Intermodal transportation system management : towards integration of traffic management system and users information system.

Abstract

Urban transportation systems are complex in nature as they involve many interacting agents behaving in myriad ways that are extremely difficult to predict. The development of intermodal passenger transportation solutions to address the mobility issues facing society constitutes a major thrust area of urban transport policies. But intermodal transportation system management (ITSM), to offer citizens comprehensive seamless mobility, requires the integration of different modules to help the operator, responsible for the regulation. Two major components of an ITSM are the traffic regulation support system for the coordination of timetables, synchronising arrival and departure times between modes, and the users information system, giving customers access to information and using a comprehensive set of information tools. In this paper, a generic model of a transport management system, integrating these two modules is proposed. This generic model is then used for designing a traffic regulation system in the case of a bimodal transportation system (tram-bus). The traffic regulation support system, based on the decision model of an operator, and the customers information system are described.