{"id":3077,"date":"2013-08-12T14:30:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T19:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vivanext.com\/blog\/?p=3077"},"modified":"2013-08-14T14:41:24","modified_gmt":"2013-08-14T19:41:24","slug":"its-%e2%80%93-balancing-the-needs-of-all-travellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/2013\/08\/12\/its-%e2%80%93-balancing-the-needs-of-all-travellers\/","title":{"rendered":"ITS \u2013 balancing the needs of all travellers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s stating the obvious to say that our roadways are getting slower because they\u2019re carrying too much traffic \u2013 that\u2019s the basic definition of gridlock, and it\u2019s an increasing problem everywhere across the GTA.\u00a0 But what can be done about it?\u00a0 VivaNext is one part of the solution \u2013 if people have the choice of taking a reliable and convenient rapid transit system, there will be fewer cars on the road, and everyone will be able to get around more quickly.<\/p>\n

But even with vivaNext, there\u2019s still going to be a lot of traffic out there, and York Region doesn\u2019t have room for more or bigger roads.\u00a0 So what else can be done to help traffic move better?\u00a0 This is where ITS comes in.<\/p>\n

Although some people may think ITS is connected to \u201cInformation Technology\u201d, in the vivaNext world ITS stands for \u201cIntelligent Transportation Systems\u201d. ITS is an international transportation-engineering discipline that is concerned with trying to improve the efficiency of travel, whether it involves the travelling public, commercial vehicles, or transit. \u00a0The basic assumptions behind ITS are that delays cost money, and more efficient travel saves money. This new technology is an absolutely critical, although low-visibility, component of the vivaNext program.<\/p>\n

ITS is used to ensure that all parts of a traffic corridor\u2019s infrastructure \u2013 the physical roadway\u2019s design, lane markings and signs, traffic signal design and timing, and the brains that connect all these pieces \u2013 are designed as one coordinated system. \u00a0In a transit project ITS has an additional layer which is concerned with how the transit system is integrated into that larger system.<\/p>\n

ITS is also about giving people accurate information so they can make better choices about travel, whether that means building roadside signage to alert drivers to upcoming congestion and suggest alternative routes, or giving transit riders real-time information about next bus arrivals.<\/p>\n

Overall, ITS is about finding the perfect balance so that all the users of a roadway find it works better; making a roadway faster for one group of users cannot come at the expense of all the other users.\u00a0 ITS starts with an understanding of who is using the roadway now and who will be using it in the future, and then develops strategies to make it more efficient for everyone.<\/p>\n

Along Highway 7, we know that drivers and transit are the main users currently, but that\u2019s going to change as development intensifies. The future Highway 7 will be significantly more urbanized, with more people living and working along the corridor.\u00a0 That means there will be more pedestrians and cyclists whose travel needs need to be considered, in addition to car and truck traffic.\u00a0 Helping transit vehicles stay on schedule is also a priority, since rapid transit can\u2019t be rapid if it\u2019s stuck in traffic.<\/p>\n

These ITS strategies will balance everyone\u2019s needs, to help everyone get to where they\u2019re going as fast as possible!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s stating the obvious to say that our roadways are getting slower because they\u2019re carrying too much traffic \u2013 that\u2019s the basic definition of gridlock, and it\u2019s an increasing problem everywhere across the GTA.\u00a0 But what can be done about it?\u00a0 VivaNext is one part of the solution \u2013 if people have the choice of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,30,67],"tags":[40,39,76,350,114,47,50,14,34,61,11,117,939,6,7,9],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction","category-rapidways","category-stations","tag-brt","tag-bus-rapid-transit","tag-congestion","tag-growth","tag-highway-7","tag-markham","tag-mixed-use-development","tag-rapid-transit","tag-rapidway","tag-richmond-hill","tag-transit-only-lanes","tag-transit-oriented-development","tag-urban-planning","tag-viva","tag-vivanext","tag-york-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3089,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions\/3089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yrrtc.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}