Taichung City’s newly implemented Intelligent Traffic System, based on a platform from the German transportation software company PTV Group, has won the Distinguished Honor Award as the best ITS project in Taiwan during 2018.
The award was presented by Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications, Wang Kwo-Tsai, during ITS Taiwan’s 20th Anniversary Conference, which took place in the capital, Taipei, in late December.
With currently around 2.8 million inhabitants, Taichung City is growing rapidly, but its main transportation corridors were suffering from heavy congestion, particularly during peak hours and holiday periods. To address its congestion issues and further optimize traffic flow, while making best use of the existing infrastructure, Taichung City’s Transportation Bureau joined forces with Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) and PTV in October 2017 to upgrade the existing ITS system at the city’s Traffic Control Center with a real-time operating system.
At the heart of Taichung’s new ITS system is the PTV Optima real-time traffic management platform, which combines live data with a model-based approach, provides accurate traffic information in real time, and enables dynamic forecasting for a timescale for up to 60 minutes.
Optima also provides coordinated adaptive traffic signal optimization across the road network, as well as offering alternative routes to motorists. A further six intersections in the greater Taichung region installed PTV’s Balance traffic-adaptive signal timing system, which assists in the design of various signal control options and sends the optimized signal plans to the local controllers within a five-minute interval. The system coordinates ramp metering in the region and helps reduce travel delay for motorists.
During the five-month project phase from October 2017 until February 2018, the PTV technology enhanced network capacity, enabling drivers to reach their destinations faster and more conveniently. The software has effectively reduced area-wide average travel time by 9.4%, improved average traffic speed by 8.4% and increased the throughput rate by 7.6%.
“We are pleased to be the first system integration partner to introduce PTV’s Optima and Balance in Asia,” noted Kevin Yeh, director of FET. “This is also the first project for our telecom operators to promote an ITS solution. We will expand the use of mobile big data as a new data source for intelligent transportation services in smart cities.”
Taichung Transportation Bureau’s deputy director-general, Feng Hui-Sheng, commented, “We are glad to work with PTV to implement a coordinated real-time regional traffic control system. With the real-time traffic prediction, adaptive traffic control, event management and alternative path guidance function, we can better manage congestion and respond to incidents faster.”
Omid Ejtemai, managing director of PTV Asia-Pacific, said, “The implementation of our solutions aims to optimize capacity and efficiency of the road network, and the goal is to predict traffic conditions, provide real-time information to travelers and in case of disruptions, help divert traffic and offer alternative routes.”
