Extreme traffic congestion sets in when there is too much demand of space on the roads and its intersections. Traffic congestion or colloquially known as traffic jam is the most annoying thing we get ourselves into and it usually teases us when we're in a hurry or we're in a feeling of discomfort.
In most countries, traffic congestion has slowly diminished over time. To name a few, US has Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS), Japan made use of technology and has arrived with Intelligent Transportation System, Europe has PROgraMme for a European Traffic of Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety (PROMETHEUS), Columbia has TransMilenio, and Brazil has Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). They have developed the needed traffic management that suit them. How about us, here in Philippines? Have you ever come to think about making way for bigger solutions to solve this perennial problem of our country?
Well, in 1990's, Mayor Tomas Osmeña proposed Bus Rapid Transit system to alleviate the pestering traffic congestion in Cebu. But is BRT system the solution? Or shall we study the other traffic management system made by other countries? In order to clear that off, it's better to understand each system. You ready?
Intelligent Vehicle Highway System
It was in the year 1990 where IVHS was ideally formed by US Mobility 2000. In the year 1996, U.S. Department of Transportation published a research to study profoundly the parameters and detectors needed to complete IVHS. Since that year, they have developed the system in such a way that sensors, receivers and vehicles communicate to establish a systematic solution to transportation problems. IVHS later on was developed and replaced with ITS.
Intelligent Transportation System
Based on a study conducted by Takashi Oguchi in his Journal entitled, Achieving safe road traffic — the experience in Japan, from late 1950's to the year 1970's, Japan experienced immense increase of traffic accidents as a result of the rapid economic growth of the country. He also cited that, in the early 1960's, observers called the proliferation of traffic-related-accidents as the "Traffic War". And this is the main reason why Japan developed such a very brilliant traffic management system, the ITS.
Intelligent Transportation System or commonly known as ITS deals with issues concerning transportation which include traffic accidents, congestion and even environmental pollution through the most advanced communications and control technologies. ITS in simpler explanation receives and transmits information of humans, roads and automobiles and so Japan-vehicles are then called the smart-vehicle.
PROMETHEUS
In 1987 to 1995, PROgraMme for a European Traffic of Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety or better known as PROMETHEUS, was the largest Research and Development project ever in the field of driverless cars. It aimed to create concepts and solutions for a road traffic system which is more efficient and less detrimental to the environment and guarantees an unprecedented degree of safety. PROMETHEUS was a research program headed by car manufacturers from six European countries. And the participants were the Electronics industry and Suppliers, Universities and Research Institutes, traffic engineers and authorities.
Basically, PROMETHEUS is a self-driving car powered by microelectronic system and not a film in 2012 which was based from a greek methology. hehehe
TRANSMILENIO
TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that serves Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. Users pay at the station entrance using a smart card, pass through a turnstile, and wait for buses inside the station, which is typically 5-meter wide. Sounds familiar? Hehehe. The bus and station doors open simultaneously, and passengers board by simply walking across the threshold. Like in a subway system, the elevated station platform and the bus floor are at the same height. Now that's different. Hmmm.
This was inspired by Curitiba's Rede Integrada de Transporte (Integrated Transportation Network). TransMilenio consists of several interconnected BRT lines, with raised floor stations in the center of a main avenue. Passengers typically reach the stations via a bridge over the street. Usually, four lanes down the center of the street are dedicated to bus traffic. There are both express and local buses, the latter stopping at every station to pick up passengers. The outer lanes allow express buses to bypass buses stopped at a station. Like this.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
In the attempt to solve the gigantic traffic congestion in Curitiba, Brazil, Mayor and at the same time Architect Jaime Lerner, proposed the first ever Bus Rapid Transit System in the year 1974. The goal of the system is to provide high quality rail transit service to customers and at a comparable cost to that of a bus transit.
Indeed, Curitiba's success inspired the implementation of similar plans in more than 100 cities around the world, including the Brazilian cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Manaus, Goiânia, Aracaju, Salvador, Recife, Brasília and now including Philippines.
BRT in Philippines
With the aforementioned summary research of the most popular traffic management systems, can Philippines afford to study and realize the dream traffic jam-free country? Well, keep in touch for I'll be discussing more about BRT in Philippines tomorrow.
Read you around Steemians!
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111216000042
http://www.its-jp.org/english/about_e/
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/94summer/p94su8.cfm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransMilenio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rapid_transit_in_Brazil*
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The BRT buses are nice and better for commuters. Before it was introduced in my country there where places you dream not to go to because of the crazy traffic. But now the buses are available we can move freely, the government created a special lane on the road for these BRT buses. The only problem we have in my country is maintaining the buses and the number of buses on the road. The buses are not enough to satisfy all commuters in my country. But without that it is faster, safer and better. I hope they will enjoy it too
very informative article .... has to manage the traffic to save lots of time
I live in the Philippines and I can say traffic there, specially metro Manila is one of the worst in the world. Hopefully BRT will fix this. Also my worst formula for traffic is, traffic + diarrhea = hell. Thanks for the informative post. Have a nice day.
Not a problem if you ride on a two-wheel vehicle :)
Traffic is really one of the great problems here in the Philippines. Aside from the number of vehicles owned by citizens have rapidly increased, intersections in every corner of the our streets also contributes to traffic congestions.
Yes @whitearcana. Talking about shallow streets and unfamiliar routes that cause traffic jams, misinformations and road blockages.
Traffic is a big problem now in Cebu . :( It is sad to say but its reality . If its rush hour it can take a long time to reach your destination so I consider myself lucky because I am working at home but hope our government can find a way how to solve the problematic traffic jam in our country . Thank you for sharing an informative post @themanualbot
You're welcome @joancabz. Yes, traffic in Cebu is getting worst.
Traffic congestion is the global problem. Thanks for introducing us with BRT & ITS. keep sharing
You're welcome:)