approach is underpinned, in part, by a complex of domestic and international law enforcement databases (which the author was able to research independently through publicly accessible means). Interfacing automatically to those assets enables officials to focus more completely on the task at hand, detecting and targeting any possible security and safety hazards. The Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS) is maintained at the Customs Service Data Center (Newington, Virginia). As a sophisticated information management platform, IBIS archives data from more than two dozen federal agencies. Its major sub-units are the: • Consular Lookout and Support System - containing statistics on foreign nationals who are ineligible for visas; whose visa applications require US Department of State intervention before issuance; and, those who might

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ALPR

conveyance type. Presently deployed at ninety-eight ports-of-entry across fourteen states, CBP anticipates the Environment will extend to over 350 entry-points along the US/Canada border by 2010. The Law Enforcement Support Center (Williston, Vermont), administered by the US Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Washington, DC), provides immigration status, identity information and realtime assistance to local, state and federal agencies on aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity. Operators can retrieve files maintained by Homeland Security via the Immigration Alien Query function within the National Crime Information Center network.

Background check

Expedited processing of pre-approved, low-risk travelers is afforded by the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI; Washington, DC). Applicants voluntarily undergo a thorough background screening against criminal, law enforcement, customs, immigration and terrorist indices; a fingerprint check; and, a personal interview with a CBP officer. Once inducted, candidates are issued a card which confirms SENTRI status. The program also includes a decal for applicants’ vehicles. SENTRI enrollees can utilize dedicated commuter lanes from Mexico into the US in Arizona, California and Texas. The Canada Border Services Agency relies on technology, information sharing, risk analysis and biometrics. Keeping trade open is essential to ensuring Canada’s financial prosperity. And, it is equally critical to protect against potential dangers to health, security

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and economy which the Agency does with the: • Immigration Intelligence Network - involved in planning, collecting, analyzing and distributing decisioncritical information. The Network mitigates threats to Canada’s immigration, visitor, refugee and citizenship efforts. It also promotes interaction throughout the national law enforcement arena. • Immigration Task Force - a collaboration of twentythree members, working to apprehend high-risk migrant fugitives through alliances, teamwork and interoperability. • Integrated Border Enforcement Team - a multi-faceted initiative which dispenses reports among local and provincial agencies on issues of national security, organized crime and other criminality attempting to transit the Canada/US border. • National Risk Assessment Centre - collects, analyzes and shares news to help detect and prevent movement of high-risk persons and goods into the country. The Centre exchanges data within the intelligence community at international, national and regional levels to protect Canadians against current and emerging threats. Canadian Police Information Centre (Ottawa, Ontario) provides all enforcement activities with statistics on felonies and offenders. It has four data banks: investigative, identification, intelligence and ancillary and includes stolen vehicles, validation tags and license plates and cars that are abandoned or for which there are outstanding warrants. Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (Ottawa, Ontario) facilitates timely production and handling of information among affiliates. It aims to reduce crime through dissemination of strategic products, leadership www.h3bmedia.com

ALPR and expertise. The Central Bureau takes its direction from an Executive Committee comprised of twenty Chiefs of Police and Commanding Officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Further, the Central Bureau hosts the Automated Criminal Intelligence Information System (ACIIS), Canada’s national data warehouse through which all member agencies cooperate in collecting, collating, evaluating, analyzing and disseminating fundamental details. Interpol (Lyon, France) maintains the world’s largest file of known terrorists and the only global depot of lost, forged and counterfeited passports. The I-24/7 communications system connects police operations in 186 subscriber nations and grants access to a storehouse of names, fingerprint and DNA profiles and stolen property including motor vehicles and works of art. Secretary General Ronald Noble instituted the Automated Search Facility-Stolen Motor Vehicle catalog to abet the fight against theft and international trafficking of vehicles. The system currently holds nearly four million records, many contributed from members’ national stolen vehicle databases. The National Police Services of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Ottawa, Ontario) develop scientific and identification methodologies and crime fighting tools. Their Criminal Intelligence Service, comprised of a central bureau, 10 provincial offices and 380 agencies, preserves and manages the ACIIS. The Canada Border Services Agency, Canada Reve-

nue Agency and US Customs and Border Protection, among others, clearly embrace LPR as an essential element in the anti-terrorism armamentarium. By consensus, they define an accurate plate read as one for which all alphanumeric characters plus the province/state of origin are properly identified. An “error” is construed as a missing or incorrect character string or an erroneous or absent jurisdictional code. Perceptics’ systems demonstrate particular effectiveness in reporting the issuing state/province; an onerous task because the complete name isn’t always visible on the plate. Even when the name is present, it’s usually not possible to read it automatically. By processing and analyzing license plate images, Perceptics is able to determine jurisdictions with 95 per cent accuracy. That capability is critical to the success of any border application and - according to Dalton - is unmatched in the industry, not withstanding comparable claims from other suppliers of LPR systems. TH The author acknowledges valuable assistance from Karl Hunter, Technical Director, Blue Max Canada (Surrey, British Columbia). Independent analyst and Thinking Highways Contributing Editor, Lee J. Nelson, is at the forefront of highperformance electronic imaging applications for the transportation industry. Contact him at: +1-703-893-0744, [email protected] or www.garlic.com/biz

TRMI designs integrated software, hardware and network solutions for the future of electronic toll collection systems. From FasTrack® to Smart Tag® to E-Z Pass®, we provide custom engineering, programming, and manufacturing for niche and enterprise solutions. And our open-design software opens your future to a choice of vendors for expansion or enhancements. Grow forward. Contact TRMI today.

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The Thought Process

David Schonbrunn President of the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund (TRANSDEF), San Rafael, California

Is this the end of a wild party? I’m worried. Six decades of suburbanization have left North America in poor shape to adapt to the end of the era of cheap oil. Our society has literally built itself into a cul-de-sac, from which egress will be painful. The practice of single-use zoning has resulted in dispersed land uses that are only accessible by driving. As gas prices go higher and higher, the split-level home with the white picket fence will fall off the economic cliff, as people are unable to get from their distant homes to work. The public has no idea how bad things are going to get. Not understanding that the fossil fuel era is a brief aberration in human history, they naively believe that the future will look a lot like the present. As a result, the actions needed for the gradual transformation of the economy into a sustainable one1 are not happening. That’s because there is no political leadership. No one, with the possible exceptions of Al Gore and Jimmy Carter before him, is willing to be the bearer of bad news. Voters don’t want to hear that their comfortable lifestyles are coming to an end. Looming unpleasant realities are much more likely to be met by massive denial than by political solutions. I’m afraid that, in the absence of strong interventions to reshape fundamental forces in our society, things are bound to get ugly. How did we get here? The introduction of suburbanization was a tremendous break with the history of human civilization. Transport in earlier societies was

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dependent on walking or on animal power. Homes and shops clustered into villages and cities because access was achieved largely by proximity. The industrial revolution brought mass transit, which allowed the expansion of settlement patterns, but kept it all connected as a network. That all changed with the advent of fossil fuelpowered personal vehicles. They became inexpensive enough to become the dominant form of transport. The automobile enabled the society to jettison the discipline of the interconnected transit network. The car drove the cancerous expansion of land development that we now call sprawl2. This enabled a much lower density of housing, which, coupled with the practice of separating housing from shopping and from work (single-use zoning), now makes participation in modern life dependent on large amounts of energy for transport. This is why our society is about to experience a very rough ride. In June of 2004, National Geographic ran a cover story ‘The End of Cheap Oil.’ “In our lifetime, we will have to deal with a peak in the supply of cheap oil” saidBoston University economist Robert Kaufmann. “That peak will be a watershed moment.”3 The profound implications of this moment have not been grasped by the public, or by their elected officials. The public expects the future to be like the past few generations, unaware that North Americans have just experienced the longest and most extravagant party in human history. Those expectations form cultural values www.h3bmedia.com

“What ITS can do is support policy objectives and improve knowledge, information and management” www.h3bmedia.com

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The Thought Process that are extremely resistant to change, especially when manipulated by economic powerhouses like auto manufacturers, land speculators, and the oil companies. Continued denial is likely, followed by an eventual economic collapse. As gas prices inevitably rise, the first to fall will be the far suburbs, whose residents commute an hour or more. The cost of a single-occupant commute will become overwhelming, forcing the development of car pools, van pools and bus charters. Because of the dispersion of work locations, this will necessarily result in reduced commute convenience and longer travel times as shared travel modes stop at multiple destinations. (This mode shift should, however, reduce highway congestion.) As the full cost of transportation becomes evident, distant suburbs will no longer seem so affordable. Higher density urban living, closer to work, will become more economically competitive. The realities of sustainability will start to emerge. There is time to redirect our resources into preparing for the challenges of the future. But that would require a fundamental realignment of our cultural expectations. The political system would have to be dramatically reformed, subjugating the power of the fossil fuel and auto industries. It would be like putting society on a war footing, equivalent in scope to the mobilization of American society after the invasion of Pearl Harbor. Everything changed, then. Enormous changes are needed now if North Americans are to avoid the harsh consequences of peak oil and climate change. Acting later, when the economy is already greatly stressed, will be far less effective. Incentives and regulations are needed to push new development into transit-oriented villages and cities. A shift in funding away from highways is needed to create a sustainable transit network, including High Speed Rail. Carbon taxes are needed to align consumers with the new world of higher cost energy we are entering. Are we likely to see these changes? They sure don’t seem likely to me. Are we likely to see a giant shift away from sprawl to Smart Growth? Probably not. On a continent that has not invested in convenient alternatives to the auto, many people will be left without adequate transport. I don’t think we will change soon enough to prevent the great suffering that is the fate of having built an unsustainable society. Buckle up - it’s going to be a bumpy ride. TH 1 David Schonbrunn, “View from Another Planet,” Thinking Highways, Sept/Oct 2007, pp. 34-37. 2 Sprawl: a pattern of development comprised of housing subdivisions, shopping centers and office parks for which a personal vehicle is the only practical access. 3 Page 88. For a compelling recent update, see Lester Brown,“Is World Oil Production Peaking?” www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2007/Update67.htm

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“Enormous changes are needed now if North Americans are to avoid the harsh consequences of peak oil and climate change” Interview by Kevin Borras

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29-30 May 2008

University of Massachussets Transportation Center

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thinking

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IN CONJUNCTION WITH

Mullins Sports Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass, U.S.A.

Mike Replogle (ITDP) David Schonbrunn (TRANSDEF) Ray Bradley (Climate System Research Center) Dr John Collura (UMass) Lee Armstrong (Armstrong Consulting) Dr Richard Palmer (University of Washington) Dr David Ahlfeld (UMass) Amy Zuckerman (Hidden Tech) Joyce Wenger (Booz Allen Hamilton)

Other confirmed speakers include

Keynote Speaker: Congressman John Olver

The Climate Change Think Tank: Transportation’s Impacts and Solutions

Creating Solutions Through Innovation

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