Budget details are still being worked out, but the original April 1996 application for this program sought $11.8 million in Federal Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) funds, matched with $6.3 million in state/local funds, $21.3 million in coordinated federal funds, and $8.6 million in private investment. The "NY Model Deployment Initiative" (MDI) application is being coordinated by NY State DOT, but represents a partnership between a team of 12 firms, headed by Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, and TRANSCOM, a regional coalition of 17 highway, transit, and public safety agencies.

The public/private team proposes to develop and deploy a multi-modal regional transportation management and traveler information system. The private aspect of the system will be information delivery via phone, pagers, kiosks/monitors, commercial broadcast, personal computers and the Internet, with a call-in traveler information system providing route specific travel information through an automated phone system. Personalized information will be available for a fee. The public element is a Regional Transportation Management System connecting member agencies to share traffic and transit information in real time, allowing better automation and coordination of operations.

The NY MDI appears poised to give a big break to transit users, in a departure from the highway-oriented investments of past ITS investments in the Tri-State region. Enhanced transit trip planning will provide a "one stop shopping" service allowing customers to make one call to find out how to make a trip requiring transfers between transit agencies.

Still, transit applications may be getting the short end of the new technology overall. According to the MDI project application, the region by 1997 will have invested $280 million in traffic signal control system infrastructure and $260 million in freeway management system infrastructure covering almost 400 miles of freeways. Yet not until 2001 will NYC Transit have a new $196 million control center to provide central monitoring and management covering little more than one third of its subway lines. While NJ Transit, Westchester County Transit and LI Bus will have automated vehicle location systems to help efficiently dispatch buses and promote schedule adherence, by 1997, NYC Transit will have such equipment on only 200 of its buses.

At the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's recent conference, MTA director of policy and planning Bernard Cohen, who has previously expressed skepticism at the "brave new world" attitude ITS has inspired among some highway planners, said transit had largely conceded ITS to the road agencies. Cohen hoped his colleagues would become more aggressive about staking their claims in the future. The Environmental Defense Fund's Michael Replogle agreed, arguing, "despite the progress represented by the model deployment initiative, transit-oriented ITS applications continue to lag far behind investments in 'smart highways' in the Tri-State region. Still lacking is a commitment to use ITS for transit priority treatment, which could help offset service cuts and fare increases with increased reliability and better transit travel speeds. It's time to reach out more broadly to engage the public in ITS program design, going beyond simple advertising of new services. ITS needs to contribute to the integration and development of new regional planning systems that are hampered by poor data and interagency cooperation. And high speed electronic toll collection using the EZ Pass -- which works as well at 55 mph as at 5 mph -- must be demonstrated if the region is to gain the full benefits of reduced delay and air pollution that this technology can deliver. Perhaps the ITS Early Deployment Study will help address these and other needs and shift ITS in the Tri-State region to favor more sustainable transportation systems, rather than just making it more attractive to drive."