Malaga to cut travel time and pollution by 10 percent

Malaga, Spain will become the first European city to test new signalling and real-time traffic optimisation systems that aim to slash journey times, congestion and pollution.

The city has signed a cooperative agreement with Kapsch TrafficCom that will run for two years with the possibility of extensions. The company expects the two systems to cut travel time and pollution by 10 percent, and slash congestion times by between 5 and 8 percent.

“The technology will optimise the city’s traffic for the benefit of our citizens’ quality of life, resulting in less time in the car throughout their journey,” said José Del Río, Councillor for Mobility, City of Malaga. “This project also reinforces Malaga’s position as an urban laboratory for testing technological initiatives.”

The new systems will provide vehicle users with alternative routes, which the city hopes will reduce traffic saturation during peak periods or in the case of unforeseen events.

Through a “dynamic signalling” system with variable message signs (VMS) and the company’s new virtual VMS mobile application, the most appropriate route advice will be displayed and indicated via audio in real-time to the driver of the vehicle when he or she nears a decision point.

Juan Marín, City Director Spain & Portugal, Kapsch TrafficCom, told Cities Today that what sets this apart from other systems is the integration of the two technologies at the same time and in the same city.

“Public-private partnerships allow faster progress in the evaluation of innovative solutions for new mobility,” he said. “The agreement we have signed enables the city of Malaga to be a showcase project for the use of demand and capacity management systems, which we will develop, implement and evaluate as part of a ground-breaking proof of concept in Europe.”

He added that Malaga will retain ownership of all data and that the testing costs will be absorbed by Kapsch through its R+D+i programme.

In a statement, the company said that the agreement does not provide for financial compensation by either party and will enable the City of Malaga, once the two developments have been implemented, to continue to include all the city’s roads and receive free real-time information on the city’s traffic situation through advanced navigation development.