Page 58 - U4SSC Compendium of survey results on integrated digital solutions for city platforms around the world

6.4 Montevideo Inteligente: applications for everyday life.

Montevideo manages traffic through the Mobility Management Centre (CGM), using the best
available technologies to guarantee safety, smooth traffic and compliance with regulations.
The public transport system has an electronic ticket system based on the STM card. Constantly
evolving, it is available across the entire metropolitan area, including for use on inter-urban
transport companies, as well as the ability to pay for taxis and trains. The prepaid STM card can be
linked to personal bank accounts and to new accounts at recharge points. Among the projects of
Montevideo Inteligente, the Challenge ANII (the National Agency of Innovation and Research) has
developed a pilot to test different technological applications on board public transport units, aimed
at helping to improve the experience of users and the quality of service offered. This includes the
linking of accounts in the cloud to equipment on board the buses. Connected to a central online
infrastructure, it facilitates payments from a mobile phone with the possibility of taking advantage
of flexible fare plans throughout the day or the week, with variations in seasonal rates or on demand
such as promotions for shows or specific activities.

The smart city platform FIWARE is a critical component in the development of services associated
with mobility. It processes data and facilitates services associated with traffic (vehicle numbers and
speeds) and public transport (bus location and ticket sales). The information is available for internal
use and for publication as data or services to be used by citizens. This makes it possible to offer
applications to citizens such as the “How To Go” service, an app to schedule trips and get real-time
information on the location and arrival time of buses. Other applications for internal use utilize Big
Data technologies and analytics to enable planning tools such as maps and representations of
origin/destination, as well as infra-red maps, analysis of behaviour, of supply of and demand for
public transport requirements, or tools to measure the quality of service based on compliance with
committed schedules and frequencies. The Digital Proximity (Cercanía Digital) project establishes
a two-way dialogue through social networks and digital communication channels, seeking to
understand sentiments through natural language recognition and providing answers in a quick
and friendly way.

6.5 Challenges ahead

• Include data analysis in all the departments of the organization. Promote policies associated
with data science and predictive analysis based on information generated in management
systems and data extracted from the IoT platform.
• Promote data economy by increasing the use of the MVD API portal for the publication of
services of the data generated by the city for the improvement of public services for its citizens,
NGOs, academia and companies.
• Consolidate the Operational Centre of Montevideo (COM) by improving the coordination and
operational efficiency of the organization through the smart cities platform, identifying and
communicating through different channels, and evaluating possible difficulties that may be
encountered in the various public services.

46 Compendium of survey results on integrated digital solutions for city platforms around the world