Module 3.3: Examples;
Traffic management and mobility management
Task 4
·Has
your city implemented similar traffic and mobility management measures?
Technology
used to manage the movement of people has been mostly used in León to increase
road safety, principally for pedestrian mobility.
León has two
speed counters in the vicinity of areas that have quite lot road traffic in
peak hours. There is also a portable traffic-speed-radar installed every day in
six different locations of the city to monitor road speed (there are 33 different
locations). Moreover, three photo-red traffic lights with speed radar are placed
in main streets to dissuade drivers exceed speed limits.
Other successful
technological innovation that has improved pedestrian mobility together with
accessibility is the acoustic system for traffic lights, with remote control,
for blind or visually impaired people. It consists of an innovative system
based on small electronic devices situated over the upper part of the traffic
light posts. The traffic light remains silent and only produces a sound signal
once it has been activated by a user, with a small omni-directional remote
control. This avoids the usual noise nuisances of the old systems with
continuous noise in every crossing cycle. The system makes a first clear
acoustic signal just to orientate the user to the traffic light post. Then, it
produces a crossing signal (different from the first one) and, eventually, a
last signal of end-crossing. The sound comes from both traffic light posts;
origin and destination, in order to let the user recognize the ‘crossing path’.
Once the crossing cycle is finished the system returns to the original
situation of silence until a new user activates it. Regarding the remote
control it is a small device (type key-ring) that lets the user activate the
traffic light of the cross road for the next crossing cycle. The effectiveness
of the signal is absolute since the possibility of interferences with other
signals is practically non-existent.
In that
concerning strategies to redistribute travel demand:
1. Strategies
towards mobility by bicycle: public bike loan system (20 loan points all over
the city), and more than 1,000 bike racks.
2. Strategies
towards mobility by public transport (bus): all local buses have geo-referred
information screens and a communication system (ITC) called SICOMBUS, most bus
stops count on real time information panels, and there is an App for mobile
phones called ‘busKbus’, which gives users real-time information.
3. Apart from
the SUMP of the city, three Transport Plans have been done (1) for workers of
the City Hall of León; (2) for students, teachers and workers of Ponce de León primary
school; and (3) for students, teachers and workers of the University of León.
·What
impact have the measure(s) had on congestion?
We have not
measured impact. In any case, all these measures have been well accepted by the
entire population.
·Was
there a strong debate before and/or after implementation? If so, what were the
arguments that were made?
No debate
occurred. When doing the Transport Plans, participation of key groups was
always well accepted and positive.