Happy Holidays!!

18 December 2018

The Smart Transportation Alliance (STA) would like to take the opportunity of this end-of-the year newsletter to express to all our readers the warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season, filled with joy and laughter through the New Year!

2018 has been an exciting year. Throughout the year, we have moved our legal headquarters to Brussels (Belgium), conducted four expert surveys by each of our Technical Committees (Smart Mobility, Smart Safety, Smart Sustainability & Smart Financing), and released a number of brand new publications and articles . In addition, three General Meetings were held and the year was concluded, once again, with the successful 2018 STA Annual Conference and Innovation Awards on 27 November 2018.  To conclude, the Start-Up Accelerator frontierCities2 , which has received  continued support from STA over the last two years, is successfully coming to an end.

These achievements further inspire STA to carry its activities aligned with the mission to create smart, sustainable and safe transportation infrastructures globally.

We would like to thank you all for your continued support and look forward to an eventful and even more enriching 2019!

STA participates in the Kick-Off Meeting of the new STRIA Infrastructure WG (EU’s Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda)

12 December 2018

STA’s President, José F. Papí, participated in the 1st meeting led by the European Commission’s DG MOVE and the EU Member States, the modal European Transport Technology Platforms and industry representatives.

The Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda (STRIA) Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure aims to develop research and innovation in these key areas, test new methodologies and prepare the ground for future transport infrastructure policies. The new 2018 exercise will update the roadmap defined back in 2016, to which STA contributed with two official rapporteurs (STA Management Committee members’ Prof José Manuel Vassallo and Dr Elena de la Peña) and with an expert to the closed circle of contributors (STA’s President, José F. Papí).

Article "Smart transportation infrastructures and the future", published in Government Europa: STA's President José F. Papí explains how smart mobility is impossible without smart transportation infrastructures

7 December 2018

Smart mobility is impossible without smart transportation infrastructures.

Our lives are becoming ‘smart’: we enjoy smartphones, our urban environments are evolving into smart cities, and our automobiles are incorporating smart features, assisting our driving and increasing our safety. In this context, smart transportation infrastructures are a key player in a changing world, becoming more competitive and cohesive every day.

With some minor geographical exceptions, in general people and goods will be moving around the globe further and faster. Roads being the essential link in the modal chain, transportation systems will become fully integrated, allowing travellers and freight to switch seamlessly between modes and across borders. All major airports and seaports will connect to the rail network; intermodal terminals for passenger and freight should be ‘smartly’ designed and equipped accordingly. In the case of freight, cooperative systems, seamless trans-shipment and smart route design will lead to the sector’s optimisation.

The world needs smart transportation infrastructures that are able to process the vast amount of information collected in real time and provide the most effective transportation services to businesses and citizens alike.

NEWS OF INTEREST

The Digital Transformation of Infrastructure

11 December 2018

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing regions, and its cities are at the heart of this growth. Yet while urbanisation is fuelling progress, rapid expansion can strain a city’s infrastructure.

Despite containing one-third of its population, the region’s cities drive more than two-thirds of its economic growth. As their metropolitan society develops greater digital literacy and smartphone penetration, "smarter" solutions are necessary to coping with the rapid growth and urban demands of its residents.

“Smart cities are where infrastructure and technology come together,” says Sharad Somani, Partner & Head, Infrastructure Advisory at KPMG. “It’s about how to make infrastructure smarter so that it adapts to the needs of the citizens in a fashion that enhances their quality of life.”

New WHO report highlights insufficient progress to tackle lack of safety on the world's roads

8 December 2018

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates road traffic deaths continue to rise, with an annual 1.35 million fatalities. The WHO Global status report on road safety 2018 highlights that road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of children and young people aged 5-29 years.

“These deaths are an unacceptable price to pay for mobility,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “There is no excuse for inaction. This is a problem with proven solutions. This report is a call for governments and partners to take much greater action to implement these measures.”

Transport utopianism is stupid, and Elon Musk should shut up

26 November 2018

One of the things that’s most irritating about politics in 2018 – and goodness me, aren’t there a lot of choices – is the utopianism that’s crept into the transport debate. There is an apparently endless supply of people who wouldn’t be seen dead on public transport, or using any other service labelled with the word “public”, if they can possibly help it, yet who have come to the conclusion that they are the people staid and dusty world of transport policy has been waiting for.

And the message they are keen to send is that the old ways of doing things is over: shiny new technologies are going to disrupt the transport sector, just as they disrupted the music industry or retail. Why bother investing in mass-transit, when autonomous vehicles (AV) and ride-hailing apps are about to take over the world? Why waste money on high speed rail, when Elon Musk’s exciting new hyperloop will be along any minute? Silicon Valley types ask these questions, even as they earnestly suggest some kind of fixed route, ride-sharing service based on vehicles larger than the private car, blissfully unaware that they’ve just re-invented the bus. Again.