PANYNJ wrote:PORT AUTHORITY, WAZE NAVIGATION APP PARTNER FOR REAL-TIME TRAFFIC DATA SHARING

Date: Mar 21, 2017
Press Release Number: 46-2017

Two-Way Data Sharing Promotes Safety, More Efficient Travel,Reduced Congestion and Lower Emissions Across One of the World's Busiest Transportation Systems

Supporting its core mission to ensure safe and efficient regional travel, the Port Authority today announced a new data-sharing partnership with Waze -- the free crowdsourced traffic and navigation app powered by the world's largest community of drivers -- for real-time sharing of traffic data across the agency's bridges, tunnels, bus terminals and the roadways serving its airports and seaports.

The partnership gives the Port Authority a more comprehensive set of information to add to its existing sources on travel and traffic conditions, including cameras, road sensors and other devices. It will allow the Port Authority to better alert customers to changing traffic conditions, identify trouble spots, develop better predictive modeling and manage traffic in real time, such as diverting traffic around a closure.

In addition, the Port Authority will feed information on lane closures, traffic incidents and other events to the Waze platform in real time, reaching the large number of Waze users in the region.

The Port Authority is the first agency in the New York-New Jersey region to join the data-sharing program, known as the Waze Connected Citizens Program. The partnership creates no additional costs to the agency or public.

"Accurate and timely data drives all of the Port Authority's activities to promote safety, minimize congestion and reduce emissions throughout one of the world's most complex transportation networks and the communities we serve," Port Authority Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Dawson said. "This partnership with Waze provides an immense resource of real-time information, and gives us a new channel to alert drivers about changing conditions."

Waze's Connected Citizens Program is a free, two-way data share of publicly available traffic information that promotes improved traffic flow, operational efficiency and safer roads for more than 250 transportation agencies worldwide.

"We welcome the Port Authority, which is one of the world's busiest transportation agencies, into our global community of partners. In just a few short months, we have more than doubled participation in the Connected Citizens Program and are now adding one new partner onto the program each day," said Adam Fried, Waze's Global Partnerships Manager. "The program has had an immense impact on mobility in communities globally – from Rio De Janeiro to Los Angeles, Washington D.C. to Jakarta, and now New York."

"The Port Authority already is seeing a local impact for drivers navigating to and from their bridges, tunnels and airports," he said. "Cities everywhere are undergoing a massive transportation revolution, and Waze is thrilled to be at the forefront of this movement to continue making travel easier and more efficient."

Waze uses crowdsourcing – data provided anonymously and directly by users while they drive – to build a continually updated picture of traffic conditions. It has the world's largest community of drivers for this type of app.

Contact:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
212-435-7777

Founded in 1921, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey builds, operates, and maintains many of the most important transportation and trade infrastructure assets in the country. The agency's network of aviation, ground, rail, and seaport facilities is among the busiest in the country, supports more than 550,000 regional jobs, and generates more than $23 billion in annual wages and $80 billion in annual economic activity. The Port Authority also owns and manages the 16-acre World Trade Center site, where the 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center is now the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. The Port Authority receives no tax revenue from either the State of New York or New Jersey or from the City of New York. The agency raises the necessary funds for the improvement, construction or acquisition of its facilities primarily on its own credit. For more information, please visit?
http://www.panynj.gov