Fare and Ticketing Systems in Europeemta.com/IMG/pdf/YTV_Fare_and_Ticketing_Systems_in...new fare...

Fare and Ticketing Systems in Europe

1

Fare and Ticketing Systems in Europe

2

YTV Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council,

Opastinsilta 6 A 00520 Helsinki, Finland tel. exch. +3589 15 611 fax +3589 1561 369 http://www.ytv.fi

Further information: Pirkko Lento, tel. +3589 1561 637 [email protected]

Cover picture: WSP Finland

Helsinki 2008

3

Introduction

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council’s travel card system will be replaced by 2014. In conjunc-tion with this work the need to renew the fare and ticketing system will be evaluated. A preliminary study on renewing the fare and ticketing system was completed in October 2006. To complement the preliminary study, this follow-up study consists of an overview of the fare and ticketing systems used in other, mostly European, cities.

The eleven European cities chosen for this study were Barcelona, Amsterdam, Zürich, Stuttgart, Vienna, Manchester and London as well as the Nordic cities of Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, Oslo and Copenhagen. Of these cities Vienna, Barcelona, Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen are so called BEST cities, which monitor the quality of their respective public transport systems in co-operation. In addition to the European cities, Singapore was also included in the study as it uses a distance based fare system for both bus and rail transport. The structure and characteristics of the fare and ticketing system of each city was studied.

The report is divided into chapters for each city. Every chapter begins with basic information con-cerning the city such as the number of inhabitants, surface area and population density. The cur-rently used fare and ticketing systems are described to the same extent as they are explained to ordinary passengers on the Internet pages of, for example, the parties responsible for providing transport services. However, to prevent the study from becoming a mere listing, the marginal ticket products or the most insignificant details of the fare systems have been left out. 24/48 hour tickets or other tickets offered for tourists that, in addition to the transport services, include also other benefits to Museums or similar kinds of places are not dealt with in this study. However, the espe-cially interesting bonus services offered by some cities in connection with tickets have been shortly presented (E.G. Barcelona).

A central part of the work has been a written interview sent to the experts of each city, where the experts were asked to analyze the advantages and weak sides of the fare and ticketing systems of their city from different viewpoints. The answers of each city are presented in the end of each chap-ter. In the same connection the recently made or planned significant reforms of the fare and ticket-ing systems are presented.

The final report was drawn in such way that it is as similar as possible for each city thus enabling comparisons. The report includes a summary and conclusion section, where the advantages and weaknesses of different systems have been analyzed. At the same time the grades awarded to the cities belonging to the BEST network based on, for example, the price/quality ratio of the transport services were analyzed.

This study was drafted by M.Sc. Kerkko Vanhanen from the WSP Finland. The study was men-tored by Head of Unit, Pirkko Lento, YTV Passenger Services Unit.

.

5

Abstract pagePublished by: YTV Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council

Author: Date of publication 27.02.2008

Title of publication: Fare and Ticketing Systems in Europe

Financed by / Commissioned by: YTV Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council

Abstract:

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council’s travel card system will be replaced by 2014. In conjunc-tion with this work the need to renew the fare and ticketing system will be evaluated. A preliminary study on renewing the fare and ticketing system was completed in October 2006. This study con-sists of an overview of fare and ticketing systems used in other, mostly European, cities and is in-tended to complement the preliminary study.

The eleven European cities chosen for this study were Barcelona, Amsterdam, Zürich, Stuttgart, Vienna, Manchester and London as well as the Nordic cities of Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, Oslo and Copenhagen. Of these cities Vienna, Geneva, Barcelona, Stockholm, Oslo and Copen-hagen are so called BEST cities, which monitor the quality of their respective public transport sys-tems in cooperation. In addition to the European cities, Singapore was also included in the study as it uses a distance based fare system for both bus and rail transport. The structure and characteris-tics of the fare and ticketing system of each city was studied.

The report is divided into chapters for each city. Every chapter begins with basic information con-cerning the city such as the number of inhabitants, surface area and population density.

A zone based system surrounding specific central city is clearly the most common fare system. In some city regions the central city is one flat fare zone, in other regions the zone divisions are denser.

According to the interviews made for this study a zone based system is not perfect from a usability viewpoint if the amount of ticket types and fare discount groups is simultaneously large and the size of the central zone is small. The discount possibilities attached to a system with small zones may not be noticed by the passengers. The goals of affordable travel and perceived affordability by the passengers are not met in practice, if the passengers unknowingly pay more than they need to.

A few cities are transitioning from a zone based system to distance based pricing. This requires the adoption of check in – check out technology.

Almost every city that has recently transitioned from tickets specific to transit modes or operators to an integrated ticketing system considered the change to be a vast improvement. For instance the new fare and ticketing system introduced in Barcelona in 2001 is one of city’s most important public transport improvements in recent years.

Discount policies vary from city to city as do the age limits attached to discounts. Some cities de-termine discount groups purely according to the age of the passenger, while other cities also in-clude socioeconomic factors in their discount policies. A wide range of special tickets exists in different cities. A few cities offer reduced price season tick-ets, which encourage off peak travel. It is also possible to add membership of a carsharing system to a season ticket.

Keywords: fare system, ticketing system, zone

Publication Series title and number: YTV:n julkaisuja X/2008

ISBN (nid.) ISSN:

ISBN (pdf) Pages: 77 Language: English

YTV Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council, Box 521 00521 Helsinki, phone +358 9 156 11, fax +358 9 156 1369

7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ...........................................................................................11

1.1 The Studied Cities ...........................................................................................................111.2 Zone Systems ..................................................................................................................141.3 Distance Based Systems..................................................................................................141.4 The Amount and Validity of Ticket Types ..........................................................................141.5 Discounts and Special Tickets ..........................................................................................141.6 Special Features...............................................................................................................151.7 BEST Comparisons: Does the Ticket Value Correspond to Its Price?................................151.8 Conclusions......................................................................................................................16

2 DEFINITIONS OF THE USED TERMS ....................................................................................18

2.1 Basic Charge Unit............................................................................................................182.2 Check in - check out........................................................................................................18

3 AMSTERDAM...........................................................................................................................19

3.1 General............................................................................................................................193.2 Fare System ....................................................................................................................193.3 Tickets and Payment for Journeys..................................................................................20

3.3.1 Single, Value and Multi-tickets ...........................................................................203.3.2 One or Several Day Passes ...............................................................................213.3.3 Season Tickets ...................................................................................................213.3.4 Discount Groups and Special Tickets ................................................................223.3.5 Travel Card.........................................................................................................22

3.4 New Development Projects .............................................................................................223.5 Interview ..........................................................................................................................23

4 BARCELONA ...........................................................................................................................24



4.4 Recent Reforms...............................................................................................................264.5 Interview ..........................................................................................................................27

5 ZÜRICH.....................................................................................................................................28




6 STUTTGART.............................................................................................................................33

6.1 General............................................................................................................................336.2 Fare System ....................................................................................................................33

8

6.3 Tickets and Payment for Journeys ................................................................................. 346.3.1 Single, Value and Multi-tickets .......................................................................... 346.3.2 One or Several Day Passes .............................................................................. 356.3.3 Season Tickets .................................................................................................. 356.3.4 Discount Groups and Special Tickets................................................................ 356.3.5 Travel Card ........................................................................................................ 36

6.4 Recent Reforms.............................................................................................................. 366.5 Interview ......................................................................................................................... 37

7 VIENNA.................................................................................................................................... 39

7.1 General ........................................................................................................................... 397.2 Fare System ................................................................................................................... 397.3 Tickets and Payment for Journeys ................................................................................. 40

7.3.1 Single, Value and Multi-tickets .......................................................................... 407.3.2 One or Several Day Passes .............................................................................. 407.3.3 Season Tickets .................................................................................................. 417.3.4 Discount Groups and Special Tickets................................................................ 417.3.5 Travel Card ........................................................................................................ 41

7.4 New Development Projects ............................................................................................ 417.5 Interview ......................................................................................................................... 41

8 MANCHESTER ........................................................................................................................ 43




9 LONDON.................................................................................................................................. 48




10 STOCKHOLM .......................................................................................................................... 52




11 MALMÖ.................................................................................................................................... 54

9




12 GOTHENBURG ........................................................................................................................57



12.4 Recent Reforms...............................................................................................................6012.5 Interview ..........................................................................................................................60

13 COPENHAGEN ........................................................................................................................61




14 OSLO ........................................................................................................................................66




15 SINGAPORE.............................................................................................................................69

map image: www.wikipedia.org.................................................................................................6915.1 General............................................................................................................................6915.2 Fare System ....................................................................................................................6915.3 Tickets and Payment for Journeys..................................................................................69

15.3.1 Single, Value and Multi-tickets ...........................................................................6915.4 One or Several Day Passes ............................................................................................70

15.4.1 Season Tickets ...................................................................................................7015.4.2 Discount Groups and Special Tickets ................................................................7015.4.3 Travel Card.........................................................................................................70

11

Summary and Conclusions

1.1 The Studied Cities

Eleven European cities were chosen for this study: Barcelona, Amsterdam, Zürich, Stuttgart, Vi-enna, Manchester and London as well as the Nordic cities of Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, Oslo and Copenhagen. Of these Vienna, Barcelona, Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen are so called BEST cities (Benchmarking in European Service of Public Transport). One Asian city, namely Sin-gapore, was also studies as it uses a distance based fare system for both bus and rail transport.

The cities chosen to be studied were roughly the same size as the Helsinki metropolitan area and their transport system included both bus and rail transport. London was included because of its wi-de tariff zone and multielement zone system. Singapore was included, because it uses a travelling distance based check-in check-out travel card system.

The study was primarily carried out as an Internet research as well as by studying the literary and electronic material of the EMTA (European Metropolitan Transport Authorities). The experts of each city were also interviewed by E-mail. They were asked to evaluate the positive and negative characteristics of the fare and ticketing systems of their own city or metropolitan area. Unfortu-nately some of the cities did not provide adequate answers to the questions sent to them, so this data cannot be utilized here.

There are numerous fare and ticketing systems in use all around Europe. Especially the amount of the available ticket types varies from city to city. Most of the fare and ticketing systems in use are zone based, at least for now. In several cities, where the central city forms a flat fare zone of its own, the zone system is used in the broader city region. In some cities the central city is also di-vided into zones. The Stockholm Province is an exception, since the whole province adopted a flat fare system in 2006.

Fare systems based on purely distances have not been adopted in the studied cities, except in Singapore. Copenhagen is gradually transferring into a distance based fare system starting from 2007. Also Amsterdam is going to do the same in the near future.

The table below presents the data of the studied cities concerning their population, surface area, the basic fare system used in the cities, the central discount group policies as well as the price of the ticket in relation to the service area. The data of this table is collected mainly during the autumn of 2006. Figures 1 and 2 present the ticket price in relation with the distance of the travelling right of the ticket.

12

Table 1 The basic data of the studied cities and a summary of the discount group po-licies. The data of the table is collected mainly during the autumn of 2006.

743 000 1 529 000 166 942 4 467 1 624 X S4 to 11 year olds,

30-35 %

4 to 18 year olds, only sea-

son tickets, 30-35 %

Min. 65 year olds, 30-35

%

€1.60 /

€6.40 €35.80 / 5 30

1 500 000 99 15 225 XNo children's tickets. 4 year

olds and older are

liable to pay.

4 to 214 year olds, only a 90-

day season ticket, 15 %No senior tickets

€0.693 /

€2,993

€44.35 /

€126.00 15-30 50-120

Helsinki

Amsterdam

Barcelona

Zürich 400 000 1 220 000 92 1 834 3 912 665 X6 to 16 year olds, only

single tickets, one-day passes and 9 o'clock

6 to 25 year olds, only multi-

tickets and 30-day passes,

25 %

No senior tickets€2.426 /

€9.426

€46.47 /

€135.70 15 40-57

593 000 2 400 000 207 2 865 X 6 to 14 year olds, 50 %6-month pass for

university students, circa 35

%, other students 30-day

pass,

Pensioners and min. 63

year olds,

one-month and one-

year passes,

€1.85 /

€6.10

€48.90 /

€166.00 7 45

Stuttgart 1 651 000 2 600 000 415 8 400 3 979 310 X2 X 6 to 14 year olds, 50 %

For students (under 26

year olds) an affordable 4-

month semester pass, discount circa 35 %, during

holidays 40 % discount from

the one-month pass

One-year pass, min 60

year old women, min.

65 year old men,50 %

€2.007 /

€12.00

€45.00 /

€108.00 25 ?

440 000 2 482 000 116 1 276 3 793 1 945 X X 5 to 15 year olds, 508-60 % 16 to 21 year olds9, 25 %

and 16 to 26 year old full-

time

Min. 60 year olds,

during off peak

periods free of charge,

during peak periods 50

%

- - - -

9 200 7 500 000 2,6 1 584 3 172 4 761 X 5 to 15 year olds11, 50 %16 to 18 year old

students11, 50 %

Min. 60 year olds,

during off peak

periods free of charge,

during peak periods 50

%

€2.2810 /

€5.3110

€135.2617

/ €250.79

10 55

765 000 1 873 000 216 16 639 4 069 287 X 7 to 19 year olds, 40-50 %No tickets available for

the young or students.

Children's tickets are valid till

the age of 19.

Min. 65 year olds, 40-50 % €2.1912 €64.6412 75-15012 -

269 000 599 000 155 1 649 1 748 369 X1 X 7 to 18 year olds, 50 %No tickets available for

the young or students.

Children's tickets are valid till

the age of 18.

No senior tickets €1.6513 /

€9.25

€40.74 /

€97.99 10-13 75-130

Manchester

London

Stockholm

Malmö Goth-

enburg

481 000 872 000 465 3 087 1 067 298 X1 X7 to 16 year olds, 33-50 %

discount from single and

multi-tickets

7 to 25 year olds14, 25

% discount from season

cards

No senior tickets€2.2015/

€11.00

€55.00 /

€126.50 15whole

prov-

ince

Copenhagen 502 000 1 827 000 88 2 864 5 893 662 X SUnder 16 year olds, 33-50

% discount from single and

multi-tickets

Season tickets for un-

der 18 year olds, 50 %

3-month16 passes for

pensioners and min. 65

year olds, 20 %

€2.41 /

€8.45

€40.92 /

€139.53 5 15-20

525 000 1 019 000 454 5 371 1 242 204 X2 X 4 to 16 year olds, 50 %For under 20 year olds, 50 %

discount from

7-day cards,

for students

Pensioners, 50 % €3.72 89,30 15-20 -

Oslo Singa-

pore

4 492 000 648 6 932 XOn certain rail lines and

buses, children with an

affordable single fare

On certain rail lines and

buses, students with an

affordable single fare

Min. 60 year olds,

off peak periods after 9

o'clock, €0.30-€1.15single fare

€0.30 /

€0.80 - 3,2 over

24

1) The city is part of a broader zone based system. Flat fare inside the city. 2) Flat fare within the city and separate ticket products. Additionally it is possible to use the tickets of a broader zone based fare system when using the public transport of the city. 3) Refers to the price of one journey of a 10 journey multi-ticket. Barcelona does not sell single tickets that are common with different types of public transport. 4) Students can buy this ticket until they turn 23. 5) A season ticket covering all the zones nationwide costs 212.70 Euro. 6) The reduced price is applicable to journeys within 1 or 2 zones. A so called short distance single ticket is also available at the cost of €1.49. All prices are second class ticket prices. 7) When purchased in advance, the cost of a single ticket is €1.50. 8) Applicable in rail traffic only during off peak. 9) Only in bus traffic.

10) The price of an underground journey when paid with the the Oyster card, when paid in cash, €6.07/journey (applicable to the whole zone). 11) Travelling by bus or tram is free of charge. 50 % discount from other tickets. In most cases, a personal pass is required. 12) Flat fare covering the whole province. 13) With the so called Rabattcard the price of a one-way journey is €1.32 / €7.40. 14) Outside Gothenburg the maximum age limit is 20 years. 15) With Maxirabatt100 card, €1.54. 16) Senior citizen and pensioner tickets are only 3-month tickets. Travelling right for three basic charge units or for the whole service area.

13

Season tickets require the purchase of at least a 2 zone ticket. S=the city is about to shift to the fare system in question.

Note! All distances are rough estimates measured from the zone maps. Price information was collected mainly in the autumn of 2006.

Kertalipun hinta vertailukaupungeissa suhteessa matkan pituuteen

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4

kertalipun hinta [euroa]

ma

tku

stu

so

ike

us

[k

m]

Image 1 The price of a single ticket in the studied cities in comparison with the travel dis-tance.

30 päivän lipun hinta suhteessa kertalipun kilometrihintaan

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0,00 0,10 0,20 0,30 0,40 0,50 0,60

hinta kertalipulla [euroa/km]

30 p

äiv

än

lip

un

hin

ta [

eu

roa

]

Image 2 The price of the 30-day ticket in comparison with the price per kilometre of a single ticket.

14

1.2 Zone Systems

Most of the fare and ticketing systems in use are zone based, at least for now. In several cities, where the central city forms a flat fare zone of its own, the zone system is used in the broader city region. In some cities the central city is also divided into zones. The Stockholm Province is an exception, since the whole province adopted a flat fare system in 2006.

The advantage of the zone system is that it is possible to charge long distance travel prices that corre-spond to the production expenses better. On the other hand, if the zones are far apart from each other, the weakness of the system manifests itself as especially high prices of the short trips that cross zone borders. To address to this shortcoming, some cities have designed relatively dense zone divisions. The disadvantages of a dense zone division include the complexity of the system and difficulties in choosing the right ticket type. A complex fare system is especially baffling for the occasional users.

According to the interviews made for this study a zone based system is not perfect from a usability viewpoint if the amount of ticket types and fare discount groups is simultaneously large and the size of the central zone is small. The discount possibilities attached to a system with small zones may not be noticed by the passengers. The goals of affordable travel and perceived affordability by the passengers are not met in practice, if the passengers unknowingly pay more than they need to.

1.3 Distance Based Systems

So far the modern distance based systems are not really used anywhere in Europe. However, prepara-tions are made to shift into a check in – check out system, or this is considered in several cities, as in Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Distance based fare system is already in use in Singapore.

Implementation of a distance based fare system also calls for the renewal of the ticketing system. For the system to function reliably, a so called check in – check out feature must be integrated in it. This means that the ticket has to be validated both in the beginning and in the end of the journey. Even though this operation might sound complex to the user, it is already in use, for example, in London (zone based system) and in Singapore.

1.4 The Amount and Validity of Ticket Types

Almost every city that has recently transitioned from tickets specific to transit modes or operators to an integrated ticketing system considered the change to be a vast improvement. For instance the new fare and ticketing system introduced in Barcelona in 2001 is one of city’s most important public transport im-provements in recent years. From the passenger viewpoint clear advantages of the integrated tickets include the clearly lower base price and the opportunity to transfer connections without additional charges. On the other hand also the transport service providers have benefited. Along with the new ticketing system the annual increase of the amount of the public transport journeys rose from 2 % to 5 %.

A few cities offer reduced price season tickets, which encourage off peak travel. However, the ticket se-lection may not be too wide and tailored specifically to every need. Stuttgart experiences show that an "over flexible" ticketing system is difficult to use and may even lead to a situation where some of the passengers choose too expensive tickets for their journey without knowing it.

1.5 Discounts and Special Tickets

Discount policies vary from city to city. As a general rule, when travelling with a multi-ticket or season ticket, one journey costs less than a single ticket. When using a multi-ticket, the discount varies form 10 to 45 percent.

Age limits of different discount groups vary from city to city. Some cities determine discount groups purely according to the age of the passenger, while other cities also include socioeconomic factors in their discount policies. The table presented above included the basic data of the studied cities, the most

15

central discount group policies as well as the single and season ticket prices of the shortest and the longest connections.

Several cities do not offer actual pensioner tickets, but only senior tickets that are age-bound. Gender is usually not a factor affecting the discount policy, but in Vienna 60 year old women are entitled to senior tickets whereas men have to be at least 65. Senior and pensioner ticket discount percentages vary from 25 to 50.

The maximum and minimum age limits of the children's ticket vary from city to city. The minimum age limit is 4-7 years and maximum 11-19 years. Children are allowed to travel free of charge in some cities, if they are accompanied by an adult who has a valid ticket. The price of the children's ticket is circa half of the normal ticket price in most cities.

In a couple of cities (including Stockholm), the pupils are offered a specific ticket, that is only valid during the school hours. The ticket is not valid when travelling with public transport during the evenings, al-though it is possible to add this feature to the ticket. A student ticket is not in use in all the studied cities. If a student ticket is on offer, generally the right to use such ticket ends at the latest when the ticket holder turns 26. Student and junior ticket discount percentages vary from 15 to 50. In some cities the student tickets are only valid during the semester.

Pensioners or seniors are offered discount tickets only in some cities. The minimum age limit is 60-65 years and the discount is 20-50 %. In England (London and Manchester) the 60 year olds and older can travel free of charge during off peak periods.

In many cities transporting bicycles and big dogs entails the purchase of a separate children's ticket.

1.6 Special Features

There may be an additional card charge for travel cards, as in the Helsinki area at the present. Alterna-tively some cities charge a refundable deposit for the card (London) or both the additional charge and the refundable deposit (Singapore). In the Check in – check out system the deposit or the high addi-tional card charge aim to eliminate situations, where the passenger could end up owing money to the system by travelling further than the value loaded to the card would expect.

When considering good ways to affect the transportation choices of the people with the ticketing system of the public transport, the Zürich model seems a good idea. There one can choose to add a carsharing system feature to the personal one-year pass The yearly additional charge is 25 francs (€15,85) and by paying this fee, the pass holder gets the right to use the 1850 carshare cars located in different parts of Switzerland. Another point that came up in the interviews was connecting of the ticketing and fare sys-tem with the possible peak period charge. If a motorist could pay the possible peak period charge with the same ticket as the public transport, it would maybe make the use of the public transport more tempt-ing, even occasionally.

Ticketing system and ticket products can be linked with events that entail longer journeys. This has been done, for example, in Stuttgart, which has cooperated fruitfully with the actors producing cultural events. Stuttgart has offered so called combination tickets, which entitle the ticket holders to use the public transport and to participate in different events.

1.7 BEST Comparisons: Does the Ticket Value Correspond to Its Price?

From the point of view of the passenger satisfaction, loyalty and the modal share of the public transport, it is essential whether the passengers feel they get enough in return for the price they pay for the ticket. This same question was posed also in the international BEST project which was launched in 2000. By applying the benchmarking process its goal is to make people more satisfied with the public transport services of their respective area and thus to increase the use of public transport. A question was asked in the same point regarding "value correspondence"; are the ticket prices at an acceptable level?

16

According to the most recent inquiry in 2005, of the studied cities, the public transport of Prague offers most value for money. Of the cities investigated in this study comparing the fare and ticketing systems, the ticket prices and the available public transport correspond to each other best in Helsinki and Vienna. Satisfaction rate is on the rise in Copenhagen and Oslo whereas it is declining in Barcelona. The statis-tics of Stockholm reflect the current situation poorly, because it has recently transferred to a flat fare system covering the whole city.

Image 3 The results of the BEST study during 2001 - 2005 regarding satisfaction with the ability of the public transport to offer value for money (http://best2005.net).

For Barcelona the declining trend of the satisfied passengers was surprising bearing in mind that in connection with the renewal of the ticketing system in 2001 the ticket prices even dropped. At the same time travelling became more flexible, because of the common ticket products.

1.8 Conclusions

Based on the interviews conducted in the study it is safe to say that the fare and ticketing system should be, at least regarding the manner of determining the price of the journey, as simple as possible. Al-though different variations might make it possible for the passengers to make very affordable journeys, they do not serve their purpose, if realizing the various possibilities is too complicated.

The experiences of several of the studied cities suggest that in the Helsinki and YTV areas it is wise to stick with the present type of ticketing system, which is independent from the transport type. It is of course feasible to consider offering also transport type specific single tickets, which do not entitle trans-fers, for base journeys with the Tram or the Underground. The passengers best understand and know how to use ticketing systems, which are as unified as possible and cover different transport types.

Even though the small amount of ticket types makes management of the ticketing system easier, it is still wise to consider critically and creatively whether there is a need to offer certain special tickets. So that the public transport would also serve the occasional needs, the Metropolitan area should consider developing, for example, a group ticket product. Thus the occasional large groups might choose public transport over, for example, taxi.

Four of the studied cities offer, alongside with the normal ticket products, more affordable season tick-ets, which are not valid during the morning peak period. In Gothenburg the more affordable off peak ticket is not valid during the afternoon return traffic either. The advantage of the time-bound special tick-ets might be that they could attract new regular passengers to use the public transport, but the draw-back would be the increase of different ticket types. In any case the more affordable off peak ticket

17

products have turned out to be functioning solutions in Zürich, Stuttgart and Gothenburg. Also Singa-pore sells season tickets which are valid at off peak periods.

The common ticketing system may be used in very broad areas. Cooperation between Copenhagen and Malmö proves that multinational ticketing systems are both feasible and functioning.

As to the use of travel cards, the cities are at different stages. Some cities do not offer electronic travel cards at all. In other cities the electronic travel card has functioned primarily as an electronic wallet (Am-sterdam). Some cities are about to introduce only their first fare based travel cards (Oslo), while others (E.G. Copenhagen) are reforming both their fare and travel card systems at the same time and introduc-ing the second generation electronic travel card. The first travel card in Copenhagen did not include many intelligent features. Its main function was to express its validity period and it was offered as one ticket product alongside with others.

It seems that particularly the broader unified fare and ticketing areas are considering transferring from the zone system to a distance based fare system, where the price is determined based on distances. This is why, for example, the check in – check out system (used in e.g. London and Singapore), where the journeys are charged automatically based on the travelling distance, seems to be an excellent tech-nical solution serving the interest of both the passengers and the service providers of the public trans-port. Also this option offers the possibility to maintain one flat fare in the central city and to shift into the travelling distance based charging outside the city (Gothenburg is planning this kind of a reform).

Open cooperation between the companies providing carsharing services and the event organizers regularly arranging events that require transport services is a good way to offer public transport services to new users.

Discount policies are miscellaneous. By far the most common criterion of discount groups is age.

18

2 Definitions of the Used Terms

2.1 Basic Charge Unit

In many cities the cost of a journey is based on, for example, the amount of fare system zones crossed. In this system as well as in fare systems based on staggered distance based charges, the tickets often include certain amount of basic charge units. When using multi-tickets, the passenger validates certain amount of basic charge units based on where he or she is going. In some cities these basic charge units are called vouchers, other cities define how many times the ticket must be validated or how many holes must be punched to the multi-ticket for each journey. Respectively, when shifting into the electronic travel cards it is possible to load either seasons, value or basic charge units (which in practice is another definition of value) to the card.

So as to make the different charge units of the single and multi-tickets of the different cities as uni-fied as possible, this study uses the general term "basic charge unit" signifying them all. So, a jour-ney costs "three basic charge units", or, "for each crossed zone border, the passenger must pay one basic charge unit more".

2.2 Check in - check out

Check in - check out (or be in - be out) system is usually based on a value card and a single ticket based fare system, in which the passenger pays at least a specific nominal fee for each journey. This ensures that the passenger has the motif to validate the ticket always when boarding or exiting the vehi-cle. The journeys are charged based on either charge zones or travelled distance.

The basic idea of the Check in - check out system is as follows: The passenger shows the travel card to the card reader device in the beginning of the journey and the device charges a predeter-mined sum. In the end of the journey the card is shown to the device again and the device credits the difference between the reserved sum and the actual charge of the journey. The travel chain may include travelling by different public transport types. Charges are based on either the distance between the boarding stop and the destination stop (as the crow flies) or charge zones. Different types of discounts may be included into the system, as bonuses and benefits for regular custom-ers.

19

3 Amsterdam

3.1 General

The public transport available in Amsterdam includes the Underground, local trains, trams, busses and ferryboat services, naturally.

ROA (Regional Organ Amsterdam) is a regional government for the municipalities in the Amsterdam region, which designs, builds and funds the road and public transport infrastructure of Amsterdam. ROA also provides the public transport services of Amsterdam. It brings together 16 municipalities and aims to enhance their cooperation in different environmental and traffic-related issues. The role of ROA in providing public transport is not visible for ordinary passengers.

The public transport services of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam are provided by GVB, a company founded already in 1900. In addition to Amsterdam, it provides public transport services in some of the neighbouring municipalities. The public transport services produced by GVB are integrated into the ser-vices of Dutch Railway as closely as possible. For now, GVB maintains also the ticketing system of the Amsterdam area. The tariff policy of the public transport will be transferred under the authority of ROA during the year of 2007. This chapter mainly deals with the ticketing system maintained by GVB.

At present the operative costs of the public transport services of Amsterdam are 143 million Euro per year. If the necessary investments are also included, the annual costs rise to 231 million Euro. How-ever, this sum does not include major investments in infrastructure, like building of the new South-North-bound underground line, renewing of the transportation stock or opening of new stations.

3.2 Fare System

Holland uses a national ticketing system, the so called National Strippen Kaarten. Passengers can use its ticket products in the public transport of Amsterdam, Rotterdam as well as other Dutch cities. The same tickets are valid in all cities irrespective of the place of purchase.

The fare system of Amsterdam and Holland is based on zone division. In certain cases railway traffic is included into the unified fare and ticketing system, but chiefly it only includes buses, the Underground and the tramway traffic.

When a passenger buys or uses a multi-ticket, he or she has to inform how many zones the journey will cross. This defines how many "strips" of the multi-ticket need be validated or how much a single ticket will cost. The price comprises of the amount of the crossed zones +1, meaning that a basic fare worth one basic charge unit will always be added to the price. The most inexpensive journey costs two basic charge units.

Number of inhabitants: city 743,000 metropolitan area 1,529,000

Surface area and population density: city 166 km2 (=64.09296 mile2), 4,467 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 942 km2 (=363.7082 mile2),1,624 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

20

Image 4 The journey passes through seven charge zones in total. Thus the price of the jour-ney is eight (1+7) strips. Image: http://www.vbn-bv.nl/ .

The image below presents the zone division of Amsterdam. Also the several-day GVB tickets are valid.

Image 5 The current zone structure of Amsterdam (http://www.gvb.nl)

The zone system used in Amsterdam at the present resembles option three (so called personal home zone) presented in the study "Alternative fare and ticketing systems for the Helsinki Metropolitan Area 2014 – Preliminary study". There is one significant difference though, namely pricing of the option 3 of the YTV study is distance based without any zone borders. The Amsterdam system promotes travelling inside the passengers own (preselected) home zone (season ticket products). The passenger buys the needed amount of nested zone rings around this home zone. The centre point of the zone map can be anywhere the passenger wants it to be.

3.3 Tickets and Payment for Journeys

3.3.1 Single, Value and Multi-tickets

In Amsterdam the paper single tickets are sold for either one or two zones. A three-zone journey re-quires the purchase of both one and two-zone ticket.

21

Multi-tickets are paper tickets including 8, 15 or 45 basic charge units, "strips". The ticket is to be vali-dated in the beginning of the journey either by the driver or in the automatic device. At its most a journey paid with a multi-ticket including 45 basic charge units is almost 45 % cheaper than the same journey paid with a single ticket.

Separate tickets are used in the night services. There are single tickets as well as 12-journey multi-tickets (one journey about 30 % cheaper than with single ticket) for the night service.

3.3.2 One or Several Day Passes

24, 48 or 72-hour passes are available. Passes are paper tickets. They are to be validated in the begin-ning of the first journey, after which they are valid throughout the GVB service area for the period marked in the ticket.

An eight basic charge unit multi-ticket functions also as a one-day pass. When an 8-basic charge unit ticket has 8 boarding stamps for the same day, the ticket is valid for the rest of the day free of charge. Paid with an 8-basic charge unit ticket the price of one day is 10 cents more expensive than paid with the actual 24-hour pass (€6.30 vs. €6.40).

3.3.3 Season Tickets

Season tickets are valid for either 7 or 30 days or 12 months (one-year pass). The price is determined based on the so called star value, i.e. how many zone rings the ticket entitles to cross. The one-year pass costs approximately as much as ten 30-day passes.

The first zone ring comprises of the immediate neighbouring zones of the base zone, the other com-prises of the immediate neighbours of the previously mentioned and so on. Example:

A passenger travels primarily from zone 7409 to zone 7405. The passenger's route follows the blue break line across five different zones in total. The passenger chooses zone 7406 as his base zone and adds one zone ring to it. Because all the zones the route passes are immediate neighbours of the base zone, the passenger only needs a "two-star" ticket i.e. "base zone + one zone ring".

Image 6 The example case requires a two-star season ticket (base zone + one zone ring) (http://www.gvb.nl)

All season tickets are personal. Seven and thirty-day season tickets are paper tickets and require a separate personal identification card. The one-year pass is a plastic card. The passengers personal data is printed on it.

22

3.3.4 Discount Groups and Special Tickets

For children (4-11 years of age) and 65-year olds and above are offered cut-rate multi-tickets including 15 basic charge units as well as 24-hour passes. Depending on the ticket type, dis-count is 30-35 %.

When the passenger pays with the new value based electronic card, he or she is entitled to the corresponding 30-35 % discount till the age of 18.

Transporting bicycles or big dogs entails the purchase of a discount ticket. Only small dogs and other pets, which fit into portable animal crates, are allowed to travel free of charge.

10-25-person groups are offered a zone-free group ticket. The ticket is valid for one hour after validation in all the zones of Amsterdam area. The price of the ticket is €1.75 per person (nor-mal one or two-zone single ticket €1.60 / €2.40, a three-zone journey entails the purchase of both one and two-zone single tickets for the price of 4 Euro).

3.3.5 Travel Card

Amsterdam does not offer a modern travel card at the moment. Certain ticket products have introduced the new electronic value card. Journeys paid with it are 15 % cheaper than journeys paid with basic charge units of the multi-ticket.

3.4 New Development Projects

Amsterdam and the entire Holland are transitioning from the national fare system to a new smart card based regional fare system. However, the travel card system is national. At the same time the intention is to shift from the tickets bought in advance to the so called electronic wallet (cf. value card), as well as to shift to the distance based pricing and abandon the zone system. Simultaneously a valid ticket will be required already in the quay area of trains and the Underground. The intention is that the new electronic travel card will be the only ticket type starting from January 2009.

Other current topics and goals to be considered in connection with the fare and ticketing systems in-clude:

How to reduce the amount of the people travelling without paying (automatic video surveillance, for example)

How clearing could be made fairer and faster

In long term more possibilities to load tickets / purchase travel right also at home (us-ing, for example, a computer)

More possibilities for the operators and the authorities to use regional pricing

More knowledge of the travelling behaviour of the passengers - attempts should be made to direct the public transport services and the available resources so that they would meet the demand better

Versatility of the ticket: the same ticket base should function in all public transport - including trains

Social safety and other security requirements

23

3.5 Interview

The following estimates of the fare and ticketing system were made by Ruud van der Ploeg (Senior Beleidsmedewerker Openbaar Vervoer, ROA).

Pros and cons from the point of view of the customer and usability

+The whole country has a unified fare and ticketing system (in certain cases also railway traffic is included, but mainly it only includes bus, underground and tramway traffic). Ticket selec-tion is unified and limited everywhere (clear).

+ There are ticket offices everywhere in the country. The same tickets are valid in all cities irre-spective of the place of purchase.

-

The zone system and the "strippenkaart" system (a card including a specific amount of basic charge units that are equal in value) attached to it are very difficult to comprehend. Difficulties in comparing the price of a single journey are especially visible in ticket products that need to be bought in advance.

-

Logic with which the price is determined is not simple - the price does not always correspond to the travelling distance. The amount of the basic charge units to be validated and the price of the journey are based on crossed zone borders: the price is always the amount of the zo-nes crossed during the journey +1.

- The ticketing system of the regional trains is not integrated into the national system. When travelling by train, the price is determined based on the actual distances.

- The system does not offer a chance to reward the regular users of the public transport by of-fering them special prices.

Pros and cons from the economical point of view of the public transport

+ The cashflow generated by the tickets that need to be bought in advance is advance-oriented, meaning that the passengers pay before using the service.

- No equal unified system for sharing the ticket proceeds between different operators.

-Uncertainty factors, which make it difficult to estimate the proceeds from the ticket sales of a new route or route network. It is especially difficult to estimate the proportion of a completely new route from the total proceeds from the ticket sales.

- Complex proceed sharing and foreseeability. The reason is indirect expense items deter-mined only afterwards.

- The diverse locally changing prices do not have a clear effect on the service level and ser-vice periods at the micro level.

Pros and cons from the point of view of the modal share and travelling behaviour

+Ticket products are valid in different types of public transport and between different opera-tors.

- The ticket products do not include specific discount groups, which would be offered to the passengers according to their age, for example.

24

4 Barcelona

4.1 General

The public transport modes used in Barcelona are the Underground, the local train, the tramline, and busses. Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (ATM) is responsible for arranging the public transport ser-vices of the city. Five main operators, some of which specialize in a specific public transport mode, are responsible for providing public transport services. The most visible operator in Barcelona is Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), which operates the Underground, busses and trams. Other trans-port modes include the private railway lines of the FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) and the local train traffic of the Renfe.

The public transport services belonging to the integrated fare and ticketing system maintained by the ATM cover 18 municipalities in total.

In 2004 a 42 per cent share of the production of the public transport services of the whole metropolitan area was covered with the ticket proceeds (€343 million). The remaining €480 million were granted as public transport subsidy. Four administrative actors paid subsidy, and their shares from the total subsidy were: Estado (AGE) 32 %, Generalitat de Catalunya 41 %, EMT 13 % and Ajutament de Barcelona 14 %.

4.2 Fare System

The ticketing system of Barcelona is common for all public transport modes. In addition, the same tick-ets are valid in some services of the heavy railway passenger traffic. Single tickets do not belong to the unified ticketing system.

Ticket selection is diverse. In addition to the integrated ticketing system, the different transport modes offer also their own ticket products. However, 85 % of all the sold tickets are integrated multi-tickets or season tickets entitling to transferable journeys. Single tickets (no transfer right) are used by extremely occasional passengers only.

There are some operator-specific tickets as, for example, the TC ticket offered by the TMB for motorists. It is valid for one day and entitles to unlimited number of public transport journeys operated by the TMB. The ticket can be purchased when parking in specific park and ride car parks.

Fare system is based on zone division.

Number of inhabitants: city 1,500,000 metropolitan area -

Surface area and population density: city 99 km2 (=38.22411 mile2), 15,225 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area -

25

Image 7 The zone system of Barcelona (http://www.tmb.net).

Image 8 The zone system of Barcelona presented by geographical boundaries (http://www.atm-transmet.org).

26



All single tickets are journey and transport mode specific and do not entitle to using several public transport modes during the same journey. Tickets do not include transfer right, either.

10-journey multi-ticket entitles to making journeys with transfer right within the validity area of the ticket (when purchasing, the passenger has to choose in which zones the ticket is valid).

50 journeys within 30 days is an integrated ticket holder specific ticket. The passenger cannot pay for the journeys of several persons with it. The six-zone 50-journey ticket is about 12 % cheaper than the corresponding unlimited 30-day ticket.

70 journeys within 30 days is an integrated ticket, the so called family ticket, with which the pas-senger can pay for the journeys of several persons. The six-zone ticket costs about 12 % more than the corresponding 50-journey ticket meant for the use of one person.

Transfer right of the tickets varies from the 75 minutes of the one-zone journey to the 150 minutes of the six-zone journey.


One-day pass entitles to unlimited amount of journeys within the validity area of the ticket during a service day.


30-day pass entitles to unlimited amount of journeys within the validity area of the ticket during a 30-day period. The ticket is personal.

90-day pass entitles to unlimited amount of journeys within the validity area of the ticket during a 90-day period. The ticket is personal and can be personified by attaching a personal pass including the per-sonal data of the ticket holder in it.


4 year old children or older need a regular adult ticket. There are no separate children's tickets.

A personal 90-day pass is sold to under 21-year olds. Purchased for 6 zones it is 15 % cheaper than the adult ticket. Students can buy this ticket till they turn 23.

4.3.5 Travel Card

Barcelona does not offer modern electronic travel cards at the moment.

4.4 Recent Reforms

The new fare and ticketing system introduced in Barcelona in 2001 is one of city’s most important public transport improvements in recent years. From the passenger viewpoint clear advantages of the inte-grated tickets include the clearly lower base price and the opportunity to transfer connections without additional charges. Before this reform only such tickets were sold that were valid only in that particular transport vehicle.

The most popular ticket product has been the T-10 card, i.e. a 10-journey multi-ticket. You can make 4 transfers at most during each journey within one hour from validation of the ticket. Other significant

27

ticket products are the T50/30, which entitles to 50 journeys with transfer right within a 30-day period as well as the T-Mes ticket, which entitles to unlimited amount of journeys within one month.

At present the possibilities of introducing smart card based tickets are investigated.

4.5 Interview

Xavier Roselló (Assistant Technical Director, ATM Metropolitan Transport Authority)


+

A large integration of the fare and ticketing system was implemented in 2001, after which it was possible to travel with the same ticket in the Underground, by a bus, tram as well as by local trains In addition, journeys involving transfers (transfer right one hour) between different transport modes became possible.

+ Integration made the system clearer and it definitely had a positive effect on the passenger amounts. The passengers have commended the integration decision.

+The passengers were informed clearly that the ATM (Metropolitan Transport Authority) was the instigator and the realizer of the reform. Today ATM is more well-known than before be-cause of the integrated tickets.

-The ticket base is a cardboard ticket including a magnetic track. Some people have com-plained that the smart cards would offer more features in comparison with the tickets. In a few years time Barcelona will probably shift into remotely readable travel cards.


+

In connection with the renewal of the ticketing system it was calculated that the average re-turn per journey will drop from €0.53 to €0.49. Thus it was feared that the budget deficit will rise to about 20.4 million Euros. However, the renewal of the ticketing system generated so many new journeys, that the final deficit was only 4.6 million Euro.

-


+

During the last four years before the renewal of the ticketing system the amount of the public transport journeys rose annually about 1.9 per cent. During the first four years after the re-form the annual rise has been about 5 %. This did not have any mentionable effects on the modals shares of the public transport, because also other vehicle mileage has risen. On the other hand, before the popularity of private motoring increased clearly faster than the popu-larity of public transport whereas now the popularity of both increases almost at the same rate.

-

28

5 Zürich

5.1 General

The public transport services of Zürich and its surroundings include the Underground, local trains, tramway system, and bus traffic. Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV) is responsible for arranging the public transport services of the city and it also defines the used fare and ticketing systems. Earlier the fare sys-tem of the ZVV was only used in the Zürich canton, where it functioned very well, at least from the view-point of Zürich. However, the system did not meet the actual demands, because in the Greater Zurich Area the amount of the inter-canton traffic is significant. Because of this, it was decided that the ticket area should be expanded. The reform, which took a lot of time to implement, benefits especially those travelling from the neighbouring cantons to Zürich, because earlier they had to purchase as many as three tickets for their journey.

The modal share of the public transport in the commuting traffic of Zürich is very high at present, at the city limits 63 % (motoring and motorcycles 26 %, bicycle and pedestrian traffic 11 %). However, in the leisure and personal business journeys the share of the public transport is only 19 % whereas the share of motoring and motorcycles is as high as 71 %.

In 2005, the budget of the public transport of Zürich was about 446 million Euro including operational and investment expenditures.

5.2 Fare System

The fare system of Zürich is zone based. In addition to the normal zones, Zürich offers the so called short distance area ticket, ”Kurzstrecke”, for very short journeys inside the city of Zürich.

The figure below presents the zone distribution of Zürich. The city centre belongs to zone 10. In addition to the amount of fare system zones crossed, the selected class has an effect on the ticket price. Unlike in other studied cities also the tickets of the public transport system in the inner city have been divided into first and second class tickets, at least in railway traffic.


Surface area and population density: city 92 km2 (=35.5214 mile2), 3,912 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 1,834 km2 (=708.1114 mile2),665 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

29

Image 9 The zone map of the ZVV tariff zone in Zürich and its neighbouring municipalities. (http://www.zvv.ch)

The fare system previously used in Zürich was not compatible with the central idea of the new inte-grated and unified ticket product family valid between different public transport modes. This is why a new season ticket product was introduced, the so called Z-Pass. Its instigators were ZVV, the neighbouring cantons of Zürich and SBB, The Swiss Railway. Ticket cooperation commenced in 1990. Because of the zone based season ticket system, a large number of the commuters between the neighbouring cantons and Zürich can make their journeys with a single ticket.

30



When buying a single ticket, the passenger has to choose on how many zones the ticket will be valid1.Tickets are not sold in vehicles.

The most affordable single ticket entitles to journeys in two tariff zones. The tickets are sold as divided to 1-2…7 zones or for all the zones. The price of the ticket covering all the zones is about quadruple in comparison with the most affordable ticket. Length of the transfer right is ticket-specific. With tickets valid in at least four zones the transfer right is 120 minutes, but with 1-3 zone tickets only 60 minutes.

Single tickets are also sold as six-ticket booklets. In comparison with a solitary single ticket, the discount is 10 % at most depending on in how many zones the ticket is valid.

Separate tickets are sold for night traffic.

Alongside with the single tickets and multi-tickets there are so called additional tickets available. With them it is possible to expand the validity area of an already bought single ticket, multi-ticket or one-day pass for one journey.

At present the Z-Pass sold as a season ticket product is the only ticket product that is valid everywhere in the metropolitan area of Zürich in all the public transport modes. The intention is to expand it to cover also the single tickets in the near future.


Pricing of the 24-hour passes, the so called one-day tickets, is based on zones in a similar manner as in the single tickets.

Such tickets are also available, which entitle to unlimited amount of journeys within the validity area of the ticket during six optional separate 24-hour periods.

It is possible to buy an additional ticket to the 24-hour pass and thus expand the validity area of the ticket temporarily. It is possible to buy an additional ticket for either one journey (single additional ticket), or for 24 hours, when the 6x24h multi-ticket is even more versatile than before.

"9-o'clock-Ticket", a successful ticket product, was recently reformed. The ticket entitles to travel using public transport anytime, except in the morning before 9 o'clock. Previously it was possible to purchase the ticket only for the whole Zürich area or for Zürich and its neighbouring cantons. Today the validity of this ticket can be limited for only one fare zone. 9-o'clock-Tickets are available as one-day tickets, one-day multi-tickets and as one-month and one-year passes.


Ordinary season tickets are either one-month or one-year passes. Passengers can choose a personal registered ticket or a ticket holder specific ticket. For multi-tickets the passenger needs to choose either 1-5 zones or all the zones as the validity zone of the ticket.

1 Note! The administrative division of areas in use in Switzerland makes buying of also single tick-ets complicated. In addition to the single ticket options already mentioned in this chapter, the neighbouring cantons outside of Zürich offer a so called local network ticket entitling to travel in very limited areas. The corresponding ticket inside Zürich is the so called short distance ticket enti-tling to travel short distances, apparently only between a couple of stops. Both the above men-tioned ticket products are valid for 30 minutes from validation, but still entitle to a transfer.

31

There are one-month and one-year versions also of the 9-o'clock-Tickets, which are either personal or ticket holder specific. The personal ticket is 10 % cheaper that the ticket holder specific ticket.


Children (6-16 year olds) have their own single and one-day tickets as well as the 9-o'clock-Tickets (discount about 30 %).

For 6-25 year olds there is a more affordable version of both the personal one-month passes and multi-tickets. The ticket is a second class ticket, discount is about 25 %.

The minimum of ten person groups are offered single tickets and one-day tickets in a reduced price.

24-hour and 72-hour tickets entitling to free or more affordable entrance to various attractions are available for tourists.

Companies are offered ZVV bonus cards, which are continuing one-year passes.

It is possible to add an additional carsharing system feature (the so called combi-ticket) to the personal one-year passes and to 9-o'clock-Tickets. The yearly additional charge is 25 francs (€15,85) and by paying this fee, the pass holder gets the right to use the 1850 carshare cars lo-cated in different parts of Switzerland. Additionally the user has to pay for the driving costs and an hourly charge. In a combi-ticket the hourly charge is one franc higher than in the normal membership (e.g. 2,70 3.70 francs). There are 670 carshare cars available in the ZVV ser-vice area in Zürich. There are 1,000 pick-up sites of which 360 are in the ZVV service area in Zürich.

More information: www.mobility.ch and www.zvv.ch

Research data: http://reservation.mobility.ch/mobilmanager/IntSummeryE.html

5.3.5 Travel Card

Zürich does not offer electronic travel cards. For now the plans to introduce electronic tickets or mobile tickets in the market have not been realized.


Only single tickets and disposable additional tickets for season tickets can be purchased from the cur-rent ticket machines. The intention is to get the ticket machines to meet the new demands. It should be possible to purchase more ticket products (e.g. multi-tickets and season tickets) than now from the ticket machines, around the clock if necessary. In addition to coins also the most common bank cards and credit cards should be valid methods of payment in the new machines.

32

5.5 Interview

Beatrice Henes, Kommunikation, ZVV


+ A unified ticket product is on offer entitling to travel with all different public transport modes (trains, trams, buses, ferries).

+ Extensive network for selling tickets. There are in total 2,300 ticket offices (including the ticket machines, 1,500 units) Tickets can also be bought from stations, buses and ferries.

+ During the period of 1996-2004 ticket prices were not changed at all, even though the public transport network was expanded at that time.

-

Regardless of significant publicity and marketing efforts, many customers do not understand or are not aware of the advantages offered by the basic logic behind the ZVV ticket selection. Some passengers by unnecessary additional tickets for their journeys, even though they ha-ve paid enough for their journey. Because of this ZVV gets bad publicity and an image of be-ing expensive.

-

For the average passenger the tariff structure is too complicated. When, for example, a pas-senger makes a journey that is longer and different from the normal journeys, it is difficult to choose just the right additional single ticket to be attached to the season ticket valid in a spe-cific zone.

- Sometimes the passengers have difficulties in differentiating the national tariff system (dis-tance based) and the ZVV tariff system (based on zone fares with time limitations).

- Most of the ticket machines only take coins (which is frustrating particularly when purchasing more expensive tickets for a longer journey).

- One-year passes ordered in paper form and the On-line ticket sales are unpopular and out-dated, because the only payment method is credit card.

- Electronic or mobile paying or the simpler tariff structure are not is use yet and there are no chances to buy tickets more easily.

Pros and cons from the economical point of view of the public transport + ZVV has sovereignty over its tariff system.

+The prices are at an acceptable level (regardless of the image of being expensive, which is due to, among other things, misunderstandings when passengers choose the appropriate ticket product for their journey).

+ Distribution of tickets functions satisfactorily.

- At present distribution of tickets does not open ways for developing self-service points.

-Tickets sold in regional buses slow down journeys and make it difficult to stay in schedule.

- On-line ticket sales or ordering tickets by post involves large amounts of manual labour of ci-vil servants. Because of this, they are outdated and uneconomical methods.

Pros and cons from the point of view of the modal share and travelling behaviour + A single ticket for all the public transport modes makes public transport more attractive.

- At present it is not possible to offer more affordable tickets for off peaks, which could balance the demand of public transport services and increase its attractiveness.

-Because it is complicated to purchase additional tickets to be attached to the actual tickets for occasional longer journeys (difficult to grasp which ticket should be purchased), the whole journey might be left undone.

33

6 Stuttgart

6.1 General

The Stuttgart metropolitan area includes the city of Stuttgart, Böblingen, Esslingen, Ludwigsburg, and Rems-Murr-Kreis. Public service vehicles in Stuttgart are buses, trams and local trains (Stadtbahn and S-Bahn). Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart (VVS) is responsible for producing the public transport services. Circa 305 million journeys are made annually in the VVS service area.

VVS acts as an umbrella organization for the 40 companies offering public transport services. In 2005 the costs of the public transport services in the VVS area were circa 540 million Euro. Of this sum 55.4 % was covered with the ticket proceeds.

The modal share of the public transport has been 22 % already for years in Stuttgart irrespective of the fact that the amount of cars and streets has risen continuously in the area.

6.2 Fare System

The fare system of Stuttgart is based on a zone system. The unified ticketing system managed by the VVS extends from Stuttgart also to the other municipalities of the area (Böblingen, Esslingen, Ludwigs-burg, and Rems-Murr-Kreis). The same ticket is valid in the trains of the Deutsche Bahn (DB), in the trams of the Stuttgart city (Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG, SSB), in the regional bus traffic of Stuttgart area as well as in the local bus traffic of the VVS. This ticket is also valid in some other rail traffic (e.g. Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, WEG).

Zone division is very dense (see the map below). It reaches outside the Stuttgart city to the neighbour-ing municipalities.


Surface area and population density: city 128.62 mi2 (=38.22411 mile2), 2,865 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area -

34

Image 10 The zone distribution of Stuttgart area. http://www.vvs.de/

Passengers buy the zones in which they travel to their ticket. Zone borders overlap slightly. Stations lo-cated in borderlines always belong to the same zone, from which the passenger is coming. When exit-ing the vehicle in zone border area, the passengers do not have to buy a new zone to their ticket.

The price (the needed zones) is determined based on all the zones crossed by the chosen route. Thus alternative routes from the same boarding place to the same destination may have different prices.

If the season ticket bought by the passenger only includes the zones covered by a certain route alterna-tive (e.g. train connection), he or she can, if necessary, buy journey-specific additional zones. In this way the passenger can travel to the same destination using an alternative route, for example, by bus.


At present tickets are sold in machines, in particular ticket offices, in buses and by ordering them in ad-vance (by bank direct debit). No other sales channels are under consideration.


Many kinds of single tickets are sold. They entitle to transfers and a valid for two hours from validation. Single ticket products are:

Ordinary single tickets, for which the passenger chooses the geographical validity (number of zones) at the time of the purchase.

Additional tickets attached to the season tickets, with which the passenger pays for the addi-tional zones needed for occasional journeys.

Short distance tickets, with which the passenger is allowed to travel journeys between 3 stops at the maximum. The ticket does not include transfer right. The ticket product is not sold to local trains or night buses.

Additionally 4-journey multi-tickets are available. In them the price of a single journey is about 12 % cheaper than in single tickets.

35


Two kinds of one-day passes are sold.

One-day pass entitling to journeys in two parallel zones. The zones are not fixed and can vary depending on the journey (price €5.10).

One-day pass which is valid in the whole tariff area (price €10.50).

"Nice weekend" ticket is aimed at groups and families. The ticket is valid during weekends for one day (till the next morning till 3 a.m.) in the VVS city traffic and in the second class of the DB local train traffic. Five grown-ups regardless of their age can travel with the ticket at the same time and with them an unlimited number of children under the age of 14.


For journeys which are longer than the validity zones of a season ticket entitle to, it is possible to buy the needed additional zones as single tickets (or 4-journey tickets).

One-week tickets are sold as single tickets; they are valid in a selected amount of zones. The difference is that there is also a separate price for six zones and only when the passenger buys seven fare zones he or she is entitled to travel in the whole tariff zone.

One-month tickets are 30-day passes and their validity period depends on the date of purchase. The tickets are always valid till the next workday till 12 a.m. Thus season ticket holders are guaranteed an opportunity to buy always a new season ticket and they do not have to purchase ordinary single tickets. Zone pricing of a one-month ticket corresponds to the pricing of the weekend tickets. There is a sepa-rate price for six zones and only when the passenger buys seven fare zones he or she is entitled to travel in the whole tariff zone. Use of a one-month ticket requires the purchase of a pass with a colour photograph.

There is one variation of the one-month ticket, the so called 9-o'clock-ticket (see "Recent Reforms"). The ticket is valid always except in the morning traffic before 9 a.m. It is about a third cheaper than the regular one-month ticket.

The one-year tickets are valid for 12 consecutive months, but not bound to the calendar year.

There is also a 9-o'clock variation of the one-year ticket.


Under 6 year olds travel free of charge.

Children from 6 to 14 travel with a children's ticket. The discount is circa 50 %.

Students are offered a more affordable one-month pass. The discount is circa 25 %.

College students (polytechnics and university students in Germany) are offered half-year passes. The discount is circa 35 %.

Under 21 year olds can buy a so called 2-o'clock-ticket which is valid during workdays starting from 2 p.m. In addition to this, the ticket is valid for the whole day during weekends, on bank holidays, and on school summer holidays. Passengers are entitled to travel within the whole tariff zone. Use of a ticket requires the purchase of a pass with a colour photograph. The ticket is meant for persons, who do not need public transport in the morning traffic or in the middle of the day.

36

Senior (min. 63 year olds) are offered a more affordable 9-o'clock ticket. With this ticket the passenger is entitled to travel during weekends and on bank holidays after 9 a.m. Also pen-sioners who are 60 or older are entitled to use this ticket. Senior tickets are sold either for 3 zones or for the whole tariff area.

Companies are offered an opportunity to purchase the minimum of 100 one-year passes at the same time entitling to a 10 % discount form the price of the ticket.

Dogs need a children's ticket. Bicycles may be transported free of charge, except in the local trains, where they need a children's ticket.

Public transport cooperates with the actors producing cultural events by offering the so called combination tickets, which entitle the ticket holders to use the public transport and to participate in different events.

6.3.5 Travel Card

Stuttgart does not offer electronic travel cards at present.

6.4 Recent Reforms

At the beginning of 2006 a so called "9-o'clock-ticket" was introduced. It does not entitle to travel in the morning peak period, but is otherwise valid for the whole day starting from 9 a.m. and without any time limitations during weekends and on bank holidays. This ticket was preceded by a similar type of ticket product, which did not include the travel right during afternoons and evenings between 15:30-19. The drawback of this so called "Orange ticket" was that the passengers, whose working hours corresponded with the validity periods of this ticket, used the Orange ticket as an inexpensive one-month ticket in their regular commuting. This resulted in reduced returns. Additionally the passengers criticized the fact that the ticket could not be used in personal business journeys in the afternoon. The new 9-o'clock-ticket re-placed this "Orange ticket" bringing about greater utilization rate of the public transport. At the same time the passengers were more satisfied, because their hopes on including the afternoon traffic into the 9-o'clock-ticket were realized.

Another significant reform was the renewal of short distance tickets in 2006. The new ticket entitles to travel three-stop journeys. It ticket does not include transfer right. The ticket product is not sold to local trains or night buses. The decision to renew the short distance ticket was made for the following rea-sons:

The previous travel rules defined short distance as a 2-kilometer journey at most. The journey could include a transfer. It was difficult to control whether the ticket was used in accordance with the rules, because passengers could travel within the 2-kilometer distance to as many as 50 different stops from some of the stops.

According to one study approximately 30 % of the passengers paid too much for their ticket when compared to the length of the journey. According to the estimates about 15 % paid too lit-tle for their journey.

The drivers and the ticket inspectors had difficulties in monitoring the use of the old short dis-tance ticket.

The most recent reform is online ticket sales (bank payments). The shift to electronic tickets will not be made in the near future, because it does not seem to bring about enough efficiency benefits.

37

6.5 Interview

Thomas Hinterkopf, VVS.


+ 95 % of all the public transport journeys in the VVS area can be made with an integrated ticket product.

+Students are offered more affordable semester tickets, which are valid in the whole VVS ser-vice area. Seniors, too, are offered discount tickets. Companies are offered so called one-year tickets, which are valid for 12 months. but only cost the price of 9 months.

+Stuttgart has cooperated fruitfully with the actors producing cultural events. Stuttgart has of-fered so called combination tickets, which entitle the ticket holders to use the public transport and to participate in different events.

+ Combination tickets for passengers travelling to Stuttgart from elsewhere. Travel right of the inner public transport of the city can be combined with the train ticket.

+ Nearly 25 % of the State of Baden-Württemberg belongs to the unified pricing system.

- High ticket prices - Complicity of the fare system because of the 47 separate fare zones. - Ticket machines of the different operators differ from each other.

- Companies are not in control of the sales of the ticket products (one-month and one-year passes) that need to be purchased in advance and require registration.


+

Economic efficiency of the ticket products can be determined in advance with market re-search. The results are utilized in the decision making process. For instance, it was calcu-lated that a limited one-month pass valid for one month always from 9 a.m. to the last service of the evening traffic would bring a return of hundreds of thousands in Euros. For this reason the decision was made to introduce the ticket product in 2006. Respectively it was estimated that they should stop offering the one-year pass, which was always valid and charged for monthly, because it was thought that the new ticket product would bring about uncertainty and risks with respect to the ticket proceeds.

+ The tailor made ticket products aimed at different passenger groups offer opportunities for more versatile marketing and increase the ticket proceeds.

+ Forging of any of the currently used tickets is extremely difficult.

- Season tickets used in commuting consist of two parts: the plastic pass (including a magnetic track revealing e.g. the fare group) and the paper ticket (one-week, month or year pass).

-

Manufacturing of the plastic passes is relatively expensive. However, they are necessary, because they include the photograph of the ticket holder. This is why they cannot be handed over to the customer immediately and the pass has to be ordered separately. The intention is to change this arrangement in medium term.

38


+

Combination tickets are sold to large events (e.g. football matches, open air concerts) enti-tling also to public transport journeys. This has a significant effect on the modal share of the public transport. For instance, utilization rate of the public transport among the opera visitors in Stuttgart rose from 20 % to 40 % when the so called combination ticket was introduced.

+ Students are offered a separate affordable product. Because of this they are motivated and loyal public transport users.

+ Opportunity to transport bicycles free of charge also makes public transport more popular.

- Ticketing system has no connection with the peak period charges of the city, the "city toll".

- Important companies and attractions generating public transport journeys have not been in-terested in supporting the ticket prices of the public transport.

- The public sector does not seem to be ready / willing to administrate parking in the city.

39

7 Vienna

7.1 General

The Underground network and the local train network functioning alongside with it form the basis of the public transport services of Vienna. Additionally, the city has numerous tramway lines and ordinary bus lines. Significant proportion of the journeys are made by passengers who use public transport in regular basis, for example, 315,000 one-year passes are sold annually (36.9 % of the passengers have a one-year pass). Wiener Linien is responsible for arranging the public transport services and also for provid-ing the service itself. VOR, Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region, is responsible for the surroundings of Vienna.

In 2005 the investments in public transport were circa 443 million Euro, of which the proportion of ex-panding the Underground network was 329 million. Revenue of the operations was 354.1 million Euro. The modal share of public transport in Vienna is 34 %.

7.2 Fare System

Fare system of the region is based on zone division. The city of Vienna alone forms the so called central zone. The network of the fare zones managed by VOR surrounds the central zone. The offered tickets have been divided separately to the central zone tickets sold in the city of Vienna and to the tickets sold for the whole service area. This study mainly deals with the tickets sold in the city of Vienna.

Number of inhabitants: city 1,651,000 metropolitan area 2,600,000

Surface area and population density: city 415 km2 (=160.2324 mile2), 3,979 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 8,400 km2 (=3,243.258 mile2),310 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

40

Image 11 Vienna and the tariff zone map of its surroundings. Image (http://www.vor.at/).


Most of the ticket products sold in the city of Vienna are traditional cardboard tickets, which can be bought from the ticket machines and the service points of stations. In trams and busses it is possi-ble to purchase a single ticket from a ticket machine. Currently Vienna is developing ways for ar-ranging online ticket sakes. A mobile ticket has been available for one-way journeys since 2003.


Single tickets are sold by zones.

Separate single tickets are sold for passenger groups entitled to half fare journeys (children and pas-sengers exempted on certain social grounds). Their price is half of the price of the normal ticket. Pas-sengers can pay for the transportation of bicycles or big dogs with these same discount tickets.

Multi-tickets contain either 4 or 8 basic charge units (one basic charge unit = one zone). Purchased in advance the unit prices of the single and multi-tickets are the same. Purchased onboard vehicles the single ticket is one third more expensive.

Mobile tickets are either single tickets or one-day passes. Paper single ticket can be expanded to a one-day pass with a mobile phone.


The 24-hour and 72-hour passes aimed especially at tourists are valid in the internal traffic of the city of Vienna. Validity period of the ticket starts from the first validation.

The one-week pass is valid from Monday to next Monday 9 a.m.

The city of Vienna is a fare zone of its own.

41

8-solitary day multi-tickets are also available. Passengers can choose on which days they use the ticket. Alternatively the ticket can be used by 8 persons for one day (and other corresponding variations).

All the above mentioned ticket products can be bought from ticket machines, ticket offices and tobacco kiosks.


One-month passes are valid from the first day of the month in question till the second the of the follow-ing month. The tickets are holder specific. Also the one-month passes can be bought from ticket ma-chines, ticket offices and tobacco kiosks.

By paying an additional charge the one-year pass can be expanded to cover the whole VOR tariff area.


Under 15 year olds travel for half fare and under 6 year olds free of charge. Discounts are also valid in single ticket products.

Also transporting a bicycle or a dog requires the purchase of a discount ticket (50 %).

School children are offered separate tickets meant for short journeys to and from school. This is a means-tested ticket awarded on the basis of the social situation of the pupil.

Also students and adults may be granted a right to purchase a reduced price one-month pass on social grounds. The discount may even be 67 %.

Students are offered an affordable circa four-month semester ticket. The discount is circa 35 %.

Pensioners (men over 65, women over 60) can purchase a one-year pass with a 50 % dis-count.

7.3.5 Travel Card

Vienna does not offer electronic travel cards.


Development work for introducing an electric travel card has begun. Online ticket sales is also being de-veloped.

7.5 Interview

Alfred Almeder, Abteilung Tarifangelegenheiten/K37, Wiener Linien

Pros and cons from the point of view of the customer and usability + Different passenger groups are offered plenty of ticket product aimed just for them. + Wide ticket selection. + Affordable tickets when compared to other European cities. + Several discount groups. + Under 6 year olds travel free of charge. + Lots of ticket offices in different parts of Vienna.

- Complicated tariff system because of the wide selection of tickets.

42

Pros and cons from the economical point of view of the public transport + Ticket products are aimed at large proportion of the passengers.

+ Pricing of the one-year pass is tempting. Because of this public transport has a lot of regular users.

+

Administrative costs are relatively low, especially when it comes to ticket sales, because the proportion of the regular passengers is large and many of them pay their ticket using the di-rect debit service. The chance to use direct debiting has also improved the image of Wiener Linien.

- Several different ticket products aimed at various passenger groups increase the amount of administrative costs and require person-workdays.

- Several different discount groups also have a negative effect on the ticket proceeds.


+ Various ticket products for the varying needs of the passengers make public transport an ex-tremely tempting alternative when choosing a particular type of transportation.

+ When compared to private motoring, public transport journeys inside the city are inexpensive.

-

43

8 Manchester

8.1 General

Public Transport for Greater Manchester (GMPTE) is an umbrella organization taking care of the mar-keting of public transport in Manchester. It gets its funding form the ten municipalities of the metropolitan area through a cooperative body called the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority. Public transport system of the city is made up of a bus network, a tramway system and local train lines. The city does not have an Underground. Public transport services are provided by autonomous operators who are completely independent of each other. Because of this the ticketing system is extremely di-verse.

The local train network of the metropolitan area is extensive consisting of 98 stations in total. Train ser-vices are provided by private operators, who operate on national railroads. Also the bus operators are autonomous and independent of each other. Because of this it is difficult to estimate operating costs of the city or the metropolitan area. The annual operating costs in the city of Manchester are about 380 million Euros.

The actual surface area of the city of Manchester is about two third of that of Helsinki. Population den-sity is one fifth higher than that of Helsinki. When looking at the metropolitan level, population density of Manchester is clearly higher that that of the Helsinki region and surface area respectively smaller.

8.2 Fare System

The fare and ticketing system of Manchester is operator and transport mode specific. Fares are paid according to the travelling distance (graduated fare system). The railway services of the so called Metrolink use their own zone based fare system.


Surface area and population density: city 116 km2 (=44.78785 mile2), 3,793 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 1,276 km2 (=492.6664 mile2),1,945 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

44

Image 12 Zone distribution of the tramway traffic (http://www.gmpte.com)

When travelling in local trains the price of the ticket is based on the journey specific travelling distance.


The fare and ticketing system of Manchester is frustratingly complicated for first-timers. Transport mode and operator specific tickets make travelling very inflexible. Choosing of a suitable ticket product, and on the other hand choosing of the connection, requires that passengers know the region so well that they can anticipate a possible return journey. It is possible to familiarize oneself with the diverse ticket selec-tion of the city on the Internet at

http://www.gmpte.com/content.cfm?category_id=103842 .

The recently introduced ticket type common to all transport modes, ”System One”, is a several-day sav-ings ticket valid in all transport modes in off peak periods.


Single tickets are operator and transport mode specific. The aim is to sell mainly one-day passes.

In tramway traffic the price of a single ticket varies depending on whether the ticket is valid also during peak periods or not. Additionally, if the passenger decides to buy a return ticket at the time of purchase, the price is 10 % cheaper. Transfer right is 90 minutes.


Several different savings tickets are offered which are valid for one day. Their price and characteristics depend on how many transport modes they entitle to. Most of these tickets are not valid during the workdays in the morning peak periods. One-day savings ticket alternatives include:

Only bus, price £3.50 (€5.22), valid, Mon-Fri starting from 9.30 a.m., during weekends and bank holidays, for the whole day till the end of the service day.

45

Only bus, price £4.00 (€5.97), valid for the whole day till the end of the service day.

Bus and train, price £4.50 (€6.71), valid, Mon-Fri starting from 9.30 a.m., during weekends and bank holidays, for the whole day till the end of the service day in the whole metropolitan area.

Bus and tram, price £5.00 (€7.46), valid, Mon-Fri starting from 9.30 a.m., during weekends and bank holidays, for the whole day till the end of the service day.

Train and tram, price £5.50 (€8.21), valid, Mon-Fri starting from 9.30 a.m., during weekends and bank holidays, for the whole day till the end of the service day in the whole metropolitan area.

Bus, train and tram, price £7.00 (€10.44), valid, Mon-Fri starting from 9.30 a.m., during week-ends and bank holidays, for the whole day till the end of the service day in the whole metropoli-tan area.


There are several season tickets available, some of which are transport mode specific.

Tickets which are valid only in bus traffic are offered as seven-day, 28-day and one-year versions. Ex-cluding the one-year pass, the tickets can be purchased from the local PayPoint outlets. One-year passes must be purchased from GMPTE offices.

Equivalent time division also applies to the integrated ticket, which is valid on busses, trains and trams.

There are also tickets available as 7 and 28-day versions, which are valid in bus and tramway traffic but not in trains.


Children under 5 years of age travel free of charge in the company of their parent. Maximum of two children under the age of 5 can travel free of charge as per one paying parent.

Under 16 year olds get a 50-60 % discount of their tickets (in tramway traffic during off peak pe-riods). A separate ”Under 16” card must be produced if needed to prove the age of the passen-ger. Discretionary free of charge journeys to and from school may be available, if the distance to the school is at least three miles (about 5 km).

16-21 year olds and 16-26 year old full-time students are entitled to 25 % discount from the season tickets of busses.

The physically impaired and 60 year olds and older are entitled to cheaper journeys than others in the public transport (discount 50 %) during the morning peak period before 09:30 a.m. and they can travel free of charge during the rest of time. To be entitled to this benefit, the passen-ger has to reside in Greater Manchester and have a separate pass.

8.3.5 Travel Card

Manchester does not offer electronic travel cards.


At present, GMPTE is preparing a new ticket strategy, which will also contain utilization of the modern ticket technology. However, this process is just in the beginning. For this reason, the effects of the re-newal of the ticketing system on, for example, passenger behaviour cannot be estimated yet. In any case, the central goal of the renewal of the ticketing system is to create a selection of tickets, which would be common to all operators and different transport modes.

46

This ticket selection should be able to meet the demands of the current and potential passen-gers and

bring about a significant change in the modal shares of private motoring and public transport.

It should also promote social equality, increase the accessibility of central locations with public transport

as well as enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the operators by making public transport faster (less ticket sales onboard than before).

So as to achieve the above mentioned goals, it has to be fully investigated what the passengers require and expect from the ticketing system, such as

value for money

simplification of the ticketing system

easy purchase of tickets

easy usability (e.g. journeys using the services of several operators with transfer right)

adaptability to different stages of life (variation of demand)

permanent ticket selection

8.5 Interview

Nick Hallett, Section Manager (Acting) - Network Strategy, GMPT


+ There are tickets available covering the whole bus network as one-day, one-week, 28-day and one-year products.

+ Operator specific tickets purchased onboard buses (ordinarily one-day or week passes) are inexpensive, particularly in the southern parts of the Manchester area.

+ There is also a ticket product available common to all operators and public transport modes.

- Season ticket products covering the whole bus network cannot be purchased onboard the buses, but only from the so called Travel Shops and some ordinary shops.

- Operator specific tickets limit the flexibility of public transport and the transport mode options available to passengers. Passengers use mainly the services of one particular operator.

- The common ticket of various operators is more expensive than the operator specific ticket.

-There is no one-week ticket covering the different transport modes available. Only a one-day pass covering the different transport modes is available. It does not entitle to using trains or trams during workdays before 9:30 a.m..

-

All in all, there are too many different ticket products. Passengers have difficulties knowing which ticket product is most suitable for their particular journey. Operator specific tickets limit the freedom of travel for weeks, even for months. As the passengers purchase their ticket, they commit themselves to using the services of that particular operator.

- There are no ticket products available for regular travel by using public transport (cf. multi-tickets), when the need is only for a couple of days in a week's time.

47

Pros and cons from the economical point of view of the public transport +

- Closed operator specific ticketing systems maintained by the major operators block the way of the small operators trying to get to the market.

Pros and cons from the point of view of the modal share and travelling behaviour +

-The complicated and too diverse ticket selection as well as the expensive ticket prices com-mon to all operators and public transport modes do not attract people to shift from private motoring into using public transport.

48

9 London

9.1 General

Greater London is a huge metropolis. Depending on the calculation method, it has at least 7,500,000 inhabitants, and the core of its public transport system is made up of a highly extensive Underground network and the train services of the region. In addition to them, the city has bus traffic, express tramlink traffic and light railway traffic.

Unlike the other cities of England, the public transport services have not been privatized. Their central-ized producer and service provider organization is TFL, i.e. Transport For London.

The budget of the public transport of Greater London in 2003/2004 was 4.8 billion pounds (€ 7.03 bil-lion). Of this sum 53 % came from the government of Great Britain, the administration of Greater Lon-don and third parties. Ticket proceeds and the street management activities covered the remaining 42 %.

Shares of the largest items of expenditure in production of the public transport services: the Under-ground 3.8 billion euros (54 %), bus traffic 1.9 billion euros (27 %), street infrastructure 933 million euros (14 %), and rail infrastructure 41 million euros (0.6 %).

9.2 Fare System

The fare system of London is based on a zone system. The zones are nested circles and there are six of them in total (marked with numbers 1-6). In addition to them, the system of the north-westerly London includes four zone arcs marked with letters from A to D. Also the transport mode has an effect on the ticket price. Means of payment include paper single tickets, travelcards valid for one or three days as well as Oyster smartcards, to which the passenger can load both value and a seven or 30-365-day sea-son.


Surface area and population density: city 2.6 km2 (=1.003866 mile2), 3,172 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 1,584 km2 (=611.5858 mile2),4761 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

49

Image 13 The zone system of London and the trunk network of the area implemented with rail traffic. (http://www.tfl.gov.uk)



Single tickets and travelcards can be purchased from the self-service machines located at Underground stations or on the streets as well as from service points and self-service machines of at railway stations. Single tickets valid only in buses can be purchased onboard the bus. Respectively, from the self-service machines of the trams it is possible to purchase tickets that are only valid in trams.

Single tickets are paper tickets (including a magnetic track in rail traffic). Value tickets are loaded into Oyster smartcards, and validation is required when boarding in all transport modes and when exiting in the Underground / local trains / Docklands Light Railway. If a passenger fails to validate him/herself out, he or she is charged the most expensive single ticket price2. In connection with the ticket renewal, the prices of the single tickets paid with Oyster smartcards were reduced or frozen. The prices of the single tickets purchased with cash will rise.


One or three-day passes (travelcards in London) aimed especially at tourists are valid in the heavy rail traffic (Underground, light railway, tramway and local trains) in those fare zones, where the passenger

2 Single fare in zone 1 is £1.50 (€2.167) and in zones 1-6 £3.50 (€5.057). If the card holds value for £1.50, the system allows boarding the vehicle. The system charges the card the amount corresponding to the most expensive single ticket. If the passenger does not exit in zone 1, but goes on all the way to zone 6, the balance of the card will remain negative (- £2.00). However, the negative balance is smaller than the three-pound deposit attached to it. When the passenger loads new value to the card, he or she has to pay for the 2-pound debt first.

50

has purchased travel right. Travelcards may be used without limitations in all the fare zones of bus traf-fic.


A season can be loaded into the Oyster card. The length of the season is either seven days or whatever between 30 and 365 days. Also the transport modes, where the ticket is valid, are loaded into the card.



Under 11 year olds are allowed to use public transport free of charge in buses and trams. 50 % discount is granted from other tickets.

Oyster travel card functions as a base for the ticket products of various discount groups. Oyster cards belonging to certain discount groups are personal and include an identification section with a photograph.

12-15 year olds can travel free of charge in buses and trams, but in most cases they need to have an Oyster card with a photograph. 50 % discount is granted for other tickets.

Journeys to and from school are free of charge in all transport modes of Greater London. Pas-sengers need to have an appropriate pass with them.

16-18 year old students can travel free of charge in buses and trams, but in most cases they need to have an Oyster card with a photograph. 50 % discount is granted for other tickets.

Group discounts are offered to groups larger than ten passengers.

The physically impaired and 60 year olds and older are entitled to cheaper journeys than others in the public transport (discount 50 %) during the morning peak period before 9:30 a.m. and they can travel free of charge during the rest of time. To be entitled to this benefit, the passenger has to reside in the Greater London area and have a separate pass.

9.3.5 Travel Card

Paying for journeys with the Oyster card is the cheapest method in all cases. The card can be pur-chased anywhere in Great Britain. The cards are holder specific, but can be registered under the name of a specific person. Then, for example, a missing card may be cancelled and returned to its rightful owner and the value loaded into the card restored to a new card (excluding the seven-day season tick-ets).

If passengers wish to attach the value feature to their card, or if they purchase only a seven-day-long season, a deposit of 3 pounds (€4.40) will be charged at the purchase of the card. The deposit will be returned to the customer, if he or she wishes to give up his or her Oyster card. Cards including longer seasons without the value feature are free of charge to the passengers.

The Oyster card includes a so called capping feature, namely a certain maximum amount, which the passenger needs to pay at most for the journeys made in certain zone/transport modes in a 24-hours period. Pricing is implemented in such a way that paying for journeys with the Oyster card is always the cheapest alternative. The price per day, for example, is cheaper when paying with the Oyster card than with one or three-day travelcards.

The time of delivery of an Oyster card is two workdays. New seasons or more value can be loaded into the card either on the Internet or with a phone call, when the new season / value activates to the card when validating the ticket in the card reader of an Underground or light railway station. Cards can be

51

reloaded also with self-service machines with touch-screens and in the service points of the Under-ground stations.

Four main factors affect the price of the ticket when paying with the Oyster card: In how many zones the ticket is valid When (time of day and weekday) does the journey take place Which transport mode is used (there are common tickets and tickets entitling to travel only in

bus or railway traffic). Possible season loaded into the card and its validity area.


The upcoming projects in London concentrate mainly on the infrastructure of transport, not so much on the fare and ticketing measures. The intention is to improve the underground trains, railways and the Train Control System. The intention is to integrate the so called Oystercard travelcard as part of the ticketing system of heavy railway traffic. Then more and more connections from the suburbs of London to the city of London could offer a possibility to purchase tickets which are paid in advance and would be more affordable (loading value to the travelcard).

9.5 Interview

Did not receive an interview.

52

10 Stockholm

10.1 General

The public transport modes of Stockholm include buses, an extensive underground network, local trains and an ex-press tramway and a regular tramway.

Public transport services of Greater Stockholm are produced by SL, AB Storstocholms lokaltrafik. In 2004 the total budget of its operations was about one billion Euro. The company is owned by Stock-holm Province. Of the total expenditure of the public transport, some 51 % is covered with the ticket proceeds and the remaining 49 % by tax funds collected by the province.

10.2 Fare System

Flat fare is applied everywhere in the Stockholm province. This reform was carried out 1 May 2006, when the five-fare-zone fare system previously used in the area was abandoned. Along with this reform the prices of the short journeys rose slightly, but respectively the reform reduced the prices of the long journeys substantially.


All travel tickets and cards are holder specific excluding the semester and summer holiday tickets of the young people.


Single tickets are paper tickets. It is cheaper to purchase them as 10-journey multi-ticket booklets, when the discount is 10 %.


Stockholm offers one-day, 3-day and 7-day cardboard passes.


Also the season tickets are holder specific cardboard passes. 30-day passes are available as well as longer 4-month passes (either January-April, May-August, or September-December). Also one-year passes are available. They are valid either between January-December or February-December.


Under 7 year olds travel free of charge. During weekends 7-11 year olds can travel free of charge in the company of an adult (6 children at max. / one adult).


Surface area and population density: city 216 km2 (=83.39807 mile2), 4,069 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 16,639 km2 (=6,424.354 mile2), 287 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

53

7-19 year old children and young people receive a 40-50 % discount depending on the ticket type.

Affordable personal semester tickets and summer holiday tickets are sold to schoolchildren. Semester tickets are only valid during workdays between 4:30-19:00. Additionally under 20-year olds are offered the so called Leisure Time Card, which is personal and a valid means of payment during workdays after 4 p.m. and during weekends around the clock. The cards are valid for a period of four months (January-April, May-August, or September-December).

Stockholm does not offer separate student tickets.

Depending on the ticket type, 65 year olds or older get a 40-50 % discount from their tickets.

30-day passes are sold in Bålsta for people who reside outside the Stockholm province but go to work there. Additionally semester tickets are offered to under 20 year olds. The 30-day Bål-sta ticket is 40 % more expensive than the respective internal ticket of the Stockholm province.

10.3.5 Travel Card

Stockholm does not offer electronic travel cards at present. Several large Swedish cities are about to introduce an electric travel card based on common technology in the next few years.


Not known.

10.5 Interview

Did not receive an interview.

54

11 Malmö

11.1 General

The city of Malmö is situated in southern Sweden in the Oresund area. Copenhagen and Malmö to-gether form a sort of a "twin city", because the two cities are interconnected with an efficient bridge con-nection which can be used by both cars as well as trains. Many people live in one city and work in the other city.

The public transport network of Malmö is based on a versatile bus route network. Additionally the trains on their way to and from Copenhagen and other places in Scania operate in the area. The public trans-port operations are provided by Skånetrafiken.

11.2 Fare System

The Scania district uses an extensive zone system, in which the whole Scania Province is divided to zones that vary in size. The cities, like Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg, form their own city-wide fare zones, where the fare is slightly more expensive than the fare of a single zone outside the city.

Number of inhabitants: city 269,000 metropolitan area 599,000

Surface area and population density: city 155 km2 (=59.84583 mile2), 1,748 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area 1,649 km2 (=636.6825 mile2),369 inhabitants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)

55

Image 14 The zone structure of the city of Malmö and its surroundings. (http://www.skanetrafiken.se)

Also a common ticketing system is valid in the Oresund area, the so called Öresund card. The holder of this card is entitled to travel in the selected zones of the whole Oresund area as well in the long-distance traffic as in the internal traffic of the cities.



Paper single tickets are available. Single tickets are purchased for the needed amount of zones in Scania district. The city of Malmö uses a flat fare.

Actual multi-tickets are not available. Instead, the price of a single journey is cheaper, if it is paid with an electronic discount card (see travel card).

Single tickets can be purchased also for the traffic between Malmö and Copenhagen, in which case the ticket is valid also in the internal traffic of both cities.


Malmö does not offer one or several-day ticket products.


The Scania card functions as a valid common means of payment in the whole Scania Province. The card is valid for 30 days and it can be purchased for the chosen fare zones. Passengers can get travel

56

right in the whole Scania district by purchasing 13 fare zones. The largest cities, Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg, have their own zone structure which is different from the common zone structure, where only one flat fare applies.

The Oresund area between Sweden and Denmark is divided into 17 zones. It is possible to purchase the so called Öresund card for the area, which is valid for 30 days in all bus and train traffic of the cho-sen area. Malmö-Copenhagen Öresund card costs about 185 Euro (one-way single fare is 10 Euro). University students get a 35 % discount from the Öresund card. The card is holder specific.


Under 19 year olds travel for half fare and under 7 year olds free of charge in the company of an adult. The age limit of the children's ticket in the traffic to and from Copenhagen is 16 years.

Separate tickets are sold to families or two adults travelling together. When compared to the normal tickets, the discount is 10-20 %.

Tickets which are valid only during schooldays from the Monday morning to the Friday evening till 20:00 are available for school children.

Companies and individuals travelling a lot are offered Skåne Business card, which entitles to travel in the first class in the trains of the Scania district. The price is 2.3-fold when compared to the 13-zone ticket.

No separate reduced price ticket products are available for pensioners.

11.3.5 Travel Card

The Rabattkort discount card is an electronic travel card to which the passengers can load value. When paying with this card, the single fare is cheaper.


No significant reforms have been made in recent years. The actual bus system was renewed in 2005 and the new lines have improved the service level.

In 2007 the Scania Province plans to introduce a totally new electronic travel card system (Cubic). Dis-cussions have been held regarding the tariff zones, but no decisions have been made yet.

11.5 Interview

Interview was not received.

57

12 Gothenburg

12.1 General

The public transport system of Gothenburg is made up of an extensive tramway network, numerous bus lines, local trains and ferryboat services connecting the mainland and the archipelago. The public trans-port service is provided by Västtrafik, which operates in the whole of Västra Götaland and also in some areas of the municipality of Kungsbacka.

The operating costs of the public transport system in Gothenburg are circa 145 million Euro per year. Including investment costs, the sum total is circa 160 million Euro per year at present. The ticket pro-ceeds cover some 60 % of the operating costs. The city of Gothenburg pays 35 % of the expenses of the public transport service, and the West Sweden Region pays the remaining 5 %. The level of subsidy changes depending on the services. The principle is that the city of Gothenburg subsidizes journeys made inside the Gothenburg city limits, and West Sweden Region subsidizes journeys that cross mu-nicipal borders.

At the moment the modal share of the public transport of all journeys made in Gothenburg is circa 25 %. The share of motoring is 50 % and the share of light traffic is 25 %. There is heavy railway connection from the city to five different directions (finger plan). Two of these tracks carry local train services within some 40-50-kilometre radius from Gothenburg city centre. Land use is concentrated along the rail traffic fingers that run into the city, but, regardless of this, the modal share of the public transport is only circa 17 % in these areas.

12.2 Fare System

Gothenburg and neighbouring municipalities form a zone tariff area, which, at the same time, forms the Västtrafiken operating area. The city of Gothenburg itself uses a flat fare, which means that all public transport journeys inside the city cost the same amount of money.

It is possible to load seasons that contain travelling right in the areas of several municipalities into the recently introduced remote readable travel card. The image below illustrates the Västtrafiken operating area and the tariff zone borders used that follow the municipal borders.

Number of inhabitants: city 481,000 metropolitan area 872,000


58

Image 15 Gothenburg and its neighbouring municipalities. The public transport operations are provided by Västtrafik. The fare and ticketing system is unified (http://www.vasttrafik.se/).



Single tickets are sold in the vehicles. The minimum fare is two basic charge units, circa 2.17 Euro. Each crossing of a zone border raises the journey price by one basic charge unit.

Magnetic track multi-tickets that cost 100 krona (10.87 euros) can be bought in public transport vehicles and Tidpunkten kiosks as well as in Västtrafiken service points. When these are used for paying the journey fare, the cost on one basic charge unit is 7.25 krona. The discount is almost 30 % compared with a single fare. As the fare is paid, the card balance is charged with the required sum. If the card bal-ance does not cover the basic charge units required, the journey can be paid for by combining the re-maining balances of two cards, or by paying the difference in cash (a small remainder of 5.75 krona will always be left into the card balance). The difference can be paid either to the driver or to a ticket ma-chine.

A practice of selling single tickets from ticket machines in trams will be introduced. The tram drivers will no longer sell tickets. The ticket machines accept only coins. Later on a possibility of paying the fare by card will be added to the ticket machines.

Tickets include a 90-minute transfer right. The transfer right is 180 minutes in journeys that cross zone borders. The transfer right also includes the return journey. When the transfer time expires, the passen-ger is allowed to finish the journey, but not to transfer into another vehicle anymore.

In the night services the passengers are charged an increased fare (two basic charge units).

59


24-hour passes are sold in Gothenburg. However, these are not valid in the night services. During the weekends and on bank holidays two school age children are allowed to travel free of charge with a 24-hour pass holder. This applies also in June, July and August.

A similar 24-hour pass can also be bought for an area wider than the city of Gothenburg only. The most extensive ticket entitles the passenger to travel all over West Götaland using a part of long-distance traf-fic services (e.g. some Swebus coaches) in addition to city transport services.


30-day passes are sold for Gothenburg city or a wider area within the Västtrafiken service area. There are two kinds of season tickets: ready-tailored, which contain travel right in certain zones (the same classification as in 24-hour passes) or alternatively the passenger may choose only the zones where he or she intends to travel. In the second alternative the season ticket options are 30 consecutive days or 20 optional days within 90-day period.

Other season ticket products offered in Gothenburg are 90 and 365-day season tickets.

In case of an occasional journey, it is possible to buy additional rights into the season ticket (an ordinary single ticket). For instance, if the season ticket is valid in Gothenburg, but the passenger is travelling to a neighbouring municipality this time, the passenger has to buy a single ticket valid in the neighbouring municipality as a supplement to the season ticket.

There is also an off peak 30-day pass available, which entitles passengers to travel during times other than between 6 to 8.30 and 15 to 18 on workdays. If the passenger boards the vehicle outside the time windows mentioned, he or she is allowed to travel in the same vehicle till the end. However, the pas-senger is not allowed to transfer anymore.


Under 6 year olds are allowed to use public transport free of charge. 6-15 year olds pay less basic charge units for their journey. Depending on the travelling distance, the discount varies between 30-35 %. Within the city of Gothenburg the discount is 50 %. Age is defined in such a way that a children's ticket can be bought until the end of June in the year when the child turns 16. Accordingly, a children's ticket must be bought since the beginning of July in the year when the child turns six.

Different children's and young person's 30 and 90-day passes or 20-day passes valid on op-tional days are sold to all under 26 year olds in Gothenburg. The discount is 25 %. Outside of Gothenburg the maximum age of a children's or young person's ticket is 20 years.

All passengers are charged the same fare in the night services.

An affordable Chalmers card is offered for students for inter-campus journeys.

Dogs are charged a children's fare. Transporting bicycles is allowed only in regional journeys to some municipalities. A separate 30 krona (circa 3.30 Euro) fee is charged.

12.3.5 Travel Card

Gothenburg offers a travel card, into which it is possible to load season and value (the so called Väst-trafikkortet).

60

12.4 Recent Reforms

A new remote readable travel card system was introduced in 2005 in Gothenburg and its neighbouring municipalities in the Västtrafik service area. A similar travel card reform is presently being introduced in many other parts of Sweden. The aim is that after a few years the same travel card would be valid in all of Sweden.

The Gothenburg Travel Card is ticket holder specific. A missing card can be cancelled and the informa-tion restored into a new card. However, this requires a voluntary card registration. There is a travel card website on the Internet, where it is easy for the passengers to register their travel cards.

It is expected that the stopping times of vehicles will become shorter and boarding will become easier along with the new travel card. In the future more features that support public transport will be attached to the travel card, such as the possibility to pay for cycle rental or a carsharing vehicles.

The new travel card enables both zone and distance based fare systems.

12.5 Interview

Jörn Engström, Trafikkontoret Göteborg

Pros and cons from the point of view of the customer and usability + The price is the same in the entire Gothenburg area, which makes the system simple.

+ 30-day passes and the 100-krona (circa 10 Euro) tickets offer the passengers a significant discount.

- Ticket offices are few and far between.


+The tariff policy is successful and well-balanced. Circa 60 % of the expenses are covered with ticket proceeds.

-


- If the ticket price changed according to demand, it might be possible to direct people into us-ing public transport more than at present.

61

13 Copenhagen

13.1 General

There are separate authorities responsible for the different transport modes in Copenhagen public transport (S-bahn and Regional bahn local trains, the Underground and buses). The Copenhagen met-ropolitan area is the most densely populated urban area in Scandinavia. Land use and traffic in the Co-penhagen area is co-ordinated by a collaborative body called Hovedstadens Udviklingsråd (HUR).

HUR makes the decisions on fares of the area, collects ticket proceeds and orders traffic. The munici-palities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, the Provinces of Copenhagen and Frederiksborg, and Roskilde are partners in HUR. The municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg are not a part of the Province of Copenhagen. Frederiksberg is an independent, extremely densely built municipality in-side Copenhagen (cf. Kauniainen in Espoo).

The annual operating costs of public transport including investments are circa 718 million Euro. They are divided as follows: DSB S-trains 295.3 million, the Underground 81.5 million, local trains 18.8 mil-lion, and bus service 322.5 million Euro.

13.2 Fare System

The fare system of Copenhagen and its metropolitan area is based on a zone system covering the en-tire metropolitan area. The zone map is illustrated below.



62

Image 16 The zone structure of Copenhagen metropolitan area (http://www.hur.dk)

Image 17 The table shows the basic charge units (”klip”) paid for journeys. A travel right for three zones is required for the journey drawn on the map. (www.hur.dk)

In single fares, travelling right can be purchased for one or more zones. Multi-tickets and season tickets contain a travel right for at least two zones. The amount of fixed zones is chosen at the moment of pur-chase.

In addition to the most suitable connections, the local routes guide (http://www.rejseplanen.dk/) contains information on the price of the journey as well as the possibilities for using discount ticket products (for example off peak period tickets).

63



Single tickets can be bought from ticket offices, ticket machines and bus drivers. The journey is paid for according to how many zones the passenger intends to travel.

The amount of basic charge units required for the journey is always paid with the 10-basic-charge-unit multi-ticket (klipkort). At the time of purchase the passengers choose how valuable the basic charge unit of a multi-ticket is, i.e., in how many zones one basic charge unit entitles them to travel. The basic charge unit value of a so called basic ticket is two zones (the value may change from 2 to 6 zones, or include all zones).

The transfer right is 60 minutes in tickets that are valid in 2 to 3 zones. The transfer right is 90 minutes in tickets that are valid in 4 to 6 zones , and 120 minutes in tickets valid in all the seven fare zones.

It is also possible to buy separate single tickets for traffic between Copenhagen and Malmö.


A 24-hour pass gives the passenger the right to travel freely in the whole of the metropolitan area re-gardless of zone borders. Two children under the age of 12 can travel free of charge with an adult.

The seven-day holder specific ticket (the so called Flexcard) enables the passenger to unlimited travel in all public transport vehicles in the zones where the ticket is valid. The tickets can be bought from HUR service points and other ticket offices.


Season tickets are purchased for a certain amount of zones (2 to 6 zones or the whole metropolitan area). There are two kinds of season tickets:

the 30-day traditional personal pass, which is valid in the chosen area. A personified pass is required. Separate, more affordable personal season tickets are available for under 18 year olds.

The Flexcard season ticket is holder specific. Passengers can choose a validity period of 30 to 365 days for the ticket. They also have to choose the zones in which the ticket is valid. The card cannot be registered electronically.

If the passenger occasionally travels farther than the area where the season ticket is valid, he or she can pay the required difference with either a single ticket or a multi-ticket.


Children under 12 years of age travel free of charge in the company of an adult.

Under 16 year olds can buy a children's ticket which is valid in either two or three zones. The discount is 33-50 %, depending on the ticket.

Two 12-15 year olds can travel together with one adult ticket fare.

Pensioners are offered a three-month season ticket, which is valid optionally in three tariff zones or in the whole metropolitan area. The discount is 20 %.

Semester tickets are available for students. Danish students can buy the so called Öresund card with 35 % discount.

64

Employers can offer company season tickets.

13.3.5 Travel Card

An electric travel card (Flexicard) with small-scale functions is in use in Copenhagen. A season ticket can be loaded into this card.


Within a few years a fully electronic national ticket system and a new travel card will be introduced in Denmark. It will be introduced in the city of Copenhagen in 2008. Pilot testing will begin in 2007. Along with the new electronic travel card system a new tariff system will be introduced. Within the new system the passengers pay for their journeys according to the distance travelled (as the crow flies distance). If the vehicle is changed during the journey, the passenger has to log in again in every new vehicle, but logging out is required only at the final destination of the journey. In train traffic the card readers are situated in the quay areas.

The travel card will not be purchased, but a deposit will be required. If chosen, the travel card can in-clude an automatic value loading system, which enables the card to be loaded with e.g. 400 krone worth of value whenever the balance drops under 50 krone.

More information on the Copenhagen Travel Card Project is available on the Internet at http://www.rejsekort.dk/ .

65

13.5 Interview

Claus Hermansen, HUR Hovedstadens Udviklingsråd


+ Season ticket products that support regular travelling offer a chance for an unlimited amount of public transport journeys within the validity area of the ticket.

+Thanks to the zone system, the passenger pays the fare more or less according to the dis-tance he or she has travelled. Respectively, the fare charged for the journey corresponds better to the production costs of the journey.

+ Multi-tickets are cheaper than single tickets.

+There are several different discount groups (pensioners, children, students, those who have retired early, etc.)

+ The users of travel cards can automatically renew the season of their card and thus be given an additional discount.

- It is difficult for many passengers to comprehend the zone system and also the fare charged for each journey .

- Many passengers feel that the current tariff level is too high. - You can only buy single tickets onboard buses.


+ The ticket proceeds collected from the new travel cards will be accumulating before the ser-vice is used. This will balance out the budget and make it more easily managed.

+ The users of the travel card will be more committed to using public transport.

-The prices of ticket products in different discount groups will be heavily subsidized (the ticket proceeds will decrease).

- The unit cost is extremely low for the season ticket users who use public transport very much.

-In order for every fare zone to be roughly the same size and therefore the distance travelled and fare paid to correspond to each other, it was necessary to divide the metropolitan area of Copenhagen into 95 separate fare zones.

- Fake discount tickets have been found in recent years.

Pros and cons from the point of view of the modal share and travelling behaviour + The same ticket is valid in all forms of public transport in Copenhagen.

- As there are several operators in the field, it is sometimes very difficult to find solutions, for instance, for tariff issues.

- If one operator does not take good care of their territory, the disrepute brought on by this will cast a shadow over all of the public transport service production.

66

14 Oslo

14.1 General

The number of inhabitants of Oslo and its metropolitan area is fairly similar to Helsinki. The public trans-port operations of Oslo city are provided by AS Oslo Sporveier. Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk (SL) is responsi-ble for the production of public transport services outside the city in the Greater Oslo area. The forms of public transport in Oslo city are the bus, the tram, and the Underground.

The public transport budget of Oslo was circa 277 million Euro (operating) in 2004. Circa 58 % of the return consisted of ticket proceeds. The remaining 42 % consisted of purchased services paid for by the city of Oslo and the neighbouring municipality of Akershus.

The modal share of the public transport in the city of Oslo was 22 % in 2004. 40.4 % of public transport journeys are made by bus, the share of the Underground is 37.1 %, of the tram 19 %, and the share of the Oslo ferryboat service is 3.5 %.

14.2 Fare System

Flat fare is used within the city of Oslo. The chosen transport mode does not affect the price of the ticket.

The zone system is used in the Greater Oslo area (Oslo and Akershus), outside the city of Oslo. The distance between the zones is circa 6 km, and the fare is determined by zone fare. In the SL zone sys-tem the city of Oslo is also divided into three zones (centre, eastern, north-eastern), which are applied when passengers travel into Oslo city from elsewhere, or respectively if they travel from Oslo city to dif-ferent parts of Akershus.


In this section the central ticket products currently in use in Oslo city (Oslo Sporveier) are examined, and also briefly some SL ticket products.


Single tickets can be bought either from vehicles or in advance. Bought in advance the ticket is 33 % cheaper. In addition to single tickets, eight-journey multi-tickets are sold. All single and multi-tickets in-clude a transfer right within one hour from the start of the journey. Single tickets are paper tickets with a magnetic track. The tickets are valid in the Underground, trams and buses. Separate tickets are sold for ferryboat services.



67

There have been no changes in the prices of single tickets during the last three years. Only the prices of season tickets have been raised. This is why they are not as favourable compared with single tickets as before.

SL: Coupon booklets are sold for occasional travel (30 basic charge units). A starting fare, which con-tains a travel right for one zone, costs three basic charge units (coupons) and each new zone costs one more basic charge unit. In addition to this, season tickets based on the new Flexus travel card are sold. The tickets are holder specific. Tickets that belong to discount groups are also holder specific.


A one-day pass entitles the passenger to travel freely in the Underground and in tramline and bus traffic during 24 hours. A seven-day ticket is valid for seven days, as its name reveals.

In addition to these there is a so called Oslo Pass directed to tourists, which entitles the passenger to travel freely for either one, two, or three days in Oslo and in parts of the neighbouring province of Aker-shus.


The holder specific 303-day pass is not bound to calendar months in Oslo. Its base is the new Flexus Travel Card. Season tickets can be bought from certain service points of kiosks / chain stores, and from other specifically announced sales offices. In addition to this, cards can be loaded at the ticket machines of the Underground stations at 10 service points in bus and train stations.

When travelling in the SL area surrounding Oslo, it is possible to load a travel right of either seven days or one month for selected zones to the Flexus card.



Children from 4 to 16 travel with a children's ticket. The discount is chiefly 50 %.

Under 20 year olds can purchase seven-day passes, 30-day passes that need to be ordered in advance, and Flexus 30-day passes for price of children (50 % discount).

Students are given a 40 % discount on 30-day passes compared with the normal adult fare. The cards are personal (a pass including a photograph is required).

Pensioners pay the price of a children's ticket.

Group discounts are given to larger groups. A group ticket entitles the passenger to travel within a certain short period of time (e.g. conferences). However, the holder of a group ticket is allowed to travel separately from the group.

The Rufus Card is the cheapest alternative for school groups of maximum 15 children who travel during off peak period from 9 to 15.

Only night service single tickets paid in cash are valid in the night services.

Transporting bicycles or dogs entails the purchase of a separate children's ticket.

3 This is the "approximately" 30-day pass. The last day of validity of this pass is the same day in the fol-lowing month, e.g. from 4 July to 4 August. 4.7 – 4.8. However, if the ticket is bought on the 31st of a certain month, the ticket is valid until the last day of the following month.

68

14.3.5 Travel Card

In 2006 a new common electronic remote readable Flexus Travel Card was introduced gradually in Oslo and Akershus. Ready with all its functions, it will probably be in full use in 2007. The same card base to the one in Flexus Card is already in use in the railway traffic of NSB (Norwegian national railway systems). The intention is that the Flexus travel card will progressively replace all the paper season tickets in use. It is possible to load both season and single journeys (but not value) to the travel card.

The same travel card is used both in the Oslo city internal services and in the regional services of Greater Oslo (the municipalities of Oslo and Akershus).

If chosen, the passenger can register the travel card, when the features of a lost card (e.g. the remain-ing season) can be restored into a new card.


In 2003 single tickets that need to be bought in advance were introduced. These tickets cost one third less than tickets bought onboard vehicles. The aim was to bring down ticket sales onboard vehicles.

14.5 Interview

Andreas Røer, Oslo Sporveier


+The same ticket entitles to travel in all public transport services produced by SL. However, this does not include train journeys (NSB, Norwegian national railway system) or regional journeys (SL, the local regional service operator).

+ A large proportion of passengers belong to some discount group: pensioners -50 %, children -50 %, students -40 % of some tickets, the young -50 % of some tickets.

+ Regular travel is rewarded by a journey fare notably cheaper than the single ticket price (multi-tickets and especially season tickets).

- As a flat fare is used within the Oslo city, the price of short distance journeys is rather high and respectively the price of long distance journeys is fairly inexpensive.

-From the viewpoint of the passenger, the whole of Oslo public transport service supply is rather complex, because there are three service operators in the city (Oslo Sporveier, SL which runs regional services, and also NSB), which all have their own fare systems.

Pros and cons from the economical point of view of the public transport +

- The ticket proceeds received from long distance journeys are rather low compared with the production costs of journeys.


-

69

15 Singapore

map image: www.wikipedia.org

15.1 General

There is an extensive public transport network including both bus and railway traffic in Singapore. The city has almost five million inhabitants and it is located in the Far East. Singapore is a pioneer in the use of modern travel cards and their application to functions also outside the realm of public transport. The Singapore travel card system is technically similar to London (Octopus) and, among others, in Hong Kong. The system is in use in both bus and the Underground and lightrail services. There are 2,700 buses in all in Singapore, and they service a total of 217 routes. Circa 2 million journeys are made on the buses every day.

15.2 Fare System

The fare system is based on the travelled distance of the journey. The system is of check in – check out type. At the beginning of the journey, the card is charged with a sum which covers the price of the long-est possible distance on the line in question. The sum changes according to bus lines, and as the pas-senger exits the vehicle his or her travel card is compensated for the unused difference.

The fare system of Singapore is distance based. Each line is divided into stages of some 0.8 kilometres. The stages always change at certain stops. The price of the journey is determined by the amount of stages travelled.

The fare changes according to the vehicle (bus, express bus, rail traffic), depending on the ticket type and also according to the time of day and how well-equipped the vehicle is (air conditioning yes/no).



Single tickets are not unified between all the transport modes. Also single tickets are remote readable smart cards in rail traffic. A 0.50 Euro deposit is paid when they are purchased (a so called recycling fee), which will be refunded if the used card is returned within 30 days.

Most journeys are made by using a value based EZ-link travel card. The card costs 15 Singapore dol-lars, i.e. circa 7.50 Euro. The price includes a deposit of 1.50 Euro, a card fee of 2.50 Euro and a 3.50-Euro minimum load of value. The smallest sum loaded to the card is 5 Euro, and the largest is 50 Euro. The promised technical time of validity of the card is five years. EZ-link card is valid in both rail and bus services.

In a transfer connection the compensation for the second, third and fourth leg of the journey is 0.125 Euro (0.05 Euro in children's tickets), if the transfer is done according to the directions and within a rele-vant time.

Number of inhabitants: city 4,492,000 metropolitan area -

Surface area and population density: city 648 km2 (=250.1942 mile2), 6,932 inhabi-tants/km2 (=0.3861022 mile2)metropolitan area -

70

Determination of the fare of a journey and the fare per kilometre per transport mode is presented in the tables in appendix 1 (one Singapore dollar is circa 0.50 Euro). More information available on the Inter-net at www.transitlink.com.sg/ .

15.4 One or Several Day Passes

One or several day passes available are not available.


The right to use 30-day passes is limited. They are valid in normal bus services and in rail traffic. In rail traffic the maximum amount of boardings per day is limited to four. The passenger can buy a ticket for one transport type only (buses 26 Euro per month, rail traffic 22.50 Euro per month) or alternatively a so called hybrid pass, with which it is possible to travel both by bus and by MRT and LRT trains (48.50 Euro per month).


Children and students (full-time, under 21 years old) are given discount on the fare in some railway lines and buses, depending on the line. Children and students as well as seniors pay only the inexpensive single fare for their journey. The distance of the journey does not matter. Also 30-day passes are offered. They are valid only in bus service or rail traffic (MRT and LRT trains) or in both. There are limitations in the tickets as far as rail traffic is concerned (a maxi-mum of four boardings per day). The tickets are not valid in the night services or on special lines.

Under 21 year old full-time students can also buy group tickets for 4-6 people.

A special EZ-link card is offered to 60 year old seniors and older. The citizenship of Singapore or a permanent permit of residence is a prerequisite. The senior card is always personal and it includes a photograph. The card entitles passengers to travel with the inexpensive single fare (€0.30-€1.15) on weekdays after 9 o'clock and on weekends. The single fare is at its most ex-pensive in trains during the afternoon peak period (from 16.30 to 19:00).

A similar ticket to the senior ticket is offered for full-time students, who are not entitled to a grant or who do not have a free right to study.

Park & Ride Ticket urges passengers to use feeder parking especially during peak periods. The ticket costs 37.50 Euro including a deposit of 2.50 Euro, 20-Euro worth of value for public transport journeys and a 15-Euro worth of parking right in a feeder parking area.

15.4.3 Travel Card

In 2001 a smart check in - check out based travel card system was introduced in Singapore. There are circa 8 million cards in all in circulation, of which circa four million are in daily use.

The EZ-link card is not only a means of payment in public transport but also a charge or bonus card for numerous food services (chains of cafés and hamburger restaurants), gaming halls, public services and

71

health services and also for some retail trade services. Today the card can be attached into a primary credit card as a secondary card. Then it is possible to load value by credit.

The remaining value of a lost card can be restored to the owner, if the travel card has been registered. A 1.50-Euro register fee is charged.

FARES EFFECTIVE FROM 1 OCTOBER 2006

ADULT FARES ON BUSES

With the exception of flat fare and intra-town services, adult fares are calculated based on the number offare stages travelled. Each fare stage is about 0.8 km. These fare stages coincide with specific bus stopsof each route. Half-fare stages occur at bus stops between the fare stages.

The fares payable by a commuter are as follows:

Trunk Services

Feeder/TownLink/Intra-town Services

Feeder, TownLink and Intra-town services are flat-fare services.

TownLink or Intra-town services involve the merging of feeder services to provide direct links betweenneighbourhoods within the same town as well as to connect commuters to trunk services at businterchanges and to the MRT. This will enhance intra-town travel and reduce bus transfers between neighbourhoods.

Jurong Industrial Services (Non-Aircon)

Fare Stagesez-link card Fare Cash Fare

Non Air-Con Air-Con Non Air-Con Air-Con

4 and less $0.60 $0.65 $0.80 $0.90

4.5 - 7 $0.72 $0.87 $0.90 $1.10

7.5 - 10 $0.83 $1.08 $1.00 $1.30

10.5 - 13 $0.93 $1.18 $1.10 $1.40

13.5 - 18 $1.03 $1.28 $1.20 $1.50

18.5 - 23 $1.13 $1.38 $1.30 $1.60

23.5 - 29 $1.23 $1.48 $1.40 $1.70

29.5 and more $1.33 $1.58 $1.50 $1.80

ez-link card Fare Cash Fare

Non Air-Con Air-Con Non Air-Con Air-Con

$0.60 $0.65 $0.80 $0.90

Fare Stages ez-link card Fare Cash Fare

4 and less $0.60 $0.80

4.5 - 7 $0.72 $0.90

7.5 - 10 $0.83 $1.00

10.5 - 13 $0.93 $1.10

13.5 and more $1.03 $1.20

Express / Fast Foward Services (Aircon)

For fare payment on express services, the remaining value plus deposit in the ez-link card must be morethan or equal to the fare selected.

Concessionary travel is not applicable.

Night Services

# NightRider commuters who pay a trunk fare of $3.00 by ez-link card will enjoy a free transfer to anotherNightRider service within 45 minutes upon exit process from the first bus.

Transfer rebates and concessionary travel are not applicable.

C Services

For greater value, you can purchase a $6.00 CityBuzzPass for unlimited travel on all CityBuzz services fora whole day. It is available from all TransitLink Ticket Offices. Card Replacement Offices, authorized salesagents and Bus Captains onboard the CityBuzz buses.

Transfer rebates and bus concession passes are not applicable.

CT Services

Transfer rebates and bus concession passes are not applicable.

Park Services (Air-Con)

Transfer rebates and concessionary travel are applicable.

Fare Stages ez-link card Fare Cash Fare (unchanged)

10 and less $1.56 $1.60

10.5 - 13 $1.71 $1.75

13.5 - 18 $1.86 $1.90

18.5 - 23 $2.01 $2.05

23.5 - 29 fare stages $2.16 $2.20

29.5 and more fare stages $2.31 $2.35

Night Services ez-link card Fare Cash Fare

SBS Transit Nite Owl $2.50 $3.00

NightRider # $3.00 $3.00

Services ez-link card Fare Cash Fare

Flat fare (1 trip) $1.00 $1.00


CT8, CT18, CT28 $1.80 per trip $1.80 per trip



Teacher's Estate Service (Air-Con)

Transfer rebates given but concessionary travel are not applicable.

Service 608 (Aircon)

ADULT FARES ON MRT AND LRT

SMRT adult fares based on distance travelled

North East Line (NEL) adult fares based on distance travelled



Fare Stages ez-link card Fare Cash Fare

4 and less $0.56 $0.75

4.5 - 7 $0.71 $0.90

7.5 - 10 $0.86 $1.05

10.5 - 13 $1.01 $1.20

13.5 and more fare stages $1.16 $1.35

Distance (km)Adult Fares

ez-link card Standard TicketUp to 3.2 $0.66 $0.90

3.21 to 4.4 $0.78 $1.104.41 to 5.6 $0.88 $1.105.61 to 7.2 $0.98 $1.307.21 to 8.0 $1.08 $1.30

8.01 to 10.4 $1.18 $1.3010.41 to 12.4 $1.28 $1.5012.41 to 14.4 $1.33 $1.5014.41 to 16.5 $1.39 $1.5016.51 to 18.6 $1.44 $1.5018.61 to 21.1 $1.50 $1.7021.11 to 23.6 $1.55 $1.7023.61 to 26.0 $1.60 $1.7026.01 to 28.0 $1.65 $1.9028.01 to 30.0 $1.70 $1.90

> 30.0 $1.75 $1.90

Distance (km)Adult Fares

ez-link card Standard TicketUp to 1.0 $0.71 $1.00

1.01 to 2.0 $0.76 $1.002.01 to 3.2 $0.81 $1.103.21 to 4.4 $0.93 $1.304.41 to 5.6 $1.03 $1.305.61 to 6.4 $1.13 $1.50

The fares above apply to Adult ez-link card and Senior Citizen ez-link card (if the Senior Citizen ez-linkcard is used outside the concession hours).

The single trip fares apply specifically to the Standard Ticket which is bought from the General TicketingMachine (GTM) only.

Discount for Morning Off-peak Travel

A discount of 10¢ on fares will be given to MRT commuters who begin their journey from a station outsidethe city area and exit at a station within the city area before 7.30am from Mondays to Saturdays, exceptpublic holidays.

Stations within the city area are:

ADULT FARES ON LRT

Adult fares on Bukit Panjang and Punggol LRT

Adult fares on Sengkang LRT

6.41 to 7.2 $1.23 $1.507.21 to 8.0 $1.33 $1.50

8.01 to 10.4 $1.43 $1.5010.41 to 12.4 $1.53 $1.7012.41 to 14.4 $1.58 $1.7014.41 to 16.5 $1.64 $1.7016.51 to 18.6 $1.69 $1.70

> 18.6 $1.75 $1.90

N3 Orchard E2 Lavender N2 Somerset E1 Bugis N1 Dhoby Ghuat W1 Tanjong Pagar C2 City Hall W2 Outram Park C1 Raffles Place

No. of stations Adult ez-link card Standard Ticket

Up to 5 $0.66 $0.90

6 - 7 $0.78 $1.00

8 - 9 $0.88 $1.10

No. of stations Adult ez-link card Standard Ticket

Up to 4 $0.66 $0.90

5 $0.78 $1.00

6 - 7 $0.88 $1.10

FARE STAGES

The following four examples show you how fare stages are calculated for trunk services:

Example 1 (Bus Stops A to C)

Fare payable is therefore:

Example 2 (Bus Stops B to D)


Non air-con bus Air-con busez-link card 59¢ 64¢

Cash 80¢ 90¢

Example 3 (Bus Stops A to D)


Example 4 (Bus Stops B to C)



Cash 80¢ 90¢


Cash 90¢ $1.10


Cash 80¢ 90¢

Huvudstadsregionens samarbetsdelegation

Trafik

PB 521 (Semaforbron 6 A), 00521 Helsingfors

Telefon (09) 156 11, telefax (09) 156 1369

[email protected]

YTV Pääkaupunkiseudun

yhteistyövaltuuskunta

Liikenne

PL 521 (Opastinsilta 6 A), 00521 Helsinki

Puhelin (09) 156 11, faksi (09) 156 1369

[email protected]

www.ytv.fi

YTV:n julkaisuja X/2008

Fare and

Ticketin

g System

s in E

uro

pe

Fare and Ticketing Systems in Europeemta.com/IMG/pdf/YTV_Fare_and_Ticketing_Systems_in...new fare...

Documents

Transcript of Fare and Ticketing Systems in Europeemta.com/IMG/pdf/YTV_Fare_and_Ticketing_Systems_in...new fare...