PERSPECTIVE ON TRAFFIC CONTROL. ASPECTS OF FREEWAY CONTROL, INTERSECTION CONTROL AND THE CONTROL OF TRANSIT FLOW IN THE NETHERLANDS

Paper presented at the 1988 TRB Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., USA. The first part of this paper deals with the control and signalling system for motorways, directed to a more efficient use of available road capacity and to the improvement of road safety. The second part gives some insight into the traffic conditions in urban areas and of the Dutch method of intersection control by means of dynamic multiphase control schemes; examples are given of the application of the tactics for public transport priority control at signalized intersections. The third part deals with operational control of transit flow; it presents research into the control of services executed by trams and buses in urban areas, directed to the improvements of punctuality and regularity. The fundamentals of TRICOPT are explained, and the effects are calculated on the efficiency of this control for the required fleet sizes. Some results are presented of experiments with the strategy of conditioned punctuality control by means of the so called "passing moments" and of the development of a management information system for the supervision of the operational qualities in transit flow. Finally some remarks are stated on the need for adequate management- and information systems to control data day by day of all quality aspects in transit flow, to fulfil the demands of "Public transport as a quality product".