Grzegorz Karoń

Transportation Systems Modelling as Planning, Organisation and Management for Solutions Created with ITS

The principal models used in traffic analyses and forecasting in transportation system are reviewed in the paper. Further on, with the perspective of continuing growth of motoring and of the mobility of citizens, a necessity of using ITS solutions as well as of traffic modelling is pointed out to be a consistent approach to the problem of congestion in the cities and agglomerations. An example is given of traffic disturbance leading to obstructions and dangerous incidents at a local site with capacity limitation located within in an intra-node weaving section in Katowice (Upper-Silesian Agglomeration in Poland).

Problems of ITS Architecture Development and ITS Implementation in Upper-Silesian Conurbation in Poland

The paper presents a review of the current state of ITS implementation in the Upper-Silesian Conurbation in Poland. A methodology for ITS architecture preparing and implementing for the Upper-Silesian Conurbation, necessary for integrated ITS planning and designing and for the conurbation transportation systems development planning, has also been proposed. Special attention was paid to the implementation problems and barriers, both of individual ITS systems as well as of their whole architecture for the Upper-Silesian Conurbation in Poland.

ITS Services Packages as a Tool for Managing Traffic Congestion in Cities

Traffic congestion understood as transportation crowding is an important factor for increasing inconvenience of life and passing through element of transportation infrastructure in urban areas. Measures aimed at mitigating the negative effects of such situations should be taken at different levels of traffic management: strategic, tactical and operational. This requires a close cooperation and coordination between planners, designers and traffic engineers. The article presents strategies for managing congestion in cities using packages of ITS services. It also presents the concept of an integrated approach to this issue in the context of the theory of traffic flow.

Modelling of expected traffic smoothness in urban transportation systems for ITS solutions

In urban networks, with dense traffic flows and a high risk of the disruption (even in the form of a short queue of vehicles) the probability of occurrence of such a situation (disruption and queue) is a better measure of the probabilistic description of the capacity constraints than the expected waiting time in the queue, because the probability takes into account the risk of delay in the traffic flow from the point of view of the person that plans a trip. The functions of expected smoothness of the traffic flows in the elementary nodes and the expected waiting time in the queue for different packages of ITS services have been presented in the mathematical forms.

Concept of Smart Cities and Economic Model of Electric Buses Implementation

The article presents selected definitions of the smart cities in the context of smart mobility and smart environment. Then presents the basic algorithms of the economic model for electric buses implementation in the Smart Cities. This models are implemented in model of evaluation for the optimization of battery charging in electric-powered buses.

Travel Demand and Transportation Supply Modelling for Agglomeration without Transportation Model

Travel demand and transportation supply modelling for conurbation area without transportation models has been presented in this article. Proposal of the methodology is based on four-stages modeling with trip-based travel-demand models. Methodology has been presented on example Upper-Silesian Conurbation in Poland.

Forecasts for Technical Variants of ITS Projects – Example of Upper-Silesian Conurbation

Planning of transportation systems with ITS systems and mobility management should have a right reflection in forecasting models [1, 6]. When measuring or estimating the costs of the network and its utilisation, it is essential to draw up a model, which describes the current network status and how ITS can change the situation. It may describe, for example, the changes in the vehicle-kilometres travelled on various streets caused by a park-and-ride system and whether this change will affect the need for investments in the road infrastructure. A scheme of traffic forecasts of technical variants of investment projects for CBA (cost-benefit analysis) has been described in this article.

Problems of Systems Engineering for ITS in Large Agglomeration – Upper-Silesian Agglomeration in Poland

Systems engineering and list of good practices has been presented in the context of ITS systems for Upper-Silesian Agglomeration. Selected results of surveys which confirm a complexity of the problems of ITS development in Silesian Region have been presented too. The differences in SWOT analysis for urban transport and variation of ITS level implementations including National Traffic Management System have been mentioned as examples.

The Influence of Countdown Timers on the Traffic Safety of Pedestrians and Vehicles at the Signalized Intersection

Countdown Timers (timers) are auxiliary devices to the traffic signalization, which measure the time to change the displayed signal. Currently, the use of countdown timers in Poland is not regulated by law. Such devices, however, in some Polish cities are functioning and are installed on a growing number of intersections. In order to analyse the devices described the research was conducted on the impact of counter dispensing time on road safety. The study were subjected the countdown timers used for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. At the time of measurements were compared behaviour of pedestrians and drivers in two periods of research: for a week with enabled and disabled countdown timers. The influence of the countdown timers into intersection capacity was calculated in the other part of the work [1], vehicle speed-issue wasn’t tested. The results allow concluding that the countdown timers for both pedestrians and vehicles improve safety in the initial phase of the signal. Future work on other research proving grounds allow for more accurate determining the impact of the countdown timers on safety.

Development of Various Scenarios of ITS Systems for Urban Area

Paper presents a synthetic discussion of the issues connected with technologies of intelligent transport systems (ITS). The theoretical investigations were supported with description of the results of empirical studies carried out by the authors in project of integrated transport management system in the Bielsko-Biala city with execution of a transportation model (Sobota et al. in Integrated transport management system in the Bielsko-Biala city. Department of Transport Silesian University of Technology, Katowice, Poland, 2014 [1]). ITS services (algorithms, tools, measures of effectiveness) are determined by the goals of sustainable mobility. The paper presents scenarios for development of an intelligent transport system in the central municipality of the agglomeration and the results of their assessment by city inhabitants.