But you still can’t use a credit card to tap on public transport there.
Extensive investment in digital healthcare, transport, monitoring and other infrastructure has made Melbourne one of the world’s most digitally dependent cities, a new analysis has found even as Victoria’s government deals with yet another problem with its Myki digital ticketing system.
Melbourne ranked 12th in the ZeroBounce ranking, which scores cities based on nine digital infrastructure categories that includes internet speed, public Wi-Fi availability, online maintenance reporting systems, CCTV coverage, smart parking solutions and pollution monitoring.
Melbourne’s highest score was for availability of online medical appointments (68.7), digitised transport infrastructure (59.4), CCTV camera density (54.9) and online traffic information (54.7); its lowest scores related to the availability of parking apps, and apps to monitor pollution.
Ace for digital nomads, too
Despite having the world’s 44th fastest internet based on Speedtest result, Melbourne was also deemed to be particularly well suited to ‘digital nomads’, with an aggregate score of 5.09 – pipped only by Barcelona (5.82), San Francisco (5.43), and Amsterdam (5.11).
Each city had its own strengths, the analysis found, with Dubai recording the highest CCTV camera presence and second-highest internet speeds; Shanghai, by contrast, topped the list in pollution monitoring, digitised transport infrastructure, and online traffic information.
New York City and San Francisco were the United States’ only entries to the list.
Other top performers included Mumbai, London, Berlin, Manchester, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
Strong digital infrastructure “not only improves transportation and public safety but also enhances access to essential services like healthcare and digital governance,” ZeroBounce chief operating officer Brian Minick said in releasing the results.
No other Australian city made the top 20, which was capped by Dubai (which scored 79.1 out of 100) and dominated by Asian and European cities including Shanghai, Seoul, Beijing, Singapore, Taiwan, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Stockholm.
Such cities “lead in forward-thinking technology,” Minick said, “and thus streamline public services, improve mobility, and create safer, more connected environments.”
More than just tech for technology’s sake
Designing smart cities has long been a challenge for urban planners who must balance a wide range of competing interests when making infrastructure investments that, as in cases such as a recent upgrade of 1,300 traffic lights to fibre internet, may primarily work behind the scenes.
As governments fight conspiracy theories about smart cities and tech firms push tech-driven visions on residents who often just want more green space, the NSW Government has been considering ways make Sydney’s evolving ‘third city’, Bradfield, both smart and relevant.
Bradfield “must provide world-leading technology at a city scale to build a true 22nd-century city,” the NSW Government said in 2022 as it launched a Master Plan process that this month saw it touting the sustainability credentials of Bradfield’s newly completed First Building.
Melbourne, meanwhile, has been working on ways to bolster residents’ trust that smart city data is being collected and utilised ethically – a goal whose practical difficulties have become evident after early trials of its updated Myki ticketing system were labelled “pointless” and a “gimmick”.
State officials promising phone-based ticketing were forced into an embarrassing backdown – the latest in years of problems with the chronically troubled system – after it was revealed newly installed contactless ticket readers at three new Metro Tunnel stations would need to be replaced.
More than 20,000 new readers will be installed over the next year to let Victorians travel without a Myki card, the state government recently announced, with the technology to be rolled out across state bus and tram networks next year – delivering a ticketless capability years in the making.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): David Braue
Quelle/Source: Information Age, 25.02.2025
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