CONDUITS Activities (Work packages)
WP 3: Establishing ITS Key Performance Indicators
The evaluation of ITS projects should be based on performance indicators that reflect its goals and objectives. A performance index is a quantitative variable, defined by a basic performance measure (such as mean speed, walking distance etc.) and the manner and conditions under which it is calculated. For example, an index defined as "total travel time" can be the sum of average travel times on all routes within a defined sub-network. The lack of widely accepted performance indices and the lack of methodology of how to combine them to reflect the overall benefit of an ITS project restrains the development of markets for ITS products. A performance index should be characterised by the following properties:
- be operational by reflecting goals and objectives of the project;
- be measurable by exploiting available tools and resources;
- be predictable by using forecasting tools for comparing alternative future ITS projects;
- be understood by policy makers, professionals and general public.
The objective of this work package is develop and test performance indicators, which would assist city authorities in developing business cases for ITS implementations. The work package consists of six main tasks:
Task 3.1: Concept-development for quantifying improvements in traffic efficiency through ITS
Performance indices for evaluating ITS projects relate to specific goals that reflect the various aspects of traffic efficiency. Indices related to the accessibility aspect should account for trip times/distances and modes shares, as means for evaluating the ease of access to the transportation system and the ease of connecting at transfer facilities. Indices related to the mobility aspect should account for congestion level, travel time, amount of travel, mode shares, transfer time and transit performances. Indices related to the operational aspect should account for congestion-related measures, mode shares, transfers at connecting facilities and transit cost performances. Indices relating to different aspects of traffic efficiency are often based on similar performance measures, but differ in the conditions under which these performance measures are calculated and integrated into one index. Well-defined performance indices should be transferable at different geographical scale levels, while maintaining their feasibility and reliability under various conditions. Overall, the efficiency of the transportation system should account for different aspects able to quantify how much a certain ITS plan will improve the system performance compared to the existing situation.
Task 3.2: Concept-development for quantifying improvements in traffic safety through ITS
Quantifying ITS improvements concerning their impact on traffic safety can be a useful way for improving traffic safety according to the objectives of the EU to minimise the number of accidents and their consequences. After a safety-oriented categorisation of ITS measures a conceptual development of indicators can help evaluate whether ITS implementations have been successful. Possible indicators for quantifying traffic safety are for example the number and changes of accidents and casualties, as well as homogeneity of traffic flow, the number of lane changes, changes in time-to-collision, improvements in rescue and warning management and so on. For the development of this quantifying-concept two steps are considered. At the first step, a more research-oriented indication without consideration of individual data availability is generated; in the second step, the concept is adopted with respect to the surrounding conditions of the city’s current data survey, and where possible with respect to an efficient adjustment of data survey. This second step includes close collaboration with the project’s city partners.
Task 3.3: Concept-development for quantifying pollution reductions through ITS
Quantifying ITS improvements concerning their impact on the environment is an important step towards improving the city qualities and their degree of attractiveness. Projects that improve the environment and lessen the impacts of traffic have better chances to be implemented. Accordingly, by tagging ITS projects as environmental friendly more funds and research efforts will be attracted to this area. The work in this task includes the development of a tool to measure the impact of pollution reduction by any new scenario of traffic - compared to a base-line reference. The algorithm consists of a method for the calculation of the total amount of the emissions ("inventories") of CO, HC, NOx, PM and CO2 (greenhouse gas) in the area studied. The input parameters needed are traffic volume, composition of the local vehicle fleet, average speeds, amongst others. Available emission factors are taken for the calculations. The scenarios considered can be due to changes in the traffic and transport systems and also due to the use of alternative vehicles and fuels. An attempt will be made to define a "total" emission indicator which takes into account a weighted average of the various emissions and their maximal allowed concentrations. Another indicator to be defined is that related to greenhouse gas emissions. Such indicators are helpful for health effects assessments and atmospheric warming evaluations. The development of this quantifying-concept (tool) for traffic pollution is aimed at broadening the ITS benefits and to enable a cost-effectiveness analysis.
Task 3.4: Concept-development for quantifying social integration and land-use impacts through ITS
The effectiveness of ITS depends on the size of the target group. Against this background the consideration of social barriers becomes more and more important. Single ITS solutions have to be analysed taking into account the influence they have on the whole traffic management and land-use planning as a part of reasonable composed packages of measures. Possible indicators for quantifying social integration can be for example addressed target groups under socio-demographic aspects as well as accessibility for disabled or elderly people. Further indicators can be the factor of intelligibility, interoperability, investment and operation costs of ITS measures. Indicators for land-use impacts can be for example urban sprawl, avoided road development by ITS implementation, amount of commuter traffic by transport mode as well as the main origins and destinations. The developments of this quantifying-concept for social integration and land-use impacts also include, firstly, a research-oriented free-minded indication, and secondly, the adoption concerning surrounding conditions.
Task 3.5: Combining all ITS impacts into a set of KPIs
After the production of the deliverables D3.1, D3.2, D3.3 and D3.4, the four sets of performance indicators are combined. Redundancy between the different indicators as well as missing aspects are discussed with the cities. Links to traffic situations in the cities are to be established and the KPIs are to be estimated for the partner cities. It will be discussed whether these KPIs adequately describe the traffic problems. Further discussions and connections to the findings from WP 2 will be used to understand what future research initiatives could do to provide a better measurement of the proposed set of KPIs or whether future technologies can provide a better set of KPIs itself. A draft set of KPIs will be documented in deliverable D3.5.
Task 3.6: Case studies to understand usefulness of KPIs
The final task of WP 3 tests the usefulness and robustness of the proposed set of KPIs. Three case studies are conducted with the partner cities of Barcelona, Rome and Paris to understand whether proposed ITS investments can provide business cases. The reports on these business cases and possible revisions on the KPIs will be discussed with the partner cities before the main deliverable of this project (D3.6) is produced.