Base fare calculation

Calculation of the base fare is based on the fare structure of the ticket type, of which there are four different occurrences:

Fare structure "Distance-based fare"

Distance-based fares are used to model fares, which directly depend on the distance covered.

"Distance" however, does not mean the link length or the line route length itself. In fact, the calculation of a distance-based fare is based on the number of fare points on the considered path. The number of fare points is a property of the links and time profile items. Because, compared to the length, this attribute is TSys-specific on links, you can allocate a different fare to the traversing of a link for different PuT-TSys.

The traversed fare points of the links and time profile items of the path are summed up, and the fare is looked up in the table of the fare items.

The fare between two consecutive fare items can be interpolated to model a linear course.

A distance-based fare is not applicable if the fare stage does not offer a fare for the determined number of fare points but is "empty".

Example: Fare structure "distance-based fare"

Let's look at a ticket type with the following properties:

  • Fare constant 10 CU for trips from 1 fare point through 5 fare points,
  • Fare constant 16 CU for trips from 6 fare points through 10 fare points,
  • linear increase of the fare from 16 CU to 24 CU between the range of 10 fare points and 20 fare points,
  • Fare constant 24 CU for trips through 30 fare points,
  • Ticket cannot be used fro trips with more than 30 fare points.

Expressed in a graph:

Image 205: Example for a distance-based fare with 5 fare stages

In Visum you model this fare as the following distance-based fare stages:

Table 233: Fare stages for the example on distance-based fare

Number of fare points

Interpolate

Fare [CU]

≤ 5

No

10

≤ 10

No

16

≤ 20

Yes

24

≤ 30

No

24

> 30

---

 

Fare structure "Zone-based fare"

Zone-based fares are used in situations where the fare depends on the number of traversed fare zones.

A ticket type with a zone-based fare refers to a specific fare zone type. Not all fare zones are automatically relevant for a ticket. It are only the zones whose "type" corresponds to the fare zone type of the ticket. This is how you can especially model independent fare zones belonging to different fare systems, which can still overlap in space.

By default, a zone-based ticket is only applicable for paths which only include stops, which belong to fare zones of the ticket type's fare zone type. To replicate the calculation logic up to and including Visum 11, you can optionally ignore stops without fare zone. For the creation of new models, this setting however is not recommended.

A stop can lie in several fare zones and one fare zone generally has several stops. However, it is often clear which fare zones the passenger traverses on his path. Based on this information, the number of traversed fare zones and thus the fare are calculated. In cases of a complex overlapping of fare zones, there might be several options of how to cover a path with fare zones. Visum then selects the minimum number of overlapping fare zones and thus the most inexpensive fare.

A zone-based fare is still not applicable if the fare stage does not offer a fare for the determined number of fare zones but is "empty".

Zone-based fares cannot be used in combination with PuT Aux and Sharing path legs, because zones are linked to stops and stops are not used by PuT Aux and sharing systems.

Fare zones do not all have to be equivalent, but can be included with a cardinality into the count. To do so, select a numeric, integer attribute and allocate the required values. A city center zone counts twice in many fare systems for example. It then has to receive cardinality two.

Initial fare zones and end fare zones of a path can explicitly be excluded from the application of cardinality.

You can specify the method of counting fare zones which have been traversed on a path several times. Either each traversed fare zone is counted exactly once, or each entering into a fare zone causes it to be counted again.

Example: Fare structure "Zone-based fare"

Image 206: Example for a zone-based fare with three overlapping fare zones and six stops.

The fare zones in this example have different cardinalities - fare zone 2 is to be counted twice:

Fare zone

Cardinality

1

1

2

2

3

1

The following base fare is charged for the respective fare zones:

Number of fare zones

Base fare [CU]

 

2.00

 

3.00

 

3.50

> 3

4.00

The result being, the traversed fare zones and thus also the fare for all the paths in the example network:

Table 234: Example network: Fare zones that have been traversed and fare

Path

Traversed fare zone numbers

Number of counted fare zones (considering the cardinalities)

Base fare [CU]

Stop 1 - Stop 2

1

1

2.00

Stop 1 - Stop 3

1

1

2.00

Stop 1 - Stop 6

1 and 3

2

3.00

Stop 1 - Stop 4

1 and 2

3

3.50

Stop 1 - Stop 5 via 3 and 4

1 and 2

3

3.50

Stop 1 - Stop 5 directly via 2

1 and 2 or 1 and 3

2 (for the path through 1 and 3)

3.00

Stop 1 - Stop 6 via 2, 3, 4, 5

1 and 2 and 3

4

4.00

Stop 1 - Stop 2

1

1

2.00

Fare structure "From-to zone-based fare"

From-to zone-based fares illustrate a matrix fare between fare zones. The fare thus only depends on the start and end fare zones of the path. En route traversed fare zones do not play a role.

You can generate a complete fare matrix between all fare zones. From-to zone-based fares are also suitable for the definition of exceptions: If trips from or to specific fare zones underlie a different fare structure, you can define the fares of these relations with a From-to zone-based fare, which exceed the standard ticket type by its rank.

A From-to zone-based fare is not applicable if the matrix for the pair of start and end fare zone of the path does not have an entry.

To define a fare from a fixed fare zone x to all other fare zones, you can create an entry for the fare zone numbers (x, 0), thus using the value 0 as a wildcard for the end fare zone. Analog entries for (0, y) are possible. Specific entries overwrite general entries, this means a fare defined for (x, y) applies to trips from fare zone x to fare zone y, independent of whether fares for (x, 0), (0, y) or (0, 0) also exist.

If the start stop or the end stop of the connection lie within more than one fare zone, several fare zone pairs have to be considered; the fare is then defined as a minimum of all entries.

Example: Fare structure "From-to zone-based fare"

For the example in Image 206 the following From-to zone-based fare can be modeled as an alternative to the zone-based fare:

to fare zone

from fare zone

1

2

3

1

2.00

3.50

(*) 3.00

2

3.50

3.00

3.50

3

3.00

3.50

2.00

A comparison with the zone-based fare defined above gives the following differences:

  • The fare does no longer depend on the exact course of the path; a comparison between direct and indirect path from stop 1 to stop 6 is no longer possible here, see cell (*).
  • However, different fares can be determined for paths with an identical number of fare zones if required - these fares can even be asymmetrical. For example, trips from fare zone 3 to fare zone 1 could cost 2.80 CU instead of the standard fare for two fare zones. Only the entry at position (3, 1) would have to be changed. This could not be expressed in a zone-based fare.

In Visum, the above matrix can be modeled as follows:

from FZ

to FZ

Fare [CU]

1

1

2.00

2

2

3.00

3

3

2.00

1

3

3.00

3

1

3.00

0

0

3.50

The last entry is a wildcard for all fare zone pairs which were not mentioned explicitly before.

You can also express, that the ticket type is not applicable for certain pairs of fare zones:

from FZ

to FZ

Fare [CU]

4

All

2.70

All

4

[Empty field]

According to this definition, the ticket cannot be used for all trips to the new fare zone 4 - but for trips in the opposite direction, for the fare of 2.70 CU.

Fare structure "Short-distance fare"

The short-distance fare is a standard fare for trips below certain threshold values for run time, trip distance and/or number of stops. Short-distance fares can therefore only be applied to paths which meet these threshold values.

A short-distance ticket type can also contain more than one set of threshold values (short-distance fare items). You can express for example, that there are specific fares for certain run times, for example 1 CU up to 10 min, 2 CU up to 30 min, etc.

A short-distance ticket is applicable, as soon as the threshold values of at least one of its fare items are fulfilled. The fare is defined as the minimum fares of all fare items, whose threshold values are met.

Example: Fare structure " Short-distance fare"

Fare item 1: Trips to the next stop only cost 0.50 CU:

max. run time

unlimited

max. distance

unlimited

max. number of stops

1

Fare

0.50 CU

Fare item 2: as above, but only for trips with a maximum of 5 min run time. The fare is then only 0.30 CU.

max. run time

5 min

max. distance

unlimited

max. number of stops

1

Fare

0.30 CU

The fare for fare item 2 can in principle also be selected higher than the fare for fare item 1. This however, would not be reasonable because for trips up to the next stop with maximum 5 minutes run time, both threshold values are satisfied, i.e. the fare is the minimum of both fares. This minimum would then be 0.50 CU, and the second fare item would have no effect. This is an example of “Consistency of fare stages”.

Fare structure - “Time-based fare”

Time-based fares are used to model fares which directly depend on the journey time. The journey time covers the period between the time of boarding at the first stop of the first path leg and the last stop of the last path leg, including transfer walk and wait times. The fare between two consecutive fare items can be interpolated to model a linear course. A time-based fare is not applicable if the fare stage does not offer a fare for the determined journey time but is “empty". It thus follows the logic of the distance-based fare.

Fare structure - “Direct distance fare”

Distance-based fares are used to model fares which directly depend on the distance covered. In this case distance means direct distance (as the crow flies), not link or line route distance. The distance between boarding at the stop point of the first path leg and alighting at the stop point of the final path leg. Calculations are performed based on the projection set. If no projection is set, the Euclidean distance is used, interpreting the distance as a meter.

Consistency of fare stages

The fare stages of a ticket type (more precisely the fares at the fare items of the ticket type) can be freely defined. In principle this also makes contradicting entries possible. For example, the fare for a greater distance can be smaller than the fare for a shorter distance, or a short-distance fare for a trip up to three stops can be more expensive than a short-distance fare for up to five stops. It is recommended however, that such contradicting definitions should be avoided.