Solución para la delegación de identidad en Sistemas de Gestión de Identidad paneuropeos basada en infraestructuras de certificación y lenguajes formales de asertos de seguridad

La estrategia i2010 de la UE tiene como objetivo garantizar el liderazgo europeo en materia de TIC y poner los beneficios de la Sociedad de la Información al servicio de la economía, la sociedad y la calidad de vida personal, teniendo presente que los éxitos de Europa hasta la fecha se han basado en favorecer la competencia leal en los mercados de las telecomunicaciones y crear un mercado sin fronteras para contenidos y medios de comunicación digitales. En esta línea, la Comisión Europea ha establecido que los distintos estados miembros deben contribuir activamente al desarrollo y uso seguro de los servicios telemáticos entre sus ciudadanos. Más concretamente, atribuye a las Administraciones Públicas, tanto a nivel nacional, regional como local, un papel dinamizador de la Sociedad de la Información que les obliga a ofrecer paulatinamente todos los actos administrativos a los ciudadanos a través de Internet. Como primer paso para el uso seguro de los servicios telemáticos que ofrecen las instituciones públicas se hace preciso dotar a los ciudadanos de una identidad digital que les permita identificarse ante un Proveedor de Servicio o ante otros ciudadanos de manera inequívoca. Por esta razón, la mayoría de países europeos – y otros en el resto del mundo – están promoviendo, sistemas fiables de gestión de identidad electrónica (eIDM), de tal manera que los ciudadanos, las empresas y departamentos gubernamentales (incluso en Estados miembros diferentes) pueden identificar y certificar sus operaciones con precisión, rapidez y sencillez. Sin embargo, la gestión de esta identidad por las Administraciones Públicas supone un importante desafío, acentuado cuando se hace necesaria la interoperabilidad entre Administraciones de diferentes países, puesto que personas y entidades tienen credenciales de identificación diferentes en función de su propio marco jurídico nacional. Consciente del problema, en la Unión Europea se han puesto en marcha una serie de proyectos con el objetivo de conseguir la interoperabilidad de los eIDMs entre las instituciones públicas de diferentes Estados miembros. A pesar de ello, las soluciones adoptadas hasta la fecha son insuficientes porque no prevén todos los posibles casos de interacción del usuario con las instituciones. En concreto, no tienen en cuenta un aspecto muy importante que se ofrece en los distintos sistemas jurídicos nacionales, a saber, la delegación de la identidad, mediante la cual un ciudadano puede autorizar a otro para que actúe en su nombre para acceder a determinados servicios prestados por las instituciones públicas. En esta tesis se realizan un conjunto de aportaciones que dan solución a distintos aspectos de los problemas planteados y que, de forma conjunta, permiten la interoperabilidad y la delegación de identidad en determinados Sistemas de Gestión de Identidad aplicados al entorno de las Administraciones Públicas. En el caso de la delegación, se ha definido un sistema de delegación dinámica de identidad entre dos entidades genéricas que permite solucionar el problema del acceso delegado a los servicios telemáticos ofrecidos por las Administraciones Públicas. La solución propuesta se basa en la generación de un token de delegación, constituido a partir de un Certificado Proxy, que permite a la entidad que delega establecer la delegación de identidad en otra entidad en base a un subconjunto de sus atributos como delegador, estableciendo además, en el propio token de delegación, restricciones en el conjunto de servicios accesibles a la entidad delegada y el tiempo de validez de la delegación. Adicionalmente, se presentan los mecanismos necesarios tanto para poder revocar un token de delegación como para comprobar sin un token de delegación ha sido o no revocado. Para ello se propone una solución para la identificación unívoca de tokens de delegación y la creación de una nueva entidad denominada Autoridad de Revocación de Tokens de Delegación. Entre las características del sistema de delegación propuesto destaca el que es lo suficientemente seguro como para ser utilizado en el entorno de la Administración Pública, que no requiere el uso de mecanismos off‐line para la generación de la delegación y que se puede realizar la delegación de forma instantánea y sin la necesidad de trámites complejos o la participación de un elevado número de entidades. Adicionalmente, el token de delegación propuesto es perfectamente integrable en las infraestructura de clave pública actual lo que hace que, dado que gran parte de las Administraciones Públicas europeas basan sus sistemas de identidad digital en el uso de la PKI y certificados de identidad X.509, la solución pueda ser puesta en marcha en un entorno real sin necesidad de grandes cambios o modificaciones de comportamiento. En lo referente a la interoperabilidad, se realiza un análisis exhaustivo y la correspondiente evaluación de las principales propuestas de Sistemas de Gestión de Identidad orientados a conseguir la interoperabilidad realizadas hasta la fecha en el marco de la Unión Europea y se propone, a alto nivel, una arquitectura de interoperabilidad para la gestión de identidad en las Administraciones Públicas. Dicha arquitectura es lo suficientemente genérica como para poder ser aplicada tanto en el entorno pan‐Europeo como en los entornos nacionales, autonómicos y locales, de tal forma que la interoperabilidad en la gestión de la identidad esté garantizada en todos los niveles de la Administración Pública. Por último, mediante la integración de la solución de delegación dinámica de identidad y la arquitectura de interoperabilidad propuestas se presenta una solución al problema de la delegación en un escenario pan‐Europeo de gestión de identidad, dando lugar a una arquitectura global de interoperabilidad pan‐Europea con soporte a la delegación de identidad. SUMMARY The i2010 European Union Plan aims to ensure European leadership in ICT and to promote the positive contribution that information and communication technologies can make to the economic, social and personal quality of life, bearing in mind that, to date, success in Europe has been based on promoting fair competition in telecommunications markets and on creating a borderless market for contents and digital media. In this line, the European Commission has established that the different member states should contribute actively to the development and secure use of telematic services among their citizens. More specifically, it is attributed to national, regional and local Public Administrations to have a supportive role of the Information Society, requiring them to gradually provide the citizens with Internet‐based access to all administrative procedures acts. As a first step for the secure use of telematic services offered by public institutions, it is necessary to provide the citizens with a digital identity to enable them to identify themselves unequivocally to a Service Provider or to other citizens. For this reason, most European countries ‐ and others in the rest of the world ‐ are promoting reliable systems for managing electronic identity (eIDM), so that citizens, businesses and government departments (even in different Member States) can identify and certify their operations with precision, speed and simplicity. However, the identity management by Public Administrations is a major challenge that becomes more difficult when interoperability between administrations of different countries is needed, due to the fact that individuals and entities have different identification credentials according to their own national legal framework. Aware of the problem, the European Union has launched a series of projects with the aim of achieving interoperability of eIDMs between public institutions of different Member States. However, the solutions adopted to date are insufficient because they do not foresee all possible cases of user interaction with the institutions. In particular, solutions do not take into account a very important aspect that is offered in different national legal systems, namely, the delegation of identity, by which a citizen can authorize another to act on his/her behalf to access certain services provided by public institutions. In this thesis a collection of contributions that provide solution to different aspects of the aforementioned problems are carried out. The solutions, in global, enable interoperability and identity delegation in some of the Identity Management Systems applied to Public Administration environment. In the case of delegation, a dynamic identity delegation system between generic entities is defined. This system makes it possible to solve the problem of delegated access to telematic services offered by Public Administrations. The proposed solution is based on the generation of a piece of information called delegation token. This delegation token, derived from a Proxy Certificate, allows the establishment of identity delegation by an entity that delegates (delegator) in other entity (delegatee) making use of a subset of delegator attributes. It also establishes restrictions on services that can be used by the delegated entity and the expiry date of delegation. In addition to this, the mechanisms necessary to revoke and check the revocation status of a delegation token are presented. To do this, a solution to univocally identify delegation tokens and the creation of a completely new entity, called Token Delegation Revocation Authority, are proposed. The most remarkable characteristics of the proposed delegation system are its security, enough for it to be used in the Public Administration environment, the fact that it does not require off‐line processes in order to generate the delegation, and the possibility of performing the delegation instantaneously and without neither complex processes nor the intervention of a large number of entities. The proposed delegation token can be completely incorporated into current Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Thus, since most of the European Public Administrations base their digital identity systems on PKI and X.509 identity certificates, the solution can be adopted in a real environment without great changes or performance modifications. Regarding interoperability, an exhaustive analysis and evaluation of most significant proposals on Identity Management Systems that aim to achieve interoperability carried out in the European Union framework until now are performed. A high level identity management interoperability architecture for Public Administrations is also proposed. This architecture is sufficiently generic to be applied to both pan‐European environment and national, regional or local environments, thus interoperability in identity management at all Public Administration levels is guaranteed. Finally, through the integration of the proposed dynamic identity delegation solution and the high level interoperability architecture, a solution to the problem of identity delegation in a pan‐European identity management environment is suggested, leading to a pan‐European global interoperability architecture with identity delegation support.

Estudio y desarrollo de un cliente SCEP en una PKI corporativa

El presente proyecto propone la utilización de un protocolo de obtención y gestión de certificados llamado SCEP (Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol), utilizado inicialmente para el aprovisionamiento automático de certificados en routers y switches de la marca Cisco Networks, para su uso en dispositivos personales o corporativos dentro del ámbito laboral. En la actualidad, se están aplicando nuevas técnicas más eficientes de control del uso de los dispositivos corporativos por parte de los empleados de determinadas empresas. Estas empresas son las encargadas de proporcionar a sus empleados dichos dispositivos, que en muchos casos son un ordenador personal y un teléfono móvil. En las empresas del sector de las TIC, el uso de esos dispositivos es la principal herramienta de sus empleados, con lo que la seguridad y control son mecanismos fundamentales que deben estar presentes y garantizados. Además, nuevas tendencias como el BYOD (Bring Your Own Device o el teletrabajo, permiten a los empleados tanto el uso de los dispositivos corporativos lejos del ámbito laboral (en su domicilio, por ejemplo), como el uso de dispositivos no preparados de antemano por la empresa. A priori, estas técnicas suponen un avance en comodidad para los empleados; pero puede significar todo lo contrario cuando se habla del mantenimiento de la seguridad y el control de acceso a los recursos de la empresa desde dichos dispositivos (obtención de certificados para acceder a recursos internos, envío de información cifrada entre individuos de la misma empresa, etc). Es aquí donde cobra sentido la idea de utilizar un protocolo de aprovisionamiento y gestión automatizada de certificados para garantizar la seguridad y control de acceso en la PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) corporativa, permitiendo el uso de dispositivos personales, y evitando la acumulación de trámites burocráticos incómodos tanto para el empleado como para la empresa. Este proyecto plantea la utilización del protocolo SCEP como mecanismo para la realización de la gestión automatizada de certificados ampliando su utilización a dispositivos de escritorio Windows y móviles Android.

Framework para el desarrollo con el DNIe

El proyecto se trata de una API de desarrollo para el DNI electrónico que permita crear de forma sencilla aplicaciones cuya funcionalidad se apoye en el uso del DNI electrónico. De esta forma, el framework facilita el acceso a las principales operaciones soportadas por el DNIe mediante la invocación de métodos sencillos. Una de las funcionalidades es la de realizar un proceso de autenticación con el DNIe utilizando para ello las capacidades criptográficas del chip que incorpora y el certificado de autenticación. Esta funcionalidad puede ser accedida también de forma dividida en dos pasos, para dar soporte a aplicaciones con arquitectura cliente-servidor. El framework también ofrece la funcionalidad de firma electrónica con el DNIe, una firma legalmente válida y que permite chequear también la integridad del mensaje firmado. También se soporta por el framework la comprobación de un certificado mediante el protocolo OCSP, funcionalidad que si bien no implica directamente al DNIe, sí que es importante en el marco de procesos que se ven involucrados en cualquier Infraestructura de Clave Pública. ABSTRACT The project is a development API for DNIe card that allows easily create applications whose functionality is supported in the use of DNIe. Thus, the framework provides access to the main operations supported by the DNIe by invoking simple methods. One of the features is to perform an authentication process with the DNIe using its chip’s capabilities and authentication certificate. This functionality can also be accessed so divided into two steps, to support applications with client-server architecture. The framework also provides the functionality of electronic signatures with DNIe, a legally valid signature and allows also check the integrity of the signed message. Verification of a certificate using OCSP, functionality but does not imply directly to DNIe is also supported by the framework, yes it is important in the context of processes that are involved in any Public Key Infrastructure.

Public support for the deployment of next generation access networks-Common themes, methodological caveats and further research

Next generation telecommunications infrastructures are considered as a principal example of a new technology for sustainable economic growth. From their deployment it is expected that a wealth of innovations – hopefully converted into economic growth – new sources of employment and improved quality of life will result. In line with these prospects, public administrations at supranational, national, regional and local levels have encouraged the development of these new infrastructures. Moreover, in times of economic crisis, public assistance to deploy such networks encompasses the promise of placing a weak economy on the road to prosperity. However, such arguments and political claims clearly require rigorous assessment. In particular, any such assessment must adequately address the appropriate form of modelling that best captures key elements for identifiable progress from next generation access networks (NGAN).

Key quality factors and travellers profiles at interurban interchanges

La planificación y las políticas de transporte no pueden descuidar la calidad del servicio, considerando que influye notablemente en el cambio modal del coche hacia otros medios de transporte más sostenibles. El concepto se aplica también a los intercambiadores de transporte público, los nodos del sistema donde se cruzan las distintas redes del transporte público y privado. Aunque se han logrado numerosos avances para medir y evaluar la calidad en el sector del transporte público, se han dedicado relativamente pocos esfuerzos a investigar estos aspectos relacionados con la calidad de los intercambiadores del transporte público. Este trabajo de investigación se concentra en la calidad del servicio de la transferencia modal en los intercambiadores interurbanos, según la perspectiva de los viajeros. Su objetivo es identificar los factores clave de la calidad del servicio y los perfiles de los viajeros en los intercambiadores. La investigación es exploratoria y ofrece información acerca de la percepción de los viajeros intermodales relacionada con los aspectos de la calidad, aportando nuevos elementos y datos para adentrarse en estudios más detallados. La metodología del trabajo combina técnicas de análisis estadístico multivariante para analizar los datos de las encuestas sobre la satisfacción de los clientes y se subdivide en tres etapas. En primer lugar, se ha implementado el análisis de correspondencias múltiples para explorar los constructos latentes relacionados con la satisfacción de las características cualitativas de los intercambiadores interurbanos, identificando así los factores clave de la calidad. En segundo lugar, se ha aplicado un análisis de conglomerados de k-medias sobre los factores clave de calidad para clasificar a los viajeros en grupos de usuarios de transportes homogéneos, de acuerdo con su percepción de satisfacción, identificando de este modo los perfiles de los viajeros. Por último, se han formulado sugerencias y recomendaciones sobre la calidad para respaldar la formulación de políticas, estableciendo las prioridades para los intercambiadores interurbanos. La metodología se aplicó en cuatro intercambiadores interurbanos (estaciones de ferrocarriles o de autobuses ) en Madrid, Zaragoza, Gothenburg y Lion, analizando los datos recogidos mediante una encuesta de satisfacción del cliente llevada a cabo en 2011 en los cuatro casos de estudio, donde se interconectan distintos medios de transporte público y privado, de corta y larga distancia. Se recogieron datos sobre la satisfacción de los viajeros con 26 criterios de calidad, así como información sobre aspectos socio-económicos y pautas de comportamiento de viajes. Mediante el análisis de correspondencias múltiples se identificaron 4-5 factores clave de calidad en cada intercambiador, que se asocian principalmente con el sistema de emisión de billetes, el confort y la interconexión, mientras que los viajeros no perciben los temas clásicos como la información. Mediante el análisis de conglomerados se identificaron 2-5 perfiles de viajeros en cada intercambiador. Se reconocieron dos grupos de viajeros en casi todos los casos de estudio: viajeros de cercanía/trabajadores y turistas. Por lo que concierne a las prioridades para apoyar a las partes interesadas en la formulación de políticas, la expedición de billetes es el factor clave para los intercambiadores interurbanos españoles, mientras que la interconexión y los aspectos temporales se destacan en los intercambiadores de Francia y Suecia. Quality of Service can not be neglected in public transport planning and policy making, since it strongly influences modal shifts from car to more sustainable modes. This concept is also related to Public Transport interchanges, the nodes of the transport system where the different sub-systems of public passenger transport and personal vehicles meet. Although a lot of progress has been generally done to measure and assess quality in public transport sector, relatively little investigation has been conducted on quality at PT interchanges. This research work focusses on Quality of Service in the use of transfer facilities at interurban interchanges, according to current travellers’ perspective. It aims at identifying key quality factors and travellers profiles at interurban interchanges. The research is exploratory and offers insight into intermodal travellers’ perception on quality aspects, providing new elements and inputs for more definitive investigation. The methodology of the work combines multivariate statistical techniques to analyse data from customer satisfaction surveys and is subdivided in three steps. Firstly, multiple correspondence analysis was performed to explore latent constructs as concern satisfaction of quality attributes at interurban interchanges, thus identifying the so-called Key Quality Factor. Secondly, k-means cluster analysis was implemented on the key quality factors to classify travellers in homogeneous groups of transport users, according to their perception of satisfaction, thus identifying the so-called Travellers Profiles. Finally, hints and recommendations on quality were identified to support policy making, setting priorities for interurban interchanges. The methodology was applied at four interurban interchanges in Madrid, Zaragoza, Gothenburg and Lyon, analysing the data collected through a customer satisfaction survey carried out in 2011 at the four railway or bus stations where different modes of public and private transport are interconnected covering both short and long trips. Data on travellers’ satisfaction with 26 quality attributes were collected, as well as information on socio-economical and travel patterns. Through multiple correspondence analysis were identified 4-5 key quality factors per interchange. They are mainly related to ticketing, comfort and connectivity, while classical issues, as information, are not perceived as important by travellers’. Through cluster analysis were identified 2-5 travellers profiles per interchange. Two groups of travellers can be found in almost all case studies: commuter / business travellers and holiday travellers. As regards the priorities to support stakeholders in policy making, ticketing is the key-issue for the Spanish interurban interchanges, while connectivity and temporal issues emerge in the French and Swedish case studies.

EU support mechanisms to promote public private partnerships for financing Trans-European transport infrastructure

Since the mid 80ies the Trans ‐European Transport Network (TEN‐T) policy has been setting the framework for the development of infrastructure for the smooth functioning of the internal market within the European Union (EU). Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have always been regarded by the EU as a key instrument to promote the TEN‐T.

Exploring public support for climate change adaptation policies in the Mediterranean region: A case study in Southern Spain.

The understanding of public perception to climate change is an essential factor in the development of adaptation policies. In the Mediterranean, agriculture, as the largest consumer of freshwater, has the highest potential to suffer adverse impacts of climate change. Future water availability predictions, conflicting interests among stakeholders and an increasing social concern about the environment further aggravate the situation. Therefore studying public support for adaptation policies can play a key role in successfully adapting the sector. The study site, approximately 36,000 hectares of rice fields in Seville (Spain), exemplifies an area in the Mediterranean where water needs to be carefully re-allocated in view of the limitations anticipated by climate change scenarios; in particular where conflicts will arise between water for agriculture and water for ‘natural’ ecosystems. This paper proposes an ex-ante evaluation of the societal support for adaptation policies. A survey of 117 respondents was conducted and a Logit model utilized to analyze which predictors positively or negatively affect people's support for adaptation policies. Results suggest that the main barriers to support these policies were economic losses and low climate change concern whereas the primary motivation factor was environmental commitment. Additionally, the main socio-demographic determinants were gender, age, education and family structure. In order to improve societal support for climate change adaptation policies, implementing educational and awareness raising initiatives will be the main challenges for policy makers to overcome.

Key quality factors at urban interchanges.

Quality of service should not be overlooked in public transport planning and policy making, as it influences modal shift from car use to more sustainable means. Little research has been conducted on the quality of public transport interchanges from the perspective of current travellers (i.e. perceived quality). This work is thus aimed at identifying key quality factors in urban interchanges, through an exploratory approach (multiple correspondence analysis) that provides novel elements for further research. The methodology was applied at interchanges in Madrid and Gothenburg and the data used in the analysis were collected through customer satisfaction surveys conducted in 2011. The analysis identified five key quality factors per interchange. Ticketing plays a key role at both interchanges while physical and environmental issues emerged at Avenida de America in Madrid, and services, temporal issues and interconnectivity characterise Gothenburg central station. Compared with other quality aspects, classical issues such as safety/security and information are not perceived as important by intermodal travellers.

Information reconciliation for Quantum Key Distribution

Secret-key agreement, a well-known problem in cryptography, allows two parties holding correlated sequences to agree on a secret key communicating over a public channel. It is usually divided into three different procedures: advantage distillation, information reconciliation and privacy amplification. The efficiency of each one of these procedures is needed if a positive key rate is to be attained from the legitimate parties? correlated sequences. Quantum key distribution (QKD) allows the two parties to obtain correlated sequences, provided that they have access to an authenticated channel. The new generation of QKD devices is able to work at higher speeds and in noisier or more absorbing environments. This exposes the weaknesses of current information reconciliation protocols, a key component to their performance. Here we present a new protocol based in low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that presents the advantages of low interactivity, rate adaptability and high efficiency,characteristics that make it highly suitable for next generation QKD devices.

Assessment of innovative measures implemented in European bus systems using key performance indicators

This paper reports the results of the assessment of a range of measures implemented in bus systems in five European cities to improve the use of public transport by increasing its attractiveness and enhancing its image in urban areas. This research was conducted as part of the EBSF project (European Bus System of the Future) from 2008 to 2012. New buses (prototypes), new vehicle and infrastructure technologies, and operational best practices were introduced, all of which were combined in a system approach. The measures were assessed using multicriteria analysis to simultaneously evaluate a certain number of criteria that need to be aggregated. Each criterion is measured by one or more key performance indicators (KPI) calculated in two scenarios (reference scenario, with no measure implemented; and project scenario, with the implementation of some measures), in order to evaluate the difference in the KPI performance between the reference and project scenario. The results indicate that the measures produce a greater benefit in issues related to bus system productivity and customer satisfaction, with the greatest impact on aspects of perceptions of comfort, cleanliness and quality of service, information to passengers and environmental issues. The study also reveals that the implementation of several measures has greater social utility than very specific and isolated measures.

The role of private sector in development: The relation between public-private investment in infrastructure and agricultural exports in developing countries

Increasing foreign private investment in developing countries explains why the Public-Private Investment (PPI) is becoming a key tool to reach the development goal. This article analyzes the relation between PPI in infrastructure and agricultural exports in developing countries. We use the panel data approach (52 countries and 17 years). Results show that PPI in infrastructure has a positive impact on agricultural exports of developing countries. The impact is greater in developing countries with higher income rates. This suggests that the lower income countries require the intervention of public sector without which private investment cannot help to economic development.

Discourses and values underpin public debate on fracking in Spain: a case study at the crossroad

In the EU context extraction of shale and oil gas by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) differs from country to country in terms of legislation and implementation. While fossil fuel extraction using this technology is currently taking place in the UK, Germany and France have adopted respective moratoria. In between is the Spanish case, where hydrocarbon extraction projects through fracking have to undergo mandatory and routine environmental assessment in accordance with the last changes to environmental regulations. Nowadays Spain is at the crossroad with respect to the future of this technology. We presume a social conflictt in our country since the position and strategy of the involved and confronted social actors -national, regional and local authorities, energy companies, scientists, NGO and other social organization- are going to play key and likely divergent roles in its industrial implementation and public acceptance. In order to improve knowledge on how to address these controverted situations from the own engineering context, the affiliated units from the Higher Technical School of Mines and Energy Engineering at UPM have been working on a transversal program to teach values and ethics. Over the past seven years, this pioneering experience has shown the usefulness of applying a consequentialist ethics, based on a case-by-case approach and costs-benefits analysis both for action and inaction. As a result of this initiative a theoretical concept has arisen and crystallized in this field: it is named Inter-ethics. This theoretical perspective can be very helpful in complex situations, with multi-stakeholders and plurality of interests, when ethical management requires the interaction between the respective ethics of each group; professional ethics of a single group is not enough. Under this inter-ethics theoretical framework and applying content analysis techniques, this paper explores the articulation of the discourse in favour and against fracking technology and its underlying values as manifested in the Spanish traditional mass media and emerging social media such as Youtube. Results show that Spanish public discourse on fracking technology includes the costs-benefits analysis to communicate how natural resources from local communities may be affected by these facilities due to environmental, health and economic consequences. Furthermore, this technology is represented as a solution to the "demand of energy" according to the optimistic discourse while, from a pessimistic view, fracking is often framed as a source "environmental problems" and even natural disasters as possible earthquakes. In this latter case, this negative representation could have been influenced by the closure of a macro project to store injected natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea using the old facilities of an oil exploitation in Amposta (Proyecto Cástor). The closure of this project was due to the occurrence of earthquakes whose intensity was higher than the originally expected by the experts in the assessment stage of the project.

Smart and sustainable public transport systems through improving level and quality of service

Buses are considered a slow, low comfort and low reliability transport system, thus its negative and por image. In the framework of the 3iBS project (2012), several examples of innovative and/or effective solutions regarding the Level of Service (LoS) were analysed aiming to provide operators, practitioners and policy makers with a set of Good Practice Guidelines to strengthen the competitiveness of the bus in the urban environment. The identification of the key indicators regarding vehicles, infrastructure and operation was possible through the analysis of a set of case studies -among which Barcelona (Spain), Cagliari (Italy), London (United Kingdom), Paris and Nantes (France). A cross comparison between the case studies was carried out for contrasting the level of achievement of the different criteria considered. The information provided on Regulatory, Financial and Technical issues allows the identification of a number of specific factors influencing the implementation of a high quality transport scheme, and set the basis for the elaboration of a set of Guidelines for the implementation of an intelligent, innovative and integrated bus system, including the main barriers to be tackled.