Overview
ISO 37159:2019 - Smart community infrastructures: Smart transportation for rapid transit - defines a procedure to organize smart transportation that enables one-day trips by citizens between cities and within large city zones (including megalopolises) and their surrounding areas. The standard addresses rapid transit services that convey large numbers of people at high frequency over distances up to 1 000 km, with an emphasis on operational organization, service selection and performance requirements. It does not prescribe construction methods for infrastructure.
Key topics and requirements
- Scope and definitions: Clarifies terms such as large city zone, highway bus, and high-speed rail (HSR).
- Transport mode selection: Recommends selecting between highway buses (effective up to ~200 km) and HSR (effective up to 1 000 km; typical HSR speeds noted above 200 km/h) based on distance and required capacity.
- Performance requirements: Addresses customer satisfaction, safety, and efficiency of operation and services as core criteria.
- Service characteristics: Emphasizes high-frequency, time-reliable services, direct city-center connections, and “lot transporting” (moving many travelers together) to reduce costs and CO2 emissions.
- Adoption and installation: Provides a procedural approach to plan and install smart transportation services (organizational aspects), while excluding civil construction methodology.
- Maintenance and modification: Specifies maintaining quality through monitoring parameters, ongoing maintenance, and procedures for modifying services to match demand.
- Non-normative content: Annex A offers examples of highway-bus and HSR rapid transit solutions that support one-day trips.
Applications and practical value
- Urban and regional planning: Design and organize intercity rapid transit networks that support same-day business, political and educational travel.
- Transport policy and strategy: Assess viability of HSR vs. highway-bus schemes for megalopolises and large city zones.
- Public transport operators and transit agencies: Define service frequency, capacity planning, customer-experience targets, and safety/efficiency metrics.
- Economic development: Use rapid transit organization to stimulate business activity, reduce travel times and lower per-capita travel costs and emissions.
- System integrators and mobility planners: Implement operational processes (ticketing, scheduling, dispatch) that enable high-frequency one-day trips.
Who should use this standard
- Municipal and regional transport authorities
- Urban planners and policy makers
- Public transport operators and rail/highway bus planners
- Smart city program managers and sustainability officers
Related guidance
This standard was developed by ISO/TC 268 (Sustainable cities and communities, Subcommittee SC 1: Smart community infrastructures). It contains no normative references but should be used alongside other ISO guidance on smart community infrastructures and urban mobility planning.