The concept for ITS in Niigata prefecture

The development and maintenance of social and economic activities have greatly depended upon transportation. In Niigata people use their own cars as a means of transportation owing to the lack of improvement of public transportation. This situation has lead to problems such as traffic congestion and pollution. Under these circumstances, we see a possibility of easing the traffic congestion and lessening pollution by controlling traffic using methods such as dispersion and reduction. ITS is now becoming popular as a way of controlling traffic by providing drivers with appropriate information, and it is functioning in Niigata to ease traffic congestion by providing drivers with information about traffic and travel time to offer them choices of routes on bypasses of 36 km at full length, and it consequently helps ease the traffic congestion. However, it has not necessarily available when it is needed and the information itself is not sufficient enough to let drivers choose their routes decisively. Therefore, the development of information and travel time display boards and diversification of information will be indispensable. As for the other developmental systems, there is a system for providing and collecting information by car-navigators and beacons. Park-and-ride or stagger systems in traffic demand management systems have also been tried.