Lesson
Adjust the different expectations and motivations of public and private partners to prevent future delays.
California's experience with a regional travel information system launched by a public-private alliance.
12/1/1999
San Francisco,California,United States
Background (Show)
Lesson Learned
- Adjust the public and private partners' differing expectations in order to work toward a common goal. The public partners expected to make TravInfo available for better congestion management, while the private partners expected to test and market products that would make a profit. Although it took a long time to reconcile their differing objectives, doing so enabled the dissemination of accurate, reliable, timely and multi-modal information to Bay Area travelers.
- Ensure that conflicts within a public-private partnership are resolved by communicating concerns and compromising. As part of the field operational test, a Traveler Information Center was created. Its data were intended to be disseminated through three basic means: the Traveler Advisory Telephone System, an automated reporting service which travelers from all the area codes in the Bay Area could reach by dialing a single phone number, 817-1717; a data server that information service providers could link to over a landline connection; and a wireless broadcast that would send information to service providers and individual devices over the air. Although they originally supported the idea of TravInfo supplying the wireless link, private vendors later expressed concern that it would lead to unfair competition from the public side, so this concept was abandoned early in the TravInfo development process. The private partners expressed the concern that TravInfo might take business away from them, rather than give them more. The private sector concern was that if TravInfo pre-processed data to the point where private companies could add little value and then made it widely available through means such as the wireless Data Broadcasting System, direct modem links to individuals and a detailed automated phone reporting system, private services would be squeezed out. As a result, the Management Board eliminated the wireless system from the TravInfo design and agreed not to provide any transportation data directly to the public, other than through the 817-1717 telephone system.
Application Areas
Intelligent Transportation Systems > Traveler Information > Pre-Trip Information > Internet/Wireless
Intelligent Transportation Systems > Traveler Information > Pre-Trip Information > Other Telephone
Intelligent Transportation Systems > Traveler Information > En Route Information > Other Telephone
States
Countries
Systems Engineering
Show the V
None defined
Focus Areas
Major Initiatives > Mobility Services for All Americans
Major Initiatives > Nationwide Surface Transportation Weather Observing and Forecasting System - Clarus
Major Initiatives > Emergency Transportation Operations
Other Program Activities > Real Time Traveler Information
Other Program Activities > Rural ITS Deployment
Goal Areas
Keywords
None defined
Lesson Comments
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