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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 21):
Question:
The Transport Information System ("TIS") being developed by the Transport Department will provide two key services, namely an Intelligent Road Network ("IRN") and a Public Transport Information Service ("PTIS"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has drawn up measures to monitor the progress in the development of TIS so as to ensure that the system will be completed in February 2008 as scheduled; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether it has drawn up details of and timetables for the work of the next stage in respect of IRN and PTIS; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c) given the frequent occurrence of traffic accidents involving pedestrians and increasing prevalence of radio communications, whether the Government will consider the feasibility of deploying the centralized data warehouse of TIS to issue alerts immediately to road users about the detected road conditions, with a view to reducing traffic accidents; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) of the means to publicize and educate the public, particularly the elderly, on using PTIS, as well as the timetable and details of such efforts?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Transport Information System (TIS) is a centralised data warehouse for the collection, processing and dissemination of comprehensive transport information. It will provide two key services, namely, the Intelligent Road Network (IRN) and Public Transport Information Service (PTIS).
IRN will provide up-to-date traffic information. Value-added service providers in the private sector can make use of the information for the development of TIS applications. PTIS is intended to be a service on the Internet providing transport and traffic information to public transport users and motorists.
(a) The current TIS contract was awarded in August 2006. To ensure the smooth completion of the TIS contract, the steering committee of the project has been closely monitoring and managing the progress in various aspects including major work programmes, resources required, distribution of duties, co-ordination among all parties concerned and other related issues. The Transport Department (TD) and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer meet regularly with the contractor to ensure understanding of the project requirements and early resolution of problems encountered.
Stage 2 (data conversion) of the TIS contract was completed on schedule last August and Stage 3 is underway. However, technical problems related to system design and testing were encountered and a delay in the completion of the work for several months is expected. TD will continue to closely monitor the work progress with a view to completing the TIS project by mid-2008.
(b) The TIS provides a platform for the introduction of IRN and PTIS. IRN and PTIS will be launched shortly after the completion of system building work for the TIS. The remaining work on system building of the TIS project is outlined as follows:
Stage Programme Expected
----- --------- completion date
---------------
3A System design and March 2008
testing
3B User training and March 2008
pre-production
4 System installation and Mid-2008
production
IRN and PTIS are expected to be available to the industry and the public in phases starting from the latter half of 2008.
(c) Currently, TD disseminates information on road traffic conditions to the public through different channels, including snapshot images and live webcast of traffic condition of major roads, special traffic news, journey time and Traffic Speed Map on the Internet, as well as traffic announcements on radio and television. Upon completion of the TIS, TD will further strengthen online dissemination of information on road traffic conditions. In parallel, TD is exploring the feasibility of disseminating related information through wireless communication devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Road users will be better informed and road safety enhanced as a result of these measures.
(d) The design of the PTIS will be simple and user-friendly, and take into account different user habits as far as practicable for the convenience of the majority. To cater for the need of those who are not frequent Internet surfers, including the elderly, we will distribute brief user guides for their reference and assist them to use the PTIS when the service is launched.
Ends/Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:20
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