Making a Business Case for Intelligent Transport Systems: A Holistic Business Model Framework

Abstract

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) are technologies, applications and systems for accident warnings, reduction of driving workload, congestion avoidance and traffic management. The infrastructure also opens up opportunities for new digital services to users and for new ways of managing and maintaining transport infrastructure. Despite the significant potential benefits identified by previous research since the 1980s, the market for ITS has so far failed to take off, and a robust business case for the full-scale development of ITS remains absent. This is important because the potential benefits of ITS can only be realized if the technologies and services are widely used. Today, many ITS are still too expensive to purchase and install, often requiring substantial upfront investment, but the returns could take many years to materialize. This paper will provide a systematic overview of previous research on ITS and propose a holistic business model framework to help make a business case. This is still a rapidly evolving area, and a new research agenda will be discussed.

Keywords:

• intelligent transport systems
• business models
• technological innovation
• innovative business models
• sustainability

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support by the Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy (SiDE) project at the Newcastle Digital Economy Hub, funded by Research Councils UK (RCUK) under its Digital Economy Research Programme. We also thank Prof Eric Sampson from Newcastle University for his help and advice on the selection of bibliography, the editor of Transport Reviews and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.