Effective road and traffic management

Written evidence from the Greater London Authority (ETM 52)

1. Introduction

1.1 The Greater London Authority (GLA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Committee’s inquiry into effective road and traffic management in the light of the Government’s decision not to introduce road pricing on existing roads (except in relation to Heavy Goods Vehicles).

1.2 The GLA encompasses a range of ‘Functional Bodies’, including Transport for London (TfL), which acts as the Mayor’s Strategic Transport Authority. TfL is responsible for most of the capital’s transport system including the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN). The TLRN consists of the busiest 5 per cent (approximately 580km) roads in London, carrying over 30 per cent of all traffic. Because of the greater proportion of commercial freight and business related traffic (eg, commuting), the TLRN is estimated to account for up to 40 per cent of the gross economic value of traffic related movement across the city.

1.3 Through the Traffic Management Act 2004, TfL also has a strategic responsibility, and specific powers, to coordinate works and ensure the free flow of traffic on the wider Strategic Road Network (SRN). It is also responsible for the maintenance, management and operation of all of London’s 6,000 traffic signals, and for the real time operational control of the road network through the London Streets Traffic Control Centre (LSTCC) and the London Streets Tunnels Operations Centre (LSTOC), whose role is to reduce the likelihood and levels of disruption and delays by responding quickly to manage traffic around any incident or event on the network.

2. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy

2.1 Much has been achieved in London over the last decade to reduce or manage the demand for road-based travel (including an unprecedented 7 per cent increase in walking, cycling and public transport mode share). However, because of forecast economic and population growth (with a further 1.25m people and 750,000 extra jobs likely to be created by 2031), even with future planned transport investment (eg, Crossrail, Tube upgrades and National Rail investment including Thameslink), congestion in London is still forecast to grow.

2.2 The Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) sets out the wider transport planning context and spatial framework for the management of roads in London. The MTS aims to achieve six high level goals:

· supporting economic development and population growth

· enhancing the quality of life for all Londoners

· improving the safety and security of all Londoners

· improving transport opportunities for all Londoners

· reducing transport’s contribution to climate change, and improving its resilience

· supporting delivery of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and its legacy.

2.3 London’s road network is the most congested of any area of the UK. Congestion costs an estimated £2 billion in lost economic productivity, adversely affects Londoners’ quality of life, causes frustration to road users, contributes to a deterioration of air quality and leads to higher CO2 emissions. [1] The road network therefore has a contribution to make to achieving each of these goals, and plans are being developed accordingly.

2.4 Under the general heading of managing the road network and smoothing traffic flow, the MTS sets out a series of policy proposals under six key themes, as follows:

· maximising the efficient and reliable operation of the road network

· minimising the impact of planned interventions on the road network with the potential to disrupt traffic flows

· minimising disruption from unplanned events (accidents, emergencies, etc) in ‘real-time’ as they occur and return the network quickly and efficiently to its planned steady state operation as soon as possible

· managing demand and achieving modal shift away from car based traffic movements towards more sustainable modes to reduce traffic growth pressures on the network

· where feasible, and where there is an overall congestion reduction and local economic benefit, developing the road network

· maintaining road network assets in a good state of repair.

3. The Network Operating Strategy

3.1 The efficient management and operation of London’s strategic road network is of significant economic importance, not only to London itself, but also to the wider UK economy as a whole. TfL is developing a Network Operating Strategy which aims to bring together the best practice in road network management and provide a strategic framework for the operational management of London’s road network. It will set out specific advice and guidance for those involved in day to day decision-making in TfL, the London boroughs and other organisations charged with the delivery of the road management related aspects of the MTS. It is also intended to assist in the implementation of the developing Sub-regional Strategies and borough Local Implementation Plans (LIPs), as well as providing a framework through which to prioritise both capital investment and ‘business as usual’ operational expenditure decision-making across the road network. The main outputs of the Strategy are set out below.

3.2 Responding to the development of the new MTS, TfL has undertaken customer research and has identified a set of key performance measures that collectively quantify the performance of the road network in terms that road users understand. These are as follows:

· journey time reliability (the strategic MTS outcome measure)

· journey time/traffic speed

· volume of demand

· volume of delay and disruption due to planned and unplanned events

· numbers of road works and other events or incidents recorded (ie, impacting on the availability of the network)

· customer satisfaction with road network performance.

Maximising the efficient and reliable operation of the network

3.3  TfL has identified 23 London-wide TLRN corridors for which it is undertaking work to develop a better understanding of performance, particularly in terms of journey time reliability. This work includes the development of detailed corridor simulation models that will allow for the testing of potential measures to improve journey time reliability. The following points set out some of the key actions TfL is currently implementing to deliver performance improvements:

· Reviewing the timings of 1,000 sets of traffic signals each year.

· Installing SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique)  at an additional 1,000 sets of traffic signals across London. SCOOT is an automated, intelligent traffic signal control system which can dynamically change signal timings to best suit prevailing traffic conditions. The SCOOT system provides on average a 12 per cent reduction in delay and an 8 per cent reduction in stops for traffic where installed. London has approximately 6,000 traffic signals, a third of which currently operate under SCOOT control. TfL plans to upgrade 1000 more signals to SCOOT control by 2012/13.

· In conjunction with the Department for Transport (DfT), trialling Pedestrian Countdown, an initiative which delivers benefits to pedestrians by providing information about how long pedestrians have to cross the road at traffic signals at eight junctions in London.

· Exploring the benefits of removing traffic signals at certain locations and, where safe and appropriate, replacing them with alternative measures that make it easier for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists to get about. A number of boroughs have also implemented pilot initiatives across London.

Minimising the impact of planned interventions

3.4 TfL’s overall approach, as reflected in the MTS, to reducing the impact of planned events on the road network is two-fold:

(i) to improve cooperation and coordination between highway authorities, utilities and other organisations, to ensure works and other events are well planned, and that all opportunities are taken to mitigate disruption; and

(ii) to develop real incentives for works promoters to apply best practice and reduce the amount of time they spend digging up roads and/or disrupting traffic.

To support this approach, TfL has implemented a number of initiatives including:

· The Mayor’s Code of Conduct for road works . The Code, launched in April 2009, brought together TfL and the main utility companies working in London to work in partnership to reduce the impact of road works on London’s roads. The signatories agreed to work to ten key principles including: the provision of information boards at works sites; carrying out more work outside peak hours; reducing occasions when works over-run their agreed durations; cooperating with joint working and ‘workathons’; and considering ‘plating’ over holes in the road and footway, wherever possible.

· The London Permit Scheme  (LoPS). A further commitment in the original Code of Conduct was the introduction of a new permitting scheme for road works in London. On 11 January 2010, TfL and 16 participating boroughs became the first highway authorities in the country to implement a road works permit scheme, replacing the previous New Road and Street Works Act 1991‘noticing’ arrangements. A further two boroughs joined the scheme on 1 April 2010.

TfL is using powers provided by the permit scheme to control the number of permits issued and, through this, the volume of activity taking place on the TLRN at any one time. Working closely with the utility companies, TfL is aiming to achieve a 5 per cent reduction in the overall numbers of road works, although much higher reductions (up to 20 per cent) are being targeted in levels of peak activity

· Lane Rental 

However, improving coordination and control of roadworks can only go so far. The Mayor and TfL strongly believe that there is a need for real incentives on the utility industry to find new ways of working that avoid, or severely reduce, the need to dig up our busiest roads at the busiest times of day. For this reason, TfL is very keen for the DfT to provide it with the powers to introduce a targeted lane rental scheme for utility works on the busiest parts of the TLRN and would very much welcome the Transport Committee’s support for this approach.

TfL believes lane rental would incentivise the streetworks industry to deliver real behavioural change and encourage it to change working practices, develop innovative working methods (eg, more joint working and shared contractors) and new technology (eg, ‘no dig’ technologies; more sophisticated bridging and plating systems; application of new materials for trench reinstatement that do not need 24 hours to ‘cure’) to reduce the footprint and duration of works. 

By introducing a targeted lane rental scheme (with charges applicable only at the busiest sections of the TLRN, at the busiest times of day) there will be opportunities for companies to reduce or avoid the charges, for example by undertaking works at less traffic-sensitive times or by using plating to reopen carriageway to traffic at the busiest times. This will further incentivise innovation.

Minimising disruption from unplanned events

3.5 There will always be unplanned events and incidents on the road network – emergencies, road traffic accidents, breakdowns, road defects and burst water mains – which cannot be planned for in advance

Minimising the amount of this disruption can therefore have a direct effect on the overall performance of the network. TfL’s approach identifies three specific strands of activity to achieve this:

a) Identifying and eliminating potential causes of unplanned disruption to minimise their occurrence in the first place. A range of initiatives and actions are being implemented aimed at minimising the occurrence of unplanned events at these locations. Examples include:

· Reducing disruption from traffic signals failures at junctions in the Congestion Management Areas.

· Reducing disruption from vehicle breakdowns and over-height vehicle stoppages on the Blackwall Tunnel corridor. In the nine months to February 2011, for example, the Tunnel has been closed 1,604 times. Seventy per cent of these incidents have been due to drivers ignoring the height restriction warning signs throughout the northbound tunnel, which has a 4.0m (13’ 0") height limit. Vehicle breakdowns were responsible for 287 closures, a third of which were due to vehicles simply running out of fuel.

· Reducing disruption from road traffic accidents.

b) Minimising response and clear up times for when incidents do occur. Some examples are:

· London Streets Traffic Control Centre, which is TfL’s  primary means through which to achieve optimum incident response and clear up times across the network. This is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year control centre dedicated to real-time monitoring and management of London’s road network and to responding to incidents to minimising disruption and ensuring the free flow of traffic.

· Improving incident detection.

· Responding to incidents by optimising the location and availability of key response teams.

· Improving Incident clear-up times  through joint working between the various resources on site is also key to minimising disruption for motorists and other traffic.

c) Effectively managing traffic around such incidents to minimise the disruption they cause, through:

· The general management of traffic congestion on the network in the vicinity of an incident through traffic signals control and other measures.

· The provision and dissemination of good quality traffic information to all road users in order to allow them to make informed choices about when, where, how or if, they should make their journeys on the network.

Managing demand and achieving modal shift

3.6 The MTS highlights a range of activities being undertaken by TfL to promote better transport user information, modal shift towards more sustainable modes and/or reducing the need to travel. These include:

· A range of proposals to support walking, including public realm initiatives that could improve the layout and design of streets to improve accessibility and information improvements such as ‘Legible London’.

· A number of schemes to promote cycling, including Barclays Cycle Super Highways, and Barclays Cycle Hire in central London.

· Continuing to improve the bus network and invest in the Tube upgrades, Crossrail and other National Rail improvements.

· Promoting smarter travel, including through reducing the need to travel, and better information to highlight the best mode for the trip.

· Freight related modal shift initiatives.

· Better public transport information.

All these things, along with the continued operation of the Central London Congestion Charging zone, contribute towards TfL’s overall approach to managing the demand for road-based travel.

Developing the road network

3.7 Where feasible, and where there is an overall congestion reduction and local

economic benefit, the MTS also allows for appropriate road network

development. The most significant is in east London, where, as the economy

changes, development will place increasing demand for travel across the

river. Therefore, the Mayor is supportive of additional road-based river crossings as part of a package with public transport, walking/cycling river crossings in east London.

Maintaining the road network assets in a good state of repair

3.8 Maintaining London’s roads, pavements, bridges, tunnels and traffic control

systems is vital for the safe and efficient operation of the network as well as to achieve a good quality of life and economic productivity. TfL, working with the London boroughs and other stakeholders will work in collaboration to maintain cost-effectively London’s road network assets in a state of good repair in order to maximise their operational safety and effectiveness.

4. The following comments address specific issues raised in the terms of reference for this inquiry and which have not been referred to above.

The use of technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in managing the road network

· The vision for London’s transport system, according to the MTS, is that ‘London’s transport system should excel among those of global cities, providing access to opportunities for all its people and enterprises, achieving the highest environmental standards and leading the world in its approach to tackling urban transport challenges of the 21 st century’.

· Intelligent traffic management schemes have an important part to play in managing traffic flow. TfL believes it important to maintain investment in introducing already-developed schemes as well as undertaking research into new technology which might provide further benefits.

· TfL will utilise advances in ITS technology to better manage the road network, improve real time traffic management capability, lay the foundations for communication with in-vehicle systems and develop state-of-the-art traffic signal control systems.

· A key component in the future management of the road network is to increase the knowledge of how the network operates through intelligent ‘situational awareness’ systems and to employ the most effective solutions and technological developments to ensure its efficient operation.

· To do this, TfL will continue to develop its state-of-the-art real time multi-modal dynamic traffic control system. This will bring together real time operational data, historic analysis and predictive modelling to more effectively respond to planned and unplanned disruption, and to proactively optimise and manage the available road capacity in real time. Consideration will be given to the increased use of real time communications from vehicle to vehicle, and between vehicles and on-street infrastructure and the central traffic management control system.

· The aim is to create a state-of-the art traffic control system for the 21st century which is capable of maximising the efficient use of road capacity in London.

· Provision of information to motorists is also important in allowing the public to divert around areas of congestion, rather than adding to it. TfL is working with manufacturers of Sat Nav systems, as an example, to determine whether this technology can be adapted to guide motorists away from traffic congestion hot spots. We would commend the Government to explore options to improve the provision of information to drivers also.

The impact of bus lanes and other aspects of road layout

· Bus lanes have the potential to provide great journey time savings to bus passengers, heightening the attractiveness of the bus to the public and encouraging modal shift from private transport. However, inappropriately designed bus lanes can reduce overall capacity on the network by taking away a lane that could otherwise be used by traffic.

· The implementation of a bus lane and the loss of capacity can, on occasion, lead to queues of traffic developing that extend beyond the entry point of the bus lane. This prevents buses entering the bus lane and consequently defeats the purpose of the bus lane.

· Poor signage and variable operational hours can also mean that bus lanes are under-utilised by general traffic when not operational. Poor lane alignment when bus lanes terminate prior to traffic signals usually results in a near-side flare that is under-utilised. This should be changed to direct traffic into the nearside lane, with the flare in the off-side lane.

· Similarly, loading bays reduce capacity when in use. Inset, at-grade bays or innovative use of technology (eg, Cooperative Vehicle Infrastructure Systems) should be encouraged.

5. Conclusion

The GLA and TfL would welcome the opportunity to give more detailed evidence on its general management and operation of the road network in London, what it is doing to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow, what more it feels central government could do to support it in achieving these objectives.

March 2011