The Single Transport Authority (AUT) of Gran Canaria has put out to tender the construction, equipping, and maintenance of the Mobility Control Center planned at the Tamaraceite interchange, a contract tendered with a budget of 23.07 million euros for an approximate period of six years, although the total cost of launching this facility is estimated at more than 60 million.
With the forecast of being operational in 2025, the Mobility Control Center will supervise live the provision of regular public transport for passengers throughout the island and will have the capacity to manage traffic and highway control.
Not only will it know at all times where each bus on each line is, how many passengers it is carrying on board, and how much further it has to go to the next stop, for example, but it will have the possibility of opening and closing traffic lights, among other traffic control tools.
In addition, when the planned railway line between the capital and Meloneras is launched, the management of the train will also be integrated into the Control Center.
Teodoro Sosa, Minister of Sustainable Mobility of the Cabildo, argues that «in addition to investing in large public transport projects that minimize traffic and favor the environment, it is necessary to give it enormous value, making it attractive and safe to use, as well as making it the preferred mode». But public transport and mobility «are not infallible and require systems and services that optimize the service they provide», he adds.
Faced with common problems in public transport such as non-compliance with schedules, increased travel time, poor planning of services, non-existent incident management, and ignorance of transit information and the state of road infrastructure, «one of the most efficient responses is based on the intensive use of computer and telecommunications systems applied to management of transport, which allows correcting the deviations produced, as well as favoring its access», emphasizes the Minister of Sustainable Mobility.
All these problems, adds Sosa, «not only affect travelers and users, but ultimately produce an increase in the maintenance and management costs of public services» that the Control Center will also try to tackle.
The objective is to provide the island’s mobility system with a control and innovation element that allows, among other actions, managing information on regular public transport and associated island road infrastructures in real time, facilitating decision-making in the coordination of the transport system, offering real-time information to travelers and all road users, and continuously monitoring the status and execution of the public transport system and the status and utility of the island’s road infrastructure.
In addition, it will facilitate the development of tools to help manage mobility and road and public transport infrastructures.
