ITS applications are not new to Malaysia . They were introduced since the mid nineties through a number of projects such as:
- Electronic Payment Status
In line with the Government’s policy to implement e-commerce, the deployment of electronic transactions in the transportation sector on tolled highways and public transport has progressing well. Highway toll collection nationwide is currently either transacted through a common smart card system, or by manual collection.
The same smart cards, which can be reloaded through Automated Teller Machine are also acceptable by various bus services, parking services and light-rail transit services within the Klang Valley , where Kuala Lumpur is situated. Effort is being made to accept the same for all modes of transport within the region.
- Traffic Management Systems
Urban traffic control using computerised traffic light systems capable of adjusting signal timing in response to traffic volumes and congestion has been implemented independently by various municipalities in Malaysia . Due to the absence of common technical standards for deployment, traffic management systems in Malaysia are currently rather fragmented.
- Trvaller Information Systems
The City Hall of Kuala Lumpur has embarked on its landmark ITS project known as Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS). ITIS deals with the provision of Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) and Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS). The system is capable of detecting traffic congestion; analysing the traffic and calculating travel times. It will finally update the messages on the VMS (variable message signs) boards, which are strategically installed within the City of Kuala Lumpur .
- Traffic Control and Surveillance System
All highway concessionaires under their respective agreements with the Government are obliged to implement TCSS, which involves traffic surveillance and traffic information dissemination. The main feature of this ITS deployment is the integration of the expressway Automated Incident Detection (AID) systems with the VMS.
- Commercial Vehicle Monotoring Systems
Various fleets of commercial vehicles are being monitored and managed by their operators. These fleets inclusive of their consignments, especially fuel-tankers and container prime-movers are tracked from doors-to-doors using various ITS technologies. Since they are commercial initiatives to achieve effective and efficient logistics management, the Government does not regulated these operations, except for the issuance of the necessary licences by the relevant authorities to operate various equipment.
However, these systems were installed in an ad hoc manner with little co-ordination among various operators and the usage has been limited to their individual requirements. This has however, led to problems in the areas of inter-operability and compatibility.
The initiative taken by Malaysia in developing ITS solutions started with the pilot project entitled "ITS Strategic Plan for Malaysia : A Way Forward". This project outlined broad principles to be used in developing a framework for the ITS System Architecture for Malaysia . The ITS initiative continues with the second project entitled "ITS Master Plan Study for Malaysia ". The objective of the project is to identify needs among institutions, detail the sectors, user-services and user sub-services required, and to develop a comprehensive "roadmap" setting the direction and framework for the deployment of ITS applications in Malaysia .
Among the recommendations made in the ITS Master Plan Study is the immediate development of the ITS System Architecture for Malaysia , which shall consolidate into a 'blue-print' for the future ITS deployment to ensure system inter-operability, guided by a set of critical ITS standards. With the conclusion of these projects, the roadmap points to the next logical step, "The Development of ITS System Architecture". The Study on the ITS System Architecture for Malaysia was completed in second quarter of 2007. |
