The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has implemented a comprehensive winter
Road Condition Weather Information System (RCWIS) to provide highway maintenance
staff with the most up to date road condition information to proactively make the most
appropriate winter maintenance decisions. The winter road condition information is also
immediately available to the public through the Travellers’ Road Information Portal
(TRIP). TRIP includes the MTO’s Internet website and an Interactive Voice Recognition
(IVR) system enabling the public to easily access specific road condition information
with basic voice commands through the telephone.
This integrated system has greatly enhanced customer service. Previously 23 phone
lines were operated from nine communications centres across the province. Staff from
each centre recorded the winter road conditions five times per day for their area. The
winter road condition information is now automatically updated as conditions are
entered into RCWIS. A single toll free 800 number is available for the public to obtain
current road conditions from across the province in both English and French.
With the average time per call dropping from 4.5 to 2 minutes, MTO has significantly
reduced its costs while dramatically increasing the accuracy and timeliness of the winter
road condition information. Annually, 500,000 telephone customers are serviced by this
system which yields a customer satisfaction record over 95%.
The next steps for TRIP is to fully integrate highway construction information with the
winter road condition information providing the customer with one complete report for all
that the traveller will need in planning their journey. The MTO website will also be
upgraded to become more interactive with this complete suite of information. MTO is
also testing new software in mobile computers and reviewing other technological
opportunities to further increase the timeliness of the road condition data entry into
RCWIS.
Thank you to our Premier Sponsors
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