Intelligent transport system planned for China

Date: 2/8/2012

The Ministry of Transport in China has announced a plan to develop an (ITS) intelligent transport system to be rolled out across the country by 2020.

China is in need of a solution to the problem of an increased amount of traffic congestion in urban areas and it is thought the new system will help to facilitate the movement of vehicles.

Further to this it is hoped by the government that it will also provide more economic growth for China.

An ITS conference is to be held in Beijing in order to encourage private investment in the field and help put the plans into place.

Hong Xiaofeng, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Transport, said: "Some forecasts said that the number of vehicles in China will exceed 200 million in 2020, which calls for a more intensive use of smart transport technologies to optimize the traffic network and achieve lower-carbon trips."

By putting ITS in place, transport users are better informed in order to make safer and smarter travelling choices.

There are already examples in the country of places where the technology has been put to good use, such as satellite navigation, traffic surveillance cameras and the collection of tolls electronically.

In the future electronic boards will display bus information and passengers will be able to tap their smartphones in order to establish the whereabouts of the taxi they ordered.

Wang Xiaojing, Chief Engineer at the Research Institute of Highways department of the Ministry of Transport, said:

"China now has one billion mobile phone users, so we hope that more ITS applications for smartphones will come up in the future."

He added that such applications would help to facilitate the transferring between trains, buses and planes for many public transport users.

The first development to come into force will be electronic toll collection systems brought in on the highways of Shanghai and five other provinces within the Yangtze River Delta region.

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News