ISE19/15-16

• Development of smart city is emerging as a global trend featuring the use of information and communications technologies ("ICT") for more efficient management of services and resources.^{1Legend symbol denoting For a detailed discussion of smart city, please refer to the Essentials entitled "What is a 'Smart City'?" (ISE08/14-15) published by the Research Office in March 2015.} A smart city encompasses a range of different aspects including smart transport, smart government, smart living and smart environment.^{2Legend symbol denoting See Central Policy Unit (2015) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills of the United Kingdom (2013).} Developing a smart transport system requires access to open data^{3Legend symbol denoting Open data can be obtained from commercial and government sources. For a detailed discussion of open data, please refer to the Essentials entitled "Open data" (ISE18/15-16) published by the Research Office in May 2016.} to enable people to make more informed transport choice and to better manage their commuting time.
• In Hong Kong, the Government is also pursuing the smart city initiative. In his 2016 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced that the Innovation and Technology Bureau would, in collaboration with research institutions and public and private organizations, study the development of smart city. The study covers making available free Wi-Fi services at bus stops and shopping arcades, and opening up more public data to facilitate development of more user-friendly mobile applications ("apps"). Development of smart city will also be discussed at the meeting of the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting on 13 June 2016.
• Similar to Hong Kong, many of the world's major cities have embarked on the smart city initiative. Indeed, cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Seoul and Singapore are often cited as examples of global smart cities. In particular, they have made use of mobile technologies and real-time data to develop smart solutions to improve commuter experience. For example, Barcelona has developed a mobile app for parking fee payment, and Singapore has introduced a new app for booking of express bus rides. These two cities have notably earned recognition in a recent study on global smart cities focusing on energy, lighting and transport.^{4Legend symbol denoting According to the study conducted by Juniper Research, the top three global smart cities in 2016 were Singapore, Barcelona and London respectively. Juniper Research is a consulting firm in the United Kingdom specializing in digital technology. See Juniper Research (2016).} This issue of Essentials aims to explore the smart transport initiatives undertaken by the cities of Barcelona and Singapore.

Barcelona

• Barcelona is the leading smart city in Spain. As early as in 2011, its city government launched the "Barcelona as a people city" project using new technologies to foster the economic growth and welfare of its citizens. A number of smart city projects have subsequently been implemented across different areas ranging from transport and health to leisure and environment, which successfully transformed Barcelona into one of the most innovative cities in Europe. In 2014, the European Commission awarded the first "European Capital of Innovation" prize to Barcelona, recognizing its efforts to improve the public services and citizens' quality of life.^{5Legend symbol denoting See European Commission (2014).}
• On smart transport, citizens in Barcelona can use a specific mobile app to check the availability of the bicycles for rental at different locations. This, coupled with the availability of 300 free charging points for electric vehicles across the city, aims at developing an energy-efficient and sustainable mobility system in Barcelona. In addition to the above, Barcelona has introduced smart bus shelters, mobile payment app, smart parking and smart traffic lights as its smart transport initiatives.

Smart bus shelters

• To improve user experience, the Barcelona city government has introduced innovative solutions in a number of bus stops in Barcelona. These bus stops, known as smart bus shelters (Smartquesinas), are designed with various intelligent features including:
  
  

  (a)	a large interactive touchscreen for commuters to view travelling information and download various service apps relating to transport, tourism and entertainment using the near field communication technology and Quick Response ("QR") codes;
  (b)	Wi-Fi connection and charging ports for mobile phone charging;
  (c)	a smart advertising screen with the capability to display different digital advertisements based on the gender and age group of the commuter(s) standing in front of the advertising screen; and
  (d)	a solar panel to generate power using solar energy.6Legend symbol denoting See Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (2013) and the website of BCN Smart City., 7Legend symbol denoting It was reported that the first batch of eight smart bus shelters were launched in 2013 with a total cost of about €560,000 (HK$5.77 million). According to Barcelona's public transport operator, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, more bus stops have been upgraded into smart bus shelters since then. As at end-March 2016, there were 16 smart bus shelters in Barcelona. See Digital AV Magazine (2014), Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (undated), and Nexobús (2016).

Mobile payment application and smart parking

• In 2013, the Barcelona city government introduced a mobile payment app, ApparkB, to enable drivers to pay for public parking online without using the traditional parking meters. To pay on ApparkB, they need to first register as a user and log in to the account every time when activating parking.^{8Legend symbol denoting Once the driver has parked the car, he or she has to indicate on the app his or her vehicle registration number and the parking zone. The system will locate the position through mobile GPS and apply the relevant parking rate. The driver then confirms parking by pressing "Start" button, and when leaving the parking lot, he or she simply presses "Finish" on the app. See Barcelona City Council (2014a).} Unlike traditional parking meters, payment on ApparkB is based on the actual parking time used. When the maximum parking time limit is about to expire, the app will alert the drivers with a message. Drivers will receive a digital receipt after payment and they can also view the transaction history on ApparkB. According to the Barcelona city government, there have been over 80 000 downloads of the app since its introduction.
• Apart from ApparkB, the Barcelona city government has also implemented a pilot smart parking project with a view to helping drivers find available parking lots and improving the management of urban mobility. A budget of €140,000 (HK$1.44 million) was allocated for the instalment of 500 sensors in selected on-street car parks to capture the information on the occupancy of parking spaces.^{9Legend symbol denoting See Barcelona City Council (2014b).} Through consolidation of parking data in an internet network, drivers can check in real-time the locations and availability of parking lots in the vicinity using their mobile devices.

Smart traffic lights

• Traffic lights emitting sounds to help blind people cross the road are common in many cities. In Barcelona, it has advanced further by introducing a system with a small remote control device for the possession of blind people. When they want to cross the road, they turn on the audio mode of the device which will emit sound when the traffic light turns green. Since the sound is emitted only when there are blind people crossing the road and it lasts for just a few minutes, this is helpful to reduce the nuisance caused by the audible crossing signals to the nearby residents.
• Barcelona also has introduced a smart system to manage the traffic lights for emergency services. When an emergency such as fire or car accident is reported, the smart system will set the traffic light green as the emergency vehicle approaches. The traffic light setting is adjusted along the way to the destination, so that the route can remain clear of traffic, allowing the emergency vehicle to arrive at the site more quickly and safely without causing disruption to traffic flow. After the emergency vehicle has passed, the traffic light setting will return to normal.

Singapore

• In Singapore, the government has embarked on the "Smart Nation" initiative since 2014 to support better living, create more opportunities, and build stronger communities. Under the Smart Nation vision, Singapore has made concerted efforts to promote smart mobility by exploring new travel options and providing greater access to real-time transport information in a move to enable commuters to better plan their journeys. Building on its strength in applying mobile technologies, Singapore has gained the "Global Smart City" name in a recent study by Juniper Research.^{10Legend symbol denoting See Juniper Research (2016).} The various smart transport projects outlined below reflect Singapore's efforts to help create a more seamless transport experience for citizens.

Mobile application for new express bus service

• To make the transport networks more adaptive to the changing commuter demand, the Infocomm Development Authority and the Land Transport Authority ("LTA")^{11Legend symbol denoting The Infocomm Development Authority is responsible for developing information technology and telecommunications within Singapore, whereas the Land Transport Authority is entrusted with planning, operating, and maintaining Singapore's land transport infrastructure and systems.} have developed an online booking platform - Beeline - for the booking of a new express bus service offered by several private bus companies on a pilot basis. As part of the Smart Nation programme, Beeline allows commuters to pre-book a seat and pay for an express bus service. Another innovative feature is that Beeline uses crowdsourced information to plan routes; citizens can submit requests for a specific route, and if there is sufficient demand, the proposed route is forwarded to the participating private bus companies.^{12Legend symbol denoting Engaging the public to contribute innovative ideas and solutions through a public platform (mostly an online platform) is known as crowdsourcing. Using this means to solicit ideas is one of the initiatives under Singapore's e-Government master plan.}
• Using the Beeline app, commuters can track the location of the bus they have booked and when boarding the bus, they need to show the electronic ticket to the driver. The response to the pilot service appeared encouraging. It began with five routes when launched in August 2015 and has now extended to 11 routes running in peak hours on weekdays.^{13Legend symbol denoting See Land Transport Authority (2015c) and the website of Beeline.}

Real-time bus information enhancements

• The Singapore government launched "MyTransport.SG" in 2010 to provide comprehensive transit and traffic information to users with Wi-Fi, GPRS or 3G wireless connectivity on their mobile devices. In line with the Smart Nation initiative, the Singapore government has improved the MyTransport.SG mobile app with the instalment of a new centralized system to raise the overall accuracy of the bus arrival estimations to 95% for 4 700 public buses over 360 routes. Furthermore, the app also incorporates the bus loading information for selected bus routes. Using the app, commuters can have an idea on the estimated occupancy of the arriving bus, with (a) a green code indicating "seats available", (b) a yellow code indicating "standing available", and (c) a red code indicating "limited standing".^{14Legend symbol denoting See Land Transport Authority (2015a) and Land Transport Authority (2015b).} The information enables commuters to make more informed travel decisions and to better manage the bus waiting time. The enhanced bus information is also made available to third-party app developers.

Smart parking

• To support the Smart Nation initiative, the public research organization Institute for Infocomm Research, in collaboration with a university and a technology firm, have recently developed a new mobile app called "Park&Go@SG". The app makes use of real-time information on parking spaces released by LTA and the Housing & Development Board ("HDB"^{15Legend symbol denoting HDB is the statutory board of the Ministry of National Development responsible for public housing in Singapore.}), covering over 400 HDB car parks and parking spaces from 26 major establishments including retail, commercial and government buildings. In addition to helping drivers locate the available parking spaces in commercial and residential areas, the app also features the capability to forecast the parking space availability upon arrival using data analytics.^{16Legend symbol denoting See Channel NewsAsia (2015) and Continental Corporation (2015).}

Concluding remarks

• A smart city should be easily accessible to residents, and travel across the city should be hassle-free through an efficient and safe transport system that is linked to ICT infrastructure and open data. In this regard, the cities of Barcelona and Singapore have leveraged on the mobile technologies and real-time data to develop pilot and/or long-term smart solutions relevant to people's daily life, such as smart parking, mobile app for bus service booking and payment, and enhanced real-time bus information. These transport solutions are part of their smart city initiative, enabling commuters to make more informed choice and improve their transport experience.

Prepared by Tiffany NG
Research Office
Information Services Division
Legislative Council Secretariat
8 June 2016