Transport information contract goes to IBM China/Hong Kong

IBM China/Hong Kong Limited has been awarded a contract for the design, implementation and maintenance of the Transport Information System (TIS), the Transport Department announced today (June 18).

The contract includes a one-off cost of about US$4.7 million for design and implementation of the TIS in 18 months and an annual recurrent cost of US$300,000 for maintenance for 10 years.

A spokesman for the department said the TIS, to be commissioned at the end of 2004, would be a core asset and business engine of the department and the transport industry in Hong Kong. "There is a vast amount of traffic and transport data collected and disseminated regularly," he said. "The data includes static information, such as traffic turning and stopping restrictions, public transport routes, fares and schedules; and real-time information such as traffic congestion, road blockages and temporary traffic diversions.

"In a city of high mobility like Hong Kong, people's demand for reliable, up-to-date and accurate transport information is high. The TIS is seen as the core information technology tool to collect, manage and disseminate such information to the department's users, other Government departments and to the public," the spokesman added.

The TIS will include a central data warehouse of transport and traffic data to unify the business functions over a web-based departmental portal and user interface. It will centralise the department's day-to-day operations and will provide online access to other Government departments.

The TIS will provide the public with a Public Transport Information Service through the Internet. The service will be completed in two phases in the middle and end of 2004 respectively. Upon the completion of Phase I, the public will be able to access public transport information such as bus and rail schedules, the location of stops and routing details by clicking their departure points and destinations on a digitised map. The second phase will allow the public to search for their optimum routes based on least distance, least cost or least interchange. For motorists, they can search for their shortest driving routes on the digitised map.

The TIS will also promote business opportunities for the commercial sector by providing a service package of digitised, updated traffic information to authorised service providers. This will help the industry to build various Intelligent Transport Systems, such as fleet management, logistics and car-park management for application in Hong Kong.

End/Wednesday, June 18, 2003