Operations control center

Operations Control Center

Description / objective

An operations control center provides co-ordination of all services across the network from a single central point in order to optimize their delivery. It involves monitoring traffic conditions and responding to incidents, monitoring service delivery and contract compliance, monitoring passenger facilities, and interfacing with other agencies such as urban traffic control and the emergency services.

ITS applications

An operations control center is enabled by ITS technologies such as automated vehicle location and surveillance equipment, and is made effective by a variety of different communications technologies.

Advantages and cautions

There is a danger of an operations control center being used primarily for monitoring of the service delivery rather than its pro-active management. Some cities are now decentralizing this function to place it closer to local area operations control.