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Yesterday, the U.S. and California departments of transportation announced plans to jointly provide real-time transit, traffic and road safety information to commuters in the San Francisco Bay area.

Under the $12.4 million SafeTrip-21 pilot program, the departments will test various intelligent transportation system technologies designed to improve public transit services, and reduce road congestion and traffic-related fatalities. The agencies will field test GPS-equipped cellular phones involving up to 10,000 volunteer commuters.

The USDOT is working to develop a platform that combines existing technologies, such as trip planning and traveler information, safety advisories, onboard displays of commuter-rail and transit bus connections, electronic toll collection, and parking reservation and payment systems.