Technik und Umwelt
Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse (ITAS)
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Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Technik und Umwelt Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse (ITAS) |
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TA-DATENBANK-NACHRICHTEN |
The integration of information and communication services in transport can be a powerful opportunity to achieve transport policy goals. To ensure maximum benefit from these opportunities offered by information and communication services there is a need to create the conditions for adequate and widespread use of these services in transport. To support policy makers in the identification of policy requirements, i.e. necessary policy actions and measures, a policy assessment framework has been developed and applied. The framework is based on a "stagist" model in which the analysis of complex relationships between transport, information technology and policy is split into ten steps. In each step the framework addresses the most important aspects and mechanisms to be taken into account when defining policy for the integration of information and communication services.
Information and communication services can contribute significantly to a safe, efficient and effective transport system. Through these services users will receive more reliable, complete and up to date information, allowing them to improve or extent current transport operations and processes. To ensure maximum benefit from the opportunities offered by information and communication services, conditions for adequate and widespread use of these services in transport have to be created. From a policy perspective, integration has a policy function and can be seen as an instrument that policy makers can use to achieve the objectives of the transport policy. In the TRANSINPOL (Transport Information Systems Policies)-project for DG TREN conditions for such an approach were assessed.
However, the definition of these conditions and the formulation of policies to achieve them is not easy. The identification of the needs for favourable conditions and defining effective policies is difficult because of the following factors:
To handle these complexities, a conceptual framework has been developed and applied in the TRANSINPOL-project, funded by the European Commission (TNO et al. 1999). This framework addresses the most important aspects and mechanisms to be taken into account when defining policies for the integration of information and communication services from a transport perspective. Basis for this framework is a "stagist" model in which the policy making process is divided up in several steps or stages. The strength of this approach is that it provides a rational structure within we may consider the multiplicity of reality. By applying this framework, the most pressing policy requirements have been identified.
The aim of this paper it to discuss the elements of the framework and potential future extensions. The outline of this paper is as follows. First, the multiplicity of relations between transport, information technology and policy and the theoretical background of "stagist" models is discussed. Second, the conceptual framework and its components are presented. Then, the application of the framework in the TRANSINPOL-project is discussed. Concluding remarks and recommendations for future extensions are presented in the final section.
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Fig. 1: Generic Transport Telematic Services
The five elements are correlated. Changes or developments occurring in one element will generally impact the other elements. It is therefore essential for the assessment of policy requirements to be aware of what is going on in these elements, to capture signals indicating changes and to consider the relations between these elements. The relations that need to be considered are:
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Fig. 2: Important subjects and relations
The main issue for policy makers is how to deal with all these elements and relations. In a complex environment with many actors and many fast and simultaneous development it is not only important to maintain a good overview of the major trends, but also to separate short term developments, problems and solutions from developments and opportunities that have structural impact in the long term. The number of relations to consider, the number of political issues to deal with and the amount of information to handle may become enormous. Therefore, policy makers need a tool to help them to gather and structure the relevant information in each step of the policy development process. In the ideal situation, a decomposition of the trends and developments in each of the above mentioned elements and relationships should be related to the different steps in the policy making process. For this purpose, a "stagist"-approach is a useful approach.
An outline of the "stagist" or conceptual framework as it has been developed in TRANSINPOL in shown in Figure 3. The basis of the conceptual framework is the relationships identified in the previous section. The objective of the framework is twofold. On the one hand to provide an overview of the factors and elements that influence the integration of information and communication services and to provide insight in the relation between these factors. On the other hand to indicate from what points of view a policy maker can approach these relations in order to identify policy requirements.
In the TRANSINPOL-study this framework is supported by a large set of schemes and figures as a generic architecture of all relevant perspectives.
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Fig. 3: The "stagist" assessment framework
The framework makes a distinction between the strategic issues related to the intergration of ICT in transport opposed to the more or less operational issues. Steps 1 to 6 take into account the long term needs of the transport system and technological trends to identify the needs for integration and the opportunities offered by the integration. As a result these steps lead to functional policy requirements that specify the need for policy intervention to ensure that the impacts of the integration contribute to the achievement of the CTP objectives.
However, identifying and formulating functional policy requirements is necessary but not always sufficient to ensure that, at the end, the expected changes will occur. Steps 7 to 9 focus on creating the service environment facilitating the integration of these services and systems in transport. To remove barriers that may slow down or block the integration of information and communication services many options are available to policy makers. The advantages, drawbacks and limitations of policy option and instruments have to be evaluated and compared. Because barriers are in many cases related to each other and policy options may affect various actors, a complex set of impacts and interrelations gives rise to major evaluations, dilemmas and trade-offs that have to be considered by policy makers. The policy issues that can be distinguished in these evaluations can be identified and approached from a transport, industrial, socio-economic, demand side, supply side, economic, technology, legal and institutional or user perspective. The evaluation of barriers, options and policy issues results in operational policy requirements that indicate the needs for policy intervention directly related to the necessity to overcome barriers that might hinder the integration process.
In total, the stagists framework consists of ten stages as shown in Figure 3. In the next section, attention will be devoted to each of the ten steps.
It is clear that the stagist model is an abstraction of the policy analysis and development process. In practice, the various steps may not be fulfilled. Several steps may be performed simultaneously or may be skipped. In reality, the process may be more continuous by nature, where after a particular step, the previous one is reconsidered. The dynamics of the policy making process may be different in each situation, which is always related to certain real-world issues.
| Areas for policy attention | Survey score |
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| Integration of information services between transport modes and transport operators | 3.53 |
| Use of information and communication services to influence mobility behaviour | 3.47 |
| Exchange of data between different types of transport information services | 3.38 |
| Use of ICT in optimisation of infrastructure utilisation, i.e. traffic management | 3.33 |
| Harmonisation and standardisation | 3.11 |
| Information Society as major influence on the dynamics in transport demand patterns | 3.08 |
| Use of ICT for transport safety | 3.00 |
| Shared use of communication services, technologies and platforms | 2.93 |
| Implementation of policies and the timing of policy actions | 2.81 |
| Integration at the application level, development of commercial services and human machine interfaces | 2.74 |
| High level architectures, harmonisation of information services | 2.55 |
| Geographical boundaries, areas, networks etc., i.e. coverage, regions, locations | 2.51 |
Fig. 4: Prioritisation of twelve areas for policy attention
The conceptual framework was used to define what needs have to be addressed within each of the above mentioned area for policy attention. As an example, we will elaborate in this section on the topic Integration of information services between modes and operators.
| Step 1 | Need: Realise co-operative undertakings where there is an apparent benefit for a whole mode or transport chain, not only to offer seamless transport services to passengers and freight, but also to improve efficiency of transport processes. Apart from market information, it will require exchange of information on related to transport operations (capacity of resources and equipment). |
| Step 2 | Technology Trends: Data exchange standards and formats (e.g. EDIFACT, Internet-technology); group decision tools; advanced simulation and modelling tools. |
| Step 3 | Opportunities: Tools to organise and monitor the shared use of resources and equipment; tools to exchange information relevant to integrate or link business processes in different organisations with each other; tools for objective quality control and quality management along transport chains; tools that can model co-operative undertakings and demonstrate the benefits through simulation; knowledge bases of successful co-operative undertakings (best practice). |
| Step 4 | Impacts: Improvement of chain performance and reduction of costs of non-quality in particular in intermodal and public transport; increased attraction, performance and scale of intermodal and public transport operations. |
| Step 5 | State of the art: Integration of services is extremely rare to find in fragmented transport chains and industries where there are no clear problem owners and no powerful actors. |
| Step 6 | Rationale of policy: An increase in the efficiency and reliability of intermodal transport chains is an important objective of the CTP. Disability of individual firms to initiate co-operation with others, be it due to a lack of experience or a lack of resources that are needed to prepare a co-operation initiative. |
| Step 7 | Barriers: Accommodation of interests is difficult in non-win-win situations; lack of powerful actors; lack of connectivity; Lack/degree of diffusion of advanced ICT. |
| Step 8 | Policy options: Stressing and demonstrating the benefits of co-operation. Provide forums and tools to initiate co-operative ventures. Provide co-operation facilitators (neutral third party that identifies opportunities for co-operation, assesses the scope for co-operation, initiates and manages the co-operation building process). Provide methodologies for the accommodation of interests in co-operative ventures. |
| Step 9 | Policy Issues: Position of SME's; balance between competition and co-operation in transport markets. |
| Step 10 | Functional policy requirement: Need for policy to create incentives or support initiatives for co-operation between operators, especially in a deregulated and competitive environment, contributing to enlarged synergy and interoperability between transport services. Operational policy requirements: standardisation of terminology and technology, harmonisation of transport services and quality levels, rules for liability and responsibilities in chains. |
The model can be a starting point for the development of computer aided policy analysis and knowledge systems, focusing on different aspects of information systems transport policies. By using this framework, new projects and experiences can be categorised and evaluated systematically.
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FDC, RWS, TNO Inro, PLS, Technum, NLB, FUNDP, 2000: Synthesis of transport policy requirements for the integration of information, communication and navigation technology in transport, TRANSINPOL Deliverable 7, Paris: FDC
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Parssons, W., 1995: Public Policy - An introduction to the theory and practice of policy analysis. Aldershot UK/Brookfield US: Edward Elgar
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TNO Inro, Fraunhofer ISI, Technum, 1999: Assessment of transport policy
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* The paper was first published on a CD-Rom titled "From Vision to Reality", Proceedings of the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems. Turin, Italy, from 6-9 November 2000. (published by ERTICO, ITS America, EU and Vertis)