MAKING INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS MORE INTELLIGENT: THE CONTRIBUTION OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH.

While it is certainly too early to make a definitive assessment of ITS, it is not too early to take stock of what has been achieved and to think about what could be achieved in the near future. Until now, ITS developments have been largely hardware-driven and have led to the introduction of many sophisticated technologies in the transportation arena, but the development of software has lagged behind. To reach the full potential of ITS, there is the challenge of making the most intelligent use possible of the hardware that is being deployed and the huge wealth of data that it provides. The transport planning and management disciplines are suggested to be most in need of taking up this challenge. Through descriptions of possible applications of operations in advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), advanced traveller information systems (ATIS), advanced fleet management systems, and advanced public transit systems, this paper illustrates how the introduction of better decision support software, based on operations research models and methods, could very significantly improve the ultimate performance of ITS.