Assistant ITS Officer

THE JOB

In conjunction with the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and other neighbouring local authorities, the ITS Division is involved in major transportation projects, both current projects and future proposed projects such as the roll out of new Bus Connect corridors, future expansion to the Luas network, the planned installation of the Metro and the installation of major active travel schemes throughout the city.

The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Division is divided into three separate sections, all working closely together to shape the mobility needs of our city. These teams are: Traffic Signal Section, Public Transport Priority Section and Traffic Systems Support Section.

For successful candidates assigned to the Traffic Signal and Public Transport Priority Sections, the role will encompass all aspects of traffic signal and junction installation. This includes working with the SCATS system, specifying signal operations for new and upgraded junctions, conducting relevant testing and optimisation, and establishing and managing the necessary network links. The role will also involve coordinating project tasks and ensuring effective collaboration across multidisciplinary teams to deliver high quality outcomes.

For successful candidates assigned to the Traffic Systems Support Section, this will involve working in a network and ICT infrastructure environment, as the traffic division operates and supports ITS applications hosted on multiple in-house servers, including a large proportion of virtualised platform suite using Vmware, and an IT network proving real time data streams over a wide area network utilising over a thousand communications nodes for on street devices. The set up, maintenance and upgrade of the systems required to support the traffic division is a function of the Traffic Systems Support Section.

The key ITS areas of responsibilities of the Traffic Signal Team are:

• Junction design, upgrades and projects in support of all mobility projects in the city including Bus Connect, Active Travel, the Luas expansion and the Metro

• Traffic signals monitoring, maintenance and operations function

• Luas operations

• Liaising with staff in the traffic control room

• Planning of major events and incident management

• Traffic signal fault management

• Liaising with the Traffic Advisory Group (TAG) and responding to elected members questions

• Inputting into planning applications from a traffic signalling operation

• Traffic and transport modelling

The key areas of responsibility of the Public Transport Priority Team are:

• Meeting with public transport operators in identifying and reducing delay points

• Updating the Dublin Public Transport Interface Module (DPTIM) with detectors

• Upgrading DPTIM to integrate with new real time data feeds on bus performance details for bus priority

• Preparing stats for TAG to allow for changes to be made to bus lane hours

• Working closely with the NTA on the implementation of the Bus Connects programme

• Responding to questions from elected members and members of the public

• Providing input to active travel schemes that interact with the bus network

• Coordinating with traffic officers to implement civil interventions to reduce bus journey times

The key areas of responsibility for the Traffic Systems Support Team are:

• Project management of traffic systems ICT infrastructure

• Upgrade of traffic networking and ICT environment

• Liaising with IS Department to implement networking security policies (NIS2 Directive)

• Maintenance of data centre and virtual environment

• Liaising with third party contractors providing networking, communications, backup and support for all traffic applications and infrastructure

• To provide support for tendering and procurement process

• To provide systems support for the traffic applications used by Traffic Signal Team, Public Transport Priority Team and the traffic control room

• To have involvement with the Smart Dublin project and a number of EU Interreg Smart Cities projects

The ITS Division also operates and supports its own dedicated 24/7 hour control centre where all the information is presented for operators to monitor and intervene as required. It also operates its own traffic computer centre, which hosts the majority of the traffic systems support, as well as providing real time streams to numerous transportation agencies.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE SHALL

• Have satisfactory experience in some of the following main areas; civil engineering or road transport or traffic engineering or traffic modelling or ITS projects (road based) or in the design or deployment of technology driven distributed systems or virtualised server platforms or ICT networks

• Possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills and have the ability to engage with a wide range of people

• Possess good organisation skills

• Be capable of working on their own initiative

• Have a good knowledge and awareness of Health and Safety Legislation and Regulations, their implication for the organisation and the employee, and their application in the workplace

QUALIFICATIONS

CHARACTER:

Each candidate shall be of good character.

HEALTH:

Candidates shall be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, ETC.:

Each candidate must, on the latest date for receipt of completed applications:

(a) Hold a recognised degree (level 8 in the National Framework of Qualifications) in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Transportation, Transportation Planning or Geographical Information Systems.

(b) Have at least 2 years satisfactory relevant experience in the area of road based transportation or traffic engineering or ITS projects or in the design or deployment of technology driven distributed systems.

DUTIES

The duties of the post include, but are not limited to, the following:

For the Bus Priority and the Traffic Signal Section:

• Traffic signal optimisation and calibration at both SCATS and non-SCATS sites

• Preparation of junction configuration specifications for traffic signal sites and programming of same as required

• Providing support, as required, for the 24 hour traffic control centre and systems

• Traffic signal analysis and network modelling

• Configuring the centralised bus priority system in providing traffic signal priority for bus services

• Working as part of a team on the preparation of reports on traffic signal and ITS issues for the City Council’s Traffic Advisory Group

• Provide input and feedback on traffic signal designs and operation for all mobility projects in the city

For the Traffic Systems Support Section:

• Liaising with other City Council departments in particular the Information Systems Department, and also external project offices and other local authorities as required, providing technical support, reports and site visits

• Querying the relevant ITS databases both for management reporting and day to day management of applications using tools such as SQL, MS-SQL reporting services and Tableau

• Taking responsibility for the specification, installation, maintenance, operation and development of all City Council ITS applications, new and existing systems, including the communications network, virtualised server platforms, server management, database management and reporting services and business intelligent tools

General Duties for all Assistant ITS Officers:

• Working as part of a team on the specification, installation, maintenance, operation and development of all City Council ITS systems

• Undertaking preparation of necessary tender specification and providing support to the tendering process

• Taking part as required in EU projects and supporting the ongoing Smart Cities projects

• Carrying out such other duties as may be assigned from time to time

The particular duties and responsibilities attached to the post may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the duties or level of responsibilities entailed. The post holder may therefore be required to perform duties appropriate to the post, other than those detailed above, and to take instructions from and report to an appropriate Officer or such designated Officer as may be assigned from time to time by the City Council.