+ BACKGROUND, CHALLENGES AND OBJECTIVES

Background

Kuala Lumpur, officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and commonly known as KL, is the national capital and largest city in Malaysia. As the global city of Malaysia, it covers an area of 243 km2 and has an estimated population of 1.73 million as of 2016. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.25 million people as of 2017. It is among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in Southeast Asia, in both population and economic development.

Considering the transportation modes of Kuala Lumpur, the first airport, known as Simpang Airport, commenced operation in 1952, and was the main airport for Malaysia until 1965. The Kuala Lumpur Mini Bus service is one of the oldest bus services in Malaysia and commenced operation in 1975. Taxis have been a common sight in Kuala Lumpur ever since the 1950s. Kuala Lumpur bus system was also introduced to increase the ridership and improve Kuala Lumpur’s public transport system.

Challenges

Kuala Lumpur has a comprehensive road system supported by an extensive range of public transport networks, such as Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Light Metro (LRT), Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), monorail, commuter rail and an airport rail link. Each year the number of vehicles will increase to enter the capital region. Although various public transport infrastructure and facilities are provided, in 2006, the average use of public transport was considered one of the lowest in Asia region. Therefore, the traffic congestion problem still is consider as a big challenge in the city.

Objectives

In line with one of the objectives of the Structural Plan Kuala Lumpur 2020 to improve the management of the Klang Valley’s transport infrastructure system, Kuala Lumpur City Hall has selected Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS) to improve the planning and traffic flow in the city.

With the introduction of ITIS, Kuala Lumpur expects to solve the need to collect, share and make available accurate and up-to-date traffic information to road users to help them ease their traffic woes in the Klang Valley. With a comprehensive traffic management system, IT IS will integrate the current road transport network and provide accurate situation of traffic conditions since both motorists and commuters would be able to know in advance what to expect along the way.

>> Klang Valley Integrated Transport System

+ ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

Work on the ITIS project started in 2003. This project which was awarded on a design-build basis, is the first step towards the coordinated integration of existing but separated traffic planning and management systems in Kuala Lumpur. The first stage of ITIS project was completed in mid-2005 and was since been providing real time reporting and incident management for the city. This large scale complex project involved, among other, the installation of over 250 CCTV cameras for traffic monitoring at key junctions, 700 video-based vehicle detector stations, 140 status message signs and 1600 units of vehicle tracking machines. Real-time information are currently disseminated to the public via a call center, through online portal (www.itis.com.my), and arrangements with radio media. In addition, many efforts are currently being developed to expend the diverse channels of communications via commercial media.

Since the development start from ITIS, it has provided the Kuala Lumpur City Hall a wide platform to launch improved services in new planned areas, integration of previously disparate systems and an operational model for smart partnerships between various public and private agencies under the same government. The continuous challenges are related to how best to find ways to expand and to further improve the ITIS system to better serve the big vision of making Kuala Lumpur a safe city with a well implemented transportation infrastructure.
 

Efforts to achieve this big vision would include expanding the information dissemination channels either through partnerships with the media, application service providers or via local broadcasting station, enhancing the system to include elements of public security, enforcement of traffic and/or adoption of new technologies in management of traffic violations, and to increase penetration of the system in new roadways. While developing and expanding ITIS, there is a need to consider balancing technology with available operating resources and improving capacity of human resources.
 

ITIS has been a significant and successful ongoing project for Kuala Lumpur City Hall in its continuing efforts to make Kuala Lumpur a safe city with a well manage transportation infrastructure. The physical implementation of this complex project included many challenges since the project involved the construction of over 1000+ new pieces of road furniture to support the new transportation system installation. Given the limited spaces of the city, particularly in the city center, it was essential to find ways to recombine multiple poles into a single functional unit. Also, for the project perform well, it is required the expertise from a large number of partners including traffic engineering, transport planning, transportation system analysis, IT, GIS, civil, electrical engineers, legal advisory, customer support staff and others. Lastly, since the project involved many actors and stakeholders due to the big scale of the project. Therefore managing expectations from all sectors were also considered to secure the success of such a complex project.

-> All systems go: The video wall of the Integrated Transport Information System or ITIS 2.0 in TMC Bukit Jalil is now up and running.
Read more at: https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2015/04/29/kl-under-surveillance#IqQPGWVjBVLy21Ov.99

-> You can find the CCTV image at ITIS: http://www.itis.com.my/web/

+ OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS

Impacts and Expectation

After the implementation of ITIS, the city was benefited since it created a two way communication between ITIS and the users. The communication supports motorists and commuters to make decisions on choosing routes, modes and schedules. Enables real-time capture of traffic information for incident management and long-term transport planning. Alleviates traffic congestion and delays during rush hour periods and emergency situations. Reduce accidents and its impacts on highways. Improves emergency assistance for motorists and commuters. Reduce travel times and promotes more uniform traffic flow. Reduces bad effects in the environment since it reduce pollution due to the less time in traffics. Provides comfort. Improves utilization of available road capacity. And, lastly improves quality of life in the Klang Valley.

 

+ REPLICABILITY AND SCALABILITY

Although Integrated Transport System (ITS) may refer to all modes of transport, in 7th July of 2010, the European Union defined ITS as system in which information and communication technologies are applied in the field of road transport, including infrastructure, vehicles and users, traffic management, as others modes of transport. ITS may improve the efficiency of transport in many different kinds of situations. This system has been widely and successfully implemented in major cities around the worls, bringing significant benefits to motorists and commuters.

Similar system can be found implemented in Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Perth, and major cities worldwide. It can also be considered to solve many traffic congestion and safety problems in cities still being in the process of development.

+ BUDGET AMOUNT

Status : 1st Phase

Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS) at Klang Valley – Design and Build

- Start year : 1 Aug 2002

- USD 82,993,000

Status : 2st Phase

To supply CCTV and VMS use services by rental

- Start year : 1 Mar 2013

- Rental period : 6 years ( 1 Jan 2015 – 31 Dis 2020)

- USD 47,459,000

*Includes cost for land and development.