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City Summaries

MUNICH, GERMANY

The technical part of the visit to Munich included:

City of Munich

The city and region follow a cooperative transportation management approach. The City of Munich is the capital of Bavaria. The City District Administration, which includes transportation, has 2,500 employees. The city has 45,000 employees. The Road Traffic Division (Division IV) is responsible for traffic lights, local traffic control, traffic management, and driver registration. Munich has a 1.2 million population in an area of 370 sq km. In the outer ring highway, there are 2.4 million people in the region of 5,500 sq km. There are 2,200 km of roads in the city, while the region comprises 3,800 km of roads.

Public transport is well developed, with 79 km of underground and 100 km aboveground fast trains in the city. Each weekday, 500,000 people use public transportation. Another 580 km of rail is available outside the city. There are 21 million passengers using the "new" airport every year. The modal split (1997) is 22 percent pedestrian trips, 13 percent bicycle, 24 percent public transport, and 41 percent automobile.

Various ITS benefits have been identified. DMS are used to tell motorists what is happening up ahead and to provide parking information (park-and-ride) when the sign is not used for traffic management.

Another benefit is the reduction of traffic accidents, as shown in the graphic below.

Figure 19. Multimodal dynamic message sign in Munich.Figure 19. Multimodal dynamic message sign in Munich.

Political support for ITS is very important. The Lord Mayor of Munich stated: "No one has claimed that intelligent transport technology alone will solve the problems linked to increasing levels of traffic. Quite the reverse is true. But to believe that we can do without intelligent traffic management systems, when we are up to our necks in traffic and transport problems, that is an illusion!"

European initiatives in ITS include Prometheus, specific European Community Research/Technical Development programs, and POLIS, an ITS cities network. Activities in Munich include COMFORT/TABASCO, researching traffic control (15 million Euros); Infoten/CORVETTE, researching traveler information (10 million Euros); BayernInfo/Mobilitat 21, researching traveler information (19 million Euros); MOBINET, researching transportation management; and Motiv/INVENT, researching control and information (20 to 30 million Euros).

Figure 20. Reduction of traffic accidents as a result of ITS in Munich.Figure 20. Reduction of traffic accidents as a result of ITS in Munich.

Infrastructure-based traveler information systems focus on traffic management (alternate routing, lane control, and urban traffic control), collecting information, public transport (in-vehicle and at stations), and DMS for urban traffic control. Personal traveler information services include telematics applications, Internet/WAP, radio, and RDS-TMC. Certain enabling systems are required, which include TMCs, system architecture, data models, and digital maps.

MOBINET Project

The DRIVE program started 15 years ago, which was followed by Advanced Transport Telematics about 10 years ago. Transport Applications Telematics started 5 years ago. MOBINET is part of the next generation. The European Community is financing the system introduction.

The project will focus on multimodal transportation management, innovative transport technologies, and novel mobility services. The structure of MOBINET includes a data network and urban and regional centers. This structure will aim at optimizing traffic in the primary road network; providing multimodal information services, which will try to shift demand to public transport; and applying innovative concepts for a mobile society.

With regard to intermodal choice, the project will manage parking spaces, improve public transport, reorganize buses to Underground stations, provide more direct links on the Underground, provide alternate routing signage (cooperation between State of Bavaria and City of Munich), and provide information signs. The DMS will show congestion on the network so drivers can choose their ultimate routing.

Information services will include urban information (city information, events) and shortest route algorithms; public transport information such as electronic timetables and the integration of various systems; parking information, including available spaces; and information on recreation and leisure. It is the expectation that people would pay for better quality data.

Figure 21. The MOBINET approach.Figure 21. The MOBINET approach.

MOBINET will include data processing and completion (added-value information), traffic and system surveillance, strategic planning, and analysis of scenarios and integrated strategic control.

Four systems will be developed in MOBINET: multimodal infrastructure control; DINO - an on-line traffic model; SAM - strategic management of roads in the Munich area; and PIZ - a parking information center. The multimodal infrastructure control will be a platform to store any traffic data, including event data, traffic data, system operations, and weather and environmental conditions. Strategy implementation will assist with decision rules that will recognize a situation and provide predefined measures. The traffic data analysis will use a spatial filter. Planned types of strategies include large-scale traffic congestion (predicted), local incidents, planned events, environmental situations, weather conditions, and public transport disruptions. The dynamic network modeling will perform traffic assignments in an O-D matrix with 24,000 links, and the output will be estimated current traffic conditions in 15-minute intervals.

The strategic management of roads will optimize the road traffic information for access to Munich. It will provide alternate routes, tunnel information, ring road information, variable destination signs (congestion), ramp metering, and variable lane assignment. The parking information center will provide information on park-and-ride and public and private parking garages. Content providers will use the parking information center computers' dynamic and static information and then develop services for in-vehicle units, the Internet, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones. The algorithms use all information for predictions (long term and short term) and also incorporate traffic and weather conditions. The parking information center data transmission will cover five park-and-ride lots (two lots use individual space detectors). There is no constant communication. Once the data exceed specified thresholds, then information will be sent to the parking information center, which is scheduled for implementation in early 2002.

Figure 22. Integrated mobility management.Figure 22. Integrated mobility management.

Figure 23. Travel information on MOBINET.Figure 23. Travel information on MOBINET.

Munich Traffic Control Center

The Munich TCC will be part of MOBINET. The TCC will be located in the police headquarters in Munich, which is the same location where traffic connections are currently made to the traffic signals. The current system includes 1,000 traffic lights and detectors and 77 cameras (traffic and in pedestrian areas).

The TCC will include cooperation among state, city, transit, and rail. Information will include pretrip and en-route information, transportation alternatives, and the optimizing of personal choice of means of transport. Strategy development, coordination, and maintenance is estimated at 80 million Deutsch marks.

Figure 24. Traffic control center, Munich.Figure 24. Traffic control center, Munich.

Figure 25. Tunnel control, Munich.Figure 25. Tunnel control, Munich.

Figure 26. Possible concept of Portal Munich.Figure 26. Possible concept of Portal Munich.

In addition, the City of Munich is developing "Portal Munich," an Internet site. It will include all city services, marketplace, economy, and tourism and travel information. It will be funded 45 percent by the City of Munich (50,000 Deutsch mark maximum), 10 percent by nonprofit organizations, and 45 percent by two banks. The business model is such that information provided directly to consumers will be available for free to commercial providers. Customers will pay if data provided are of higher quality. The two banks currently have a good communications network and want to use it. There are no video camera images on the web. The police are sensitive to this because of security and terrorism concerns.

Motorway Control Center (VRZ)

The Motorway Control Center uses rain and fog monitors as well as speed detectors. Speed enforcement is performed with radar mounted in the DMS. Other detection includes loops, radar/ultrasonic, and ramp metering. The system has 58 weather stations, 120 visibility (fog) meters, 452 sensor loops, and 93 video cameras. Ramp metering has enforceable speed limits and it encourages traffic to merge through different speeds in different lanes. Data are read every minute in the system. It can also accommodate manual settings, such as an emergency call. The system sets up proposed signs/warning messages for a given situation, and the signs can be changed manually or automatically. The algorithm uses variable speed per lane, speed of cars, volume of traffic, and ramp metering.

Figure 27. VRZ traffic management center. Figure 27. VRZ traffic management center.

Figure 27. VRZ traffic management center.

Figure 28. Variable speed control and photo enforcement. Figure 28. Variable speed control and photo enforcement.

Figure 28. Variable speed control and photo enforcement.

Traffic Information System-BayernInfo

Information about BayernInfo can be viewed on the Internet at muc.ssp-consult.de and at www.bayerninfo.de. The system is Internet-based. The traffic information center provides traffic forecasts and real-time information. Data are collected from detectors, floating cars, traffic counts, and weather. Other information is provided by police, the German Automobile Association, and TV and radio. Rail and public transport information includes electronic timetables (itinerary planner). Connections are automated among the various systems and modes. Kiosks are available with this service as well. The information includes the Bavarian Ministry information for this region and Nuremberg. Park-and-ride information shows where, when, and how many parking spaces are available.

Personal travel assistants include cell phones, PDAs, etc. Congestion, incidents, and delays are factored in and changes can be sent out (pushed) to people. Personalized and customized information is the ultimate goal. Service providers can add value-added data.

BMW-ITS Applications for Ring Road Control

BMW is a partner in MOBINET. Its responsibility is main road optimization. In Munich, the middle ring road has uneven saturation levels, resulting in frequent bottlenecks and delays, which, in turn, cause air and noise pollution and low safety levels. BMW is investigating the following applications: variable lane assignments, ramp metering, adaptive signal control, ring information, actual traffic conditions, and congestion on a DMS, with red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) indicating "congestion" information on a ring road from the motorist's entrance point onto the ring road. The spacing of the information is based on detector availability, so the motorist will get the information before entering the ring road. Research is conducted on the provision of travel times on a microscopic level versus the existing model. Information will be synchronized with other elements of MOBINET.

BMW Telematics

BMW has been involved in most of the major projects in Europe, i.e., Prometheus, DRIVE, TABASCO, etc. For RDS-TMC, BMW's navigation units use icons instead of text to provide information to drivers. Messages are generated by acquiring data from the traffic information center and other sources. The data are then forwarded to the message processing center at the Bavarian Regional Center and then to the German Automobile Association for transmission to the car. The RDS-TMC timeline started in 1989 and uses standards (CEN TC 278, WG 4,7; ISO TC 204) as well as the EN standard for location coding and message format and contents (Alert C, Alert Plus).

BMW also has a beacon warning system along motorways (including Munich) that lights red beacons along the road when there is an incident ahead (warning). BMW also is investing in dynamic routing and expects a revenue stream from this venture. The lobby of the BMW complex has an RDS-TMC terminal that is used extensively by employees as they leave the building, demonstrating a workplace application for travel information.

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Page last modified on November 7, 2014
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000