4. Issues and Needs

Comparing the vision outlined at the beginning of the report and the above analysis of the present situation, it emerges that the following main issues need to be tackled.

4.1 ISSUES

Opening the market - The main obstacle is the lack of clear rules on competition. This lack could delay the process of adoption of personal travel services, leaving the user once again with limited choice for transport - and the tendency to opt for the easy choice, the private car. To support the development of VASP, rules for granting access to transport data are essential. Firstly, the state of the transport network must be monitored, so that the necessary information is available (see next point). Then, when applicable, the rights to operate public transport (or traffic) services should be separated from the rights to use the information - both static and real time. This could require different approaches, according to the different market situation in Europe. Few examples: owners of transport infrastructure should insure that the infrastructure status is monitored and that VASP/TIB can have access to the information under known and equal conditions. When transport services are run under license or franchise from an Authority, the operators should be asked to publish the real time situation as part of their service contract. Efforts should be made to grant that information on deregulated services is available.

Monitoring the network - The development of information services requires easy access to knowledge of the (real time) situation of networks. This, in turn, requires that the network is constantly monitored. Again, this could be true only if some standard practices or regulations are agreed through Europe.

Obtaining and Distributing the information - Once the information exists and the rules about the rights of use are established, it still has to be made available to different operators. This means that suitable standards for transport information (both publishing and exchange) are defined and agreed. In short, what is needed is for information coming from multiple information sources to be combined in various forms (following specific user needs) and delivered through multiple delivery channels. Today, it is not yet clear which would be the easiest (and most practical) way of speeding up the process. The normal answer - to define a common set of standards, products, data formats and push all parties to follow them - is likely not to be the correct one. The data model is probably too complex for such an approach to be viable. Moreover, the VASPs need the maximum freedom to define their products, in order to accommodate the needs of their specific target market segment, and to deliver that information. Another possible approach would be to consider the Internet as common ground. Once the information is published on the Net, then the VASP could find the way to search for what it needs, combine the information as required and present it to their users. But even with this approach, some basic agreement on individual data model (for a small set of information) could be needed. This issue is highly relevant for the near future and deserves specific treatment: a full appendix of this document is devoted to an initial analysis.

European regulations - An analysis of the commercial and legal requirements for facilitating the creation of ad hoc brokers in the various countries of Europe should be made. With the widespread use of e-commerce for reservations, ticketing and payment of services during a trip, there may be a need to review the different practices. Moreover, since the transport regulations will affect the development of telematic services, it is necessary to consider the complex systems of regulated and unregulated participants in different European countries and for the different modes. Since the market should be of a European dimension, the overall picture must be fully understood. In a rapidly changing world, the situation across Europe should be made clear. In fact the eEurope initiative [7] should address these activities. This initiative was launched on 8th December 1999 with the adoption of the Communication "eEurope - An Information Society for All". The aim of the initiative is to accelerate the uptake of digital technologies across Europe and ensure that all Europeans have the necessary skills to use them. It plays a central role in the agenda of economic and social renewal for Europe set out by the Commission for the European Council in Lisbon. The eEurope initiative represents a key element in the strategy of the new Commission to modernise the European economy. It builds on European strengths to permit full benefits to be obtained from the e-economy in order to capitalise on its technological strengths, harness its educational excellence and release its entrepreneurial potential. The recent Commission Recommendation on the development of a legal and business framework for participation of the private sector in deploying telematics-based Traffic and Travel information (TTI) services in Europe tackles some of the issues, along lines which are very similar to those presented in this document.

Understanding user requirements for the different segments - A major need is to collect and analyse the requirements of different types of traveller and to survey core segments using stated preference survey techniques in order to assess the level of detail and sophistication which would be cost effective for each segment of the market. This would enable the Commission to understand the potential offered by ITS applications in the future to multimodal travellers, travelling across Europe for business or tourism. A specific segment could be non-European residents travelling in Europe. This international segment may well have requirements of different nature, necessitating a more integrated system of information and services. Another issue relates to the different requirements of pre trip and during trip information. Much research has been done, but it should focus on what is really essential to develop brokerage at a mass level.

Privacy and customer profiles - It has been already seen that the existence of individual user profiles is crucial to market development. By having individual profiles known to the provider, a customer could be alerted only when emergencies are likely to affect his/her usual trip, routing suggestions could be individually tailored, and cumbersome procedures for defining individual preferences or usual destinations could be avoided. On the other hand, it can easily be seen that the extended use of "customer profiles" could pose a threat to privacy and confidentiality. A way should be found to allow customer profiles to be built up and dynamically updated without harming privacy and confidentiality rights (and without obliging the customer to use complex procedures each time). Again, national legislation should be explored.

4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING REGULATION

1. In order to address some of the issues and needs outlined above, it is recommended that the European Commission maintains a proactive role in helping the enhancement and harmonisation of national regulation and practices, along the lines of the above mentioned Commission Recommendation on the Development of a Legal and Business Framework for Participation of the Private Sector in Deploying Telematics-based Traffic and Travel Information (TTI) services in Europe. Within this framework, it would be helpful if continuous monitoring of the situation were carried out in the Member States, (the Recommendation in fact requires a progress report within two years).

2. It is now commonly agreed that it is possible to achieve higher levels of safety, efficiency and customer satisfaction in the transport network by the deployment of Passenger Information Services (or TTI Services). In order to accelerate the deployment, an action should be initiated, aimed at promoting the adoption of new (voluntary) targets and new service levels by transport service operators, perhaps giving priority to the "customer (traveller) satisfaction" area. For example, the practice of declaring the expected travel time for a passenger entering an arc of the network is only one example of a method for raising the service level of a transport network. Moreover, this has a series of positive implications for safety and efficiency and could only be based on extensive monitoring. The Commission should explore, with the operators, if practices such as these could become common in Europe, at least in the TEN domain.