4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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4. Predicting citizens’ increasing dependence on mobile technologies
Mobile technologies are developing fast in Korea. The proportion of smart-phone users has increased from 1.6% (800,000) in 2009 to 16.3% (8.3 million) in 2011 and then to 62.8% (32 million) in 2013. The average daily use of mobile phones increased from 87 minutes in 2011 to 102 minutes in 2012.
The city government decided to focus on the development of mobile bus information services for maximum impact. Thus, it provided an open API, which has proven to match citizens’ lifestyle changes well.
Establishing a data sharing system (October 2010 ~ July 2011)
A data sharing system is required for developers to customize real-time bus information. The city government established a decentralized processing system and an open API web platform. In 2011, it arranged for developers (individuals and companies) to gain access to 29 services in 5 categories available in its expanded bus information API system. Only personal authentication was required.
Persuading the private sector to participate to expand system resources and increase media choice (December 2010 ~ June 2012)
Enabling developers to fully access bus information requires a good deal of resources. Expansion of the bus system’s resources was constrained by concerns over installation costs. It was not easy to predict the required quantities of resources, either. Besides, the city government was constrained by the number of media it could mobilize to provide its bus information to citizens. Thus, it decided to ask private companies to participate in the initiative. It persuaded the companies that they would benefit from the initiative. Five well-established private companies chose to take part in the initiative. As a result, the Seoul Metropolitan Government now provides bus information via portals, IPTV, and kiosks, too. To prepare for a sudden surge in information demand, the city government has also introduced a decentralized processing system.
Consulting with experts to set the right directions and address potential problems (June 2010 ~ October 2012)
Apart from surveys among bus riders, the city government mobilized professionals’ expertise to set the right directions for the initiative and address potential issues, technical or otherwise, in advance.
For technical counseling, the city government’s Information System Planning Bureau began to review the feasibility of disclosing to and sharing with the public all the information on bus operations in September 2010. It also held counseling meetings with experts in transportation and information services twice in 2011. The technical outline of the information disclosure/sharing was set. To prevent entanglement in legal issues, the city government obtained a license for a location information business in April 2010, the first public institution in the country to do so.
The city government also consulted with the Korea Cloud Service Association. It had meetings with KT and SKT to secure their support in the area of cutting-edge telecommunications technologies.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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5. Citizens using bus information
Many bus information services have been developed thanks to the disclosure of and sharing with the public of bus information. Competition among services has led to even better quality services. It is the citizens of Seoul who have primarily driven the initiative to such considerable success. They have offered input on various services continuously. Without them, the city could not have established such fast and convenient bus information services.
Private companies and individual developers
Naver and Daum are the country’s leading web portals. Their websites and applications offer bus information, too, which has increased the number of visitors to their site. This has led to increased advertising revenues. Individual developers have had opportunities to learn about the diversity of bus information services while also learning a great deal about real-time data processing technologies. They have enhanced their personal qualifications, with some of them even setting up their own start-up businesses.
A public institution creating bus information services at low costs
It costs a public institution considerable time, manpower, and money to develop bus information services on its own. By creating an environment where businesses and individuals can develop applications and services through information sharing, it can deliver numerous bus information services to the public. It can save a significant amount of public finances, too. Furthermore, it can create new added value through such information disclosure/sharing.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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6. Financial support from tax revenues and private companies’ investment
The city government invested W400 million in the establishment of the infrastructure needed to share bus information with the private sector. It funded the project with tax revenues and extra resources like parking fines and parking revenues collected in public parking lots. The private companies paid for their portions of the data connection system established according to an MoU signed between the city government and the companies.
Applying private companies’ cutting-edge technologies
To provide private companies with its bus information most effectively, the city government used the former’s cutting-edge technologies such as distributed data processing, cloud computing, and big data processing. It tested various proposals to come up with the best solution to its needs. The success of the initiative is mainly attributable to the private companies’ cooperation.
Leadership of the task force and participation of experts
The six-person Seoul Bus Information Task Force laid the groundwork for the initiative. It was later reinforced further by civil servants of related departments and experts in various areas such as traffic engineering, data processing, and telecommunications. Their input was backed by citizens’ continuous feedback, too.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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7. Bus information becoming essential in citizens’ daily lives
Following the launch of various bus information services, citizens now consider the services essential in their daily lives. The services are now available in subway stations and on kiosk monitors, digital signage along the street, and electronic signage in convenience stores.
Dozens of applications have already been developed. Citizens can access bus information while walking down the street. GIS-based apps for neighborhood stores also provide bus information. The initiative has played a key role in making all the bus information services available to mobile users in particular, anytime and anywhere.
Virtuous circle in the development of bus information services
Since the city government disclosed its bus information, many new smart-phone apps have appeared almost daily. Opening up bus information has led to the development of numerous new information apps. Through intense competition, better programs keep replacing less competitive apps.
Besides, successful apps keep upgrading their services. Initially, most of them were content with the delivery of bus information. Now they provide far more upgraded, user-friendly services. Overall, a virtuous circle has been established through the disclosure/sharing of bus information and continuous competition among developers.
Diverse, customized bus information services
Bus information in the city has now developed significantly. A variety of customized information services are offered, too. GPS-based information is provided at some bus stops. The expected arrival time at one’s destination is also provided. Information on low-floor buses is available for those who need such buses. Women who take buses late at night can use services that connect them to a safe return home service.
Inducing “smart changes” in other areas of public transportation and in other jurisdictions
When the Seoul Metropolitan Government launched its bus information service, there was hardly any valuable transportation information being made available to the public in the country. Now, due to the success of the city’s initiative, other local governments have followed suit. The successful Seoul case has also impacted other areas of public transportation. Information on traffic situations on major roads, transfers, and train timetables has now been made available to the public by many municipalities. The trend has already gained momentum. The bus information services in Seoul are inducing changes in public transportation services in the rest of the country.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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8. Conducting surveys among bus riders
The city government’s New Media Officer conducted surveys on bus services among bus riders in February 2010, March 2011, and April 2012 to find out their needs for bus-related services. The results were very helpful to the city’s promotion of the initiative.
Getting feedback on the information services from the city call center and IT experts
To find out whether citizens’ needs were being met by the city’s open API-type services, the city government checked citizens’ feedback at its Seoul call center (Dasan 120) and gathered the opinions of IT experts as well as those of bus information system operators and managers. After getting such feedback, it was able to produce its elaborate Open API website, which guides potential developers through all the app development procedures.
Counseling and evaluations by external experts
The city government has asked outside experts to check and evaluate the direction and progress of the initiative. When issues were raised, and no solutions were found internally, it had meetings with them, to find alternatives. As a result, the city government now provides all of its bus information to companies in a decentralized data processing method and to individual developers in an Open API pattern.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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9. Problem 1: No benchmarking model - Problems were hard to predict - Outside experts’ help was sought
There was no precedent in the country for the full-fledged disclosure/sharing of public information on transportation including bus operations to the public. Therefore, the city government could not predict problems that might occur during the implementation of the initiative. It could not be certain as to the efficacy of the proposed solutions to problems.
⇒ Thus, the task force consulted with experts in various fields about potential solutions to various problems it encountered in the implementation stages. It made its final decisions after carefully reviewing all the options on the table.
Problem 2: Reluctance of bus companies to disclose their information - The city government persuaded them as to the necessities of the initiative and expected benefits to them
Bus GPS is classified as personal information. To provide it to citizens, the city government needed to obtain consent from bus companies, which did not see how disclosing their bus location information to the general public would benefit them.
⇒ The city government worked hard to persuade a total of 223 bus companies that sharing their bus information with citizens will not only boost citizens’ convenience but also help improve the quality of their bus services, which will lead to increased revenues for them in the end. Ultimately, they agreed to disclose to and share with citizens their bus operations information.
Problem 3: System overload due to a large number of users - The issue was solved through collaboration with private companies
⇒ A large number of citizens use the bus information system. Initially, securing a system big enough to accommodate the entire demand was a big concern for the city government.
The carefully selected system turned out to be insufficient to cover the increasing demand of citizens. The system underwent a few crises. The city government has overcome them through collaboration with the Korea Cloud Service Association and private companies whose sites have a large number of visitors. They have offered the city government professional counseling services.
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