Reaping the benefits of intelligent transport systems in Warsaw

What are the biggest daily challenges for Warsaw’s public transport network and how are new technologies helping to tackle them?

Warsaw has been developing at a very fast pace for many years. This high regional development rate has created new challenges that the Warsaw City Office and Public Transport Authority (PTA) must deal with. These include:

• An increase in road congestion and smog from the growing number of vehicles entering Warsaw due to agglomeration 
• A need to improve the comfort of public transport due to increasing expectations of residents and passengers – both in the context of vehicle quality as well as across the entire network.

Both issues are connected by a need to optimise public transport, enabling it to adapt in the best possible way to meet the needs of citizens. What’s more, the city is undertaking a number of initiatives to meet the growing need for quality infrastructure and organisational systems. Warsaw public transport will soon gain, among other features, an extension of the second metro line and tram routes, and an exchange of current rolling stock for greener and more passenger-friendly trains.

However, development is not only taking place in external or investment areas. Optimising day-to-day work has been achieved by making internal changes, including the implementation of ITS by the PTA. The aim is to have better management of everyday vehicle traffic and increased quality and accuracy of data to enable more detailed analysis based on them both.