A Framework For Assessing Transport Information Systems Policies

The integration of information and communication services in transport can be a powerful opportunity to achieve transport policy goals. To ensure maximum benefit from these opportunities offered by information and communication services there is a need to create the conditions for adequate and widespread use of these services in transport. To support policy makers in the identification of policy requirements, i.e. necessary policy actions and measures, a policy assessment framework has been developed and applied. The framework is based on a "stagist" model in which the analysis of complex relationships between transport, information technology and policy is split into ten steps. In each step the framework addresses the most important aspects and mechanisms to be taken into account when defining policy for the integration of information and communication services


Introduction
Information and communication services can contribute significantly to a safe, efficient and effective transport system.Through these services users will receive more reliable, complete and up to date information, allowing them to improve or extent current transport operations and processes.To ensure maximum benefit from the opportunities offered by information and communication services, conditions for adequate and widespread use of these services in transport have to be created.From a policy perspective, integration has a policy function and can be seen as an instrument that policy makers can use to achieve the objectives of the transport policy.In the TRANSINPOL (Transport Information Systems Policies)-project for DG TREN conditions for such an approach were assessed.
However, the definition of these conditions and the formulation of policies to achieve them is not easy.The identification of the needs for favourable conditions and defining effective policies is difficult because of the following factors:

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The pace of development of information technologies is very high; • There are many actors and stakeholders in the transport sector as well as in the ICTindustry; • Most of the developments in information technology take place outside the transport sector and can hardly be influenced; • The conditions should not only fulfil current needs of specific actors or systems in the transport sector, but should contribute to a more efficient and effective transport system in the long term and therefore also assist future transport policies and options.
To handle these complexities, a conceptual framework has been developed and applied in the TRANSINPOL-project, funded by the European Commission (TNO et al. 1999).This framework addresses the most important a spects and mechanisms to be taken into account when defining policies for the integration of information and communication services from a transport perspective.Basis for this framework is a "stagist" model in which the policy making process is divided up in several steps or stages.The strength of this approach is that it provides a rational structure within we may consider the multiplicity of reality.By applying this framework, the most pressing policy requirements have been identified.The aim of this paper it to discuss the elements of the framework and potential future extensions.The outline of this paper is as follows.First, the multiplicity of relations b etween transport, information technology and policy and the theoretical background of "stagist" models is discussed.Second, the conceptual framework and its components are presented.Then, the application of the framework in the TRANSINPOL-project is discussed.Concluding remarks and recommendations for future extensions are presented in the final section.

Transport, ict and transport policy
The major purpose to develop a conceptual framework for policy assessment is to give insight on the one hand in the drivers of the integration of ICT in transport, and on the other hand how integration can be influenced by the public sector and in particular by the EU.In the field of information, communication and navigation technologies in transport policy makers have to consider five main elements for the assessment of policy requirements (TNO et al. 1999) 1).
• Common Transport Policy: the relevance or impact of the integration of information and communication services is determined by evaluating the contribution to the CTP objectives.• integration: integration is defined as the introduction and wide spread use of i nformation and communication services, systems and technologies in transport.Integration can be defined at two levels: technology integration, i.e. how can technologies be used to improve existing services or develop new ones, and d eployment, i.e. the use of these service by actors in transport.The five elements are correlated.Changes or developments occurring in one element will generally impact the other elements.It is therefore essential for the assessment of policy requirements to be aware of what is going on in these elements, to capture signals indicating changes and to consider the relations between these elements.The relations that need to be considered are:  The main issue for policy makers is how to deal with all these elements and relations.In a complex environment with many actors and many fast and simultaneous development it is not only important to maintain a good overview of the major trends, but also to separate short term developments, problems and solutions from developments and opportunities that have structural impact in the long term.The number of relations to consider, the number of political issues to deal with and the amount of information to handle may become enormous.Therefore, policy makers need a tool to help them to gather and structure the relevant information in each step of the policy development process.In the ideal situation, a decomposition of the trends and developments in each of the above mentioned elements and relationships should be related to the different steps in the policy making process.For this purpose, a "stagist"approach is a useful approach.

A framework for assessment of transport information systems policies
The stagist approach views the policy-making process as composed of a series of steps or sequences (Easton 1965;Parssons 1995).The stagist approach analyses policy in terms of a process beginning with an objective setting activity.The next step is to identify an exhaustive set of alternatives that can attain the policy goal.Once a set of alternatives has been s elected, each alternative is evaluated as to how well it meets the policy objective or satisfies social requirements.Given the cost (time, money, energy, etc.) and effectiveness of the alternatives, it is then necessary to evaluate the barriers of the implementation.The results should provide the policy-maker with a full range of possible means for achieving a defined social goal and estimates of the feasibility of implementing the alternatives (Baker, Michaels and Preston 1975).
An outline of the "stagist" or conceptual framework as it has been developed in TRANSINPOL in shown in Figure 3.The basis of the conceptual framework is the relatio nships identified in the previous section.The objective of the framework is twofold.On the one hand to provide an overview of the factors and elements that influence the integration of information and communication services and to provide insight in the relation between these factors.On the other hand to indicate from what points of view a policy maker can approach these relations in order to identify policy requirements.
In the TRANSINPOL-study this framework is supported by a large set of schemes and figures as a generic architecture of all relevant perspectives.

Formulation of policy requirements
The framework makes a distinction between the strategic issues related to the intergration of ICT in transport opposed to the more or less operational issues.Steps 1 to 6 take into account the long term needs of the transport system and technological trends to identify the needs for integration and the opportunities offered by the integration.As a result these steps lead to functional policy requirements that specify the need for policy intervention to ensure that the impacts of the integration contribute to the achievement of the CTP obje ctives.
However, identifying and formulating functional policy requirements is necessary but not always sufficient to ensure that, at the end, the expected changes will occur.Steps 7 to 9 focus on creating the service environment facilitating the integration of these services and systems in transport.To remove barriers that may slow down or block the integration of information and communication services many options are available to policy makers.The advantages, drawbacks and limitations of policy option and instruments have to be evaluated and compared.Because barriers are in many cases related to each other and policy options may affect various actors, a complex set of impacts and interrelations gives rise to major evaluations, dilemmas and trade-offs that have to be considered by policy makers.The policy issues that can be distinguished in these evaluations can be identified and approached from a transport, industrial, socio-economic, demand side, supply side, economic, technology, legal and institutional or user perspective.The evaluation of barriers, options and policy issues results in operational policy requirements that indicate the needs for policy intervention directly related to the necessity to overcome barriers that might hinder the integration process.
In total, the stagists framework consists of ten stages as shown in Figure 3.In the next section, attention will be devoted to each of the ten steps.
It is clear that the stagist model is an abstraction of the policy analysis and development process.In practice, the various steps may not be fulfilled.Several steps may be performed simultaneously or may be skipped.In reality, the process may be more continuous by nature, where after a particular step, the previous one is reconsidered.The dynamics of the policy making process may be different in each situation, which is always related to certain real-world issues.

Application of the framework
Apart from this more methodological approach the TRANSINPOL-project also identified actual themes, that are relevant for the current policy making at the EU level.Thus the framework has been applied to several important areas for policy attention.These topics were identified and prioritised during the TRANSINPOL workshops and survey (TNO et al. 1999).In the survey, 700 questionnaires have been distributed among experts on ICT in transport in Europe.In total 132 respondents have returned the questionnaire.Integration at the application level, development of commercial services and human machine interfaces

2.74
High level architectures, harmonisation of information services

2.51
The conceptual framework was used to define what needs have to be addressed within each of the above mentioned area for policy attention.
As an example, we will elaborate in this section on the topic Integration of information services between modes and operators.
Step 1 Need: Realise co-operative undertakings where there is an apparent benefit for a whole mode or transport chain, not only to offer seamless transport services to passengers and freight, but also to improve efficiency of transport processes.Apart from market information, it will require exchange of information on related to transport operations (capacity of resources and equipment). Step

Conclusion
The value of the stagist approach to the process of policy making is the systematic identific ation and structuring of the various steps in the formulation of transport policies.It supports policymakers in identifying relevant information for each step.It also facilitated a systematic inventory of relevant issues in the project.
Although we realise that the framework d escribed in this paper is rather generic and policy makers have to make a translation to his own specific situation or circumstances, our experiences in workshops and interviews proves the functionality and value of the framework.When users recognise the generic principles presented by the framework and the specific characteristics of their own situation, the framework provided a basis to identify and to evaluate other lines of thinking and new options.
The model can be a starting point for the development of computer aided policy analysis and knowledge systems, focusing on different aspects of information systems transport policies.By using this framework, new projects and experiences can be categorised and evaluated systematically.

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Fig. 2: Important subjects and relations

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Fig. 4: Prioritisation of twelve areas for policy attention Areas for policy attention Survey score Integration of information services between transport modes and transport operators