Premises for the use of information systems in transport
<\/strong>Optimization of cooperation between individual participants in economic turnover is conditioned by including the largest possible number of entities in the logistics chain. Increased cooperation is generally associated with an increase in the rate of multiplicity and frequency of transport. Comprehensive inclusion of a larger number of business entities in one logistics system allows for the rationalization of logistics operations, including transport services. The effectiveness of logistics systems in the economy is significantly related to the process of implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which are a collection of information tools enabling the efficient flow of information necessary for effective management of transport activities. A characteristic feature of these systems is their high capacity to create various data configurations depending on changing conditions.<\/p>
The implementation of modern information technologies results not only from the objective need for efficient coordination of the activities of various entities in the TSL industry. Today, the development of information systems in transport is a condition for solving numerous problems in transport that arise as a result of the dynamic development of transport in connection with the observed – under conditions of globalization – increase in the mobility of the population and the development of international exchange. Under these conditions, there is a need to increase the capacity of the transport network, properly control traffic, increase transport efficiency, improve the level of transport safety, and at the same time the state of the environment.
Rationalization of transport needs is also necessary due to the higher dynamics of freight transport compared to the pace of economic development (Figure 1). While in the period 1995 – 2006 the average annual GDP growth rate (constant 1995 prices) was 2.4%, freight transport in this period increased on average to a greater extent – by 2.8% (Table 1). This effectively means an increase in the transport intensity of the economy and at the same time an increase in the degradative impact of transport on the environment. Therefore, one of the important goals of modern transport policy is to break the close interdependencies between economic growth and the volume of transport, in such a way that the rate of growth of freight transport does not exceed the rate of economic growth measured by GDP. In light of the presented trends, within the framework of the EU’s modern transport policy, the continuation of the process of implementing programs for the development of intelligent transport systems is considered key. This issue was reflected, among other things, in the 1996 Community guidelines on the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), in which the implementation of interoperable intelligent transport systems was adopted as a priority in order to increase the efficiency of transport infrastructure and effective traffic management. Current global experience shows that the use of modern information technologies in transport allows for the achievement of the following benefits:<\/p>
- reduction of expenditure on transport infrastructure (by as much as 30 – 35% while maintaining the existing network capacity)<\/li>
- increase in transport network capacity (by as much as 20%) without additional investment expenditure<\/li>
- increase in transport safety<\/li>
- reduction of negative environmental impact, reduction of congestion<\/li>
- increase in the efficiency of collecting fees for the use of transport infrastructure<\/li>
- provision of information regarding maintenance and investment needs in relation to the transport network<\/li>
- increase in the efficiency of supply chain management through better communication between carriers, producers, and cargo distributors.<\/li>
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The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 3\/2009.
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