Hamasen Made the 2017 Eco-mobile and Intelligent Transport Community
Publishing Unit：Transportation Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government
The EcoMobility World Festival kicked off on October 1 in Kaohsiung. To make Kaohsiung an eco-mobile and intelligent transport city, the Transportation Bureau of Kaohsiung has set up a number of intelligent transport systems at Hamasen, such as the traffic data analysis and monitoring platform, intelligent parking guide, vehicle infrastructure integration, and intelligent bus waiting services. Outstanding results have been recorded. With the intelligent transport demo plan, Hamasen is expected to be made an eco-mobile and intelligent transport community.
The Hamasen area is located at the northwest of the Port of Kaohsiung, adjoining Pier 2 Art Center and neighboring the Cijin coast, Sizihwan Bay, and Shoushan National Nature Park. A number of attractions are near the area, including The British Consulate at Takow, Hamasen Railway Cultural Park, Takao Railway Museum, and Fisherman’s Wharf. It was the political, economic, educational, and cultural center in the early years. However, roads surrounding the Hamasen area are small and narrow, with meandering routes. When massive traffic rushes in, roads become jammed and problems concerning traffic safety, parking management, and air pollution become an issue.
To promote Kaohsiung as an eco-mobile and intelligent transport city, the Kaohsiung City Government became the host city for the EcoMobility World Festival 2017, and Hamasen was picked as the eco-mobility demo area. By pooling together central, local, and private resources and encouraging public participation, citizens and visitors alike are given opportunities to experience the eco-friendly transportation mode, making Hamasen the real model of eco-mobility.
Intelligent transportation planning and applications are another focus, said Director-general Chen Ching-Fu of the Transportation Bureau, in addition to the introduction of eco-friendly transport tools such as electric vehicles and bicycles. To make Hamasen an intelligent community, the Transportation Bureau has constructed a traffic data analysis and monitoring platform, which offers such functions as traffic information collection and instant analysis, travel time estimation, setting the congestion control threshold, signal coordination alert, providing the parking space information and precautions, etc. The most up-to-date real-time traffic information, parking information, and travel precautions for the Hamasen area are provided to help road users make the best pre-travel route choice and transportation choice.
Furthermore, South Gushan Public Parking Lot is equipped with an intelligent parking guide system, said Chen. The system incorporates the E-Tag Reader, induction coil sensors, and Acer unmanned parking management facilities, capable of conducting data collection and releasing the number of available parking spaces. By providing the latest number of available parking spaces, the system saves the efforts of drivers searching for a parking space, and hence cuts down energy consumption and pollution.
A vehicle infrastructure integration system is also set up at Linhai 1st/2nd Road and Dengshan Street/Linhai 2nd Road. Via the radar vehicle detectors, the system effectively provides instant alerts by reminding vehicles at the crossroad and junction blind spots to slow down, consequently improving road safety.
As a further step to help and remind senior and visually impaired citizens to take the bus, the Transportation Bureau gave an ingenious effort to build the intelligent bus waiting facilities at Hamasen Transportation Center, Binhai 2nd Road stop, Shaochuantou stop, and Sizihwan stop. The system makes use of the GPS on the bus and user positioning APP technology, together with the Real-time Bus Arrival Information System, to provide advanced voice reminder of bus arrival at the stop after passengers press the button to designate their desired bus routes. Besides, there is a light indicator to alert the bus driver to slow down and wait at the stop. Moreover, bus boarding and alighting reminder functions are added to the Kaohsiung iBus APP, thus providing innovative, intelligent, and user-friendly bus waiting services for the elderly and other citizens in need, so they can get better bus service. In addition, LED lighting at bus stops is monitored via the Internet, and any fault will be spontaneously reported, hence improving the repair efficiency.
Chen invited citizens to visit Hamasen during the festival in October and urged them to make better use of the public transportation, including MRT, LRT, and the bus, so as to get a first-hand experience of the convenience and safety brought by intelligent transportation, as well as the quality living environment brought by actualization of the eco-mobility concept.