Fairness A fusion of fare regions: easier than you might think

(R)evolutionaryEfficiency: faster to the perfect duty and vehicle schedules

Mobile Satisfied customers: the new e-ticketing by MENTZ

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News in Brief and Events Page 9 MENTZ Worldwide Page 18

Christoph MentzManaging DirectorMENTZ GmbH

FROM DARWIN TO DUTY SCHEDULE Need for more?

Has the e-ticketing-market already been fully catered for, espe-cially in Germany? Or is there still room for innovation and new providers? These are the questions that we asked ourselves a year ago, and quickly learned that there is indeed a need – both for in-novation and for qualitatively better solutions. From a provider and end-user perspective, many e-ticketingsystems perform poorly with regard to the key attributes of integration and usability.

Our company’s proven expertise in the areas of EFA, DIVA, fares, mobile applications, etc. led to the creation of the “e-ticketing” project. The result of sustained product development after only nine months is a view of the future: since the launch of our first project in the summer of 2017, weekly sales figures have risen on average by 10 percent. To find out how this resultwas achieved, turn to page 4.

In the 19th century, Charles Darwin wrote about evolution and Gregor Mendel deciphered the foundations of genetics. Both men could not have anticipated that their findings would one day help revolutionise vehicle and duty scheduling in the 21st century. A team of developers at MENTZ have now made use of their insights to benefit public transport planning. To find out what this entails, check out the article on page 10.

The Westphalia-Lippe region demonstrates that reforms to the federal system are not inevitably doomed to failure. In this region, five independent transport authorities agreed on one fare structure, thus forming the second largest fare region in Germany. MENTZ played its part in the project through technical development to achieve fairness. The third article, entitled “Making Connections”, describes how these challenges were solved and starts on page 14.

You may have already noticed that MENTZ Magazine has under-gone some changes. Starting with this issue, we would like to inform our readers about the world of technical mobility manage-ment and innovation at MENTZ in an even more straightforward, appealing and – time is a luxury – concise manner. If you like what you read on these pages, please recommend us to others! If there is room for improvement, please let me know!

I hope you enjoy reading,

MobileSatisfied customers: the new

e-ticketing by MENTZ

(R)evolutionaryEfficiency: faster to the perfect duty and vehicle schedules

FairnessA fusion of fare regions: easier than you might think

EditorialContent

MENTZ Magazine 1 / 172

54 MENTZ Magazine 1 / 17 The MENTZ E-Ticket for the RVV in Regensburg

Fast. Direct. Integrated. In only 9 months, MENTZ implemented e-ticketing for the Regensburg Transport Authority (RVV). Mobile ticketing is often a combination of modules from various providers – with the risk of technical disruptions. In contrast, MENTZ created a harmonious one-stop-solution for the Regensburg Region. Now passengers in other regions around the world can benefit from it.

The Regensburg Transport Authority (RVV) GmbH Annually about 37 million passengers use the public transport services provided by the RVV in the city and surrounding region. In addition to the Regensburg authorities and regional operator GFN, more than 30 other transport companies use a common fare. In addition to pricing, the RVV is responsible for of all ticket sales. This comprises ticket machines in the municipal area, numerous partner-ships with points of sale and the operation of its own customer service centre at Regensburg’s main train station. The combination of the app and the new e-ticketing allows the RVV to provide its customers with a comprehensive and easily accessible information platform for the entire public transport network. To be able to receive and relay real-time data, the city and region of Regensburg has equipped all buses with new on-board computers.

World Heritage City Regensburg on the Danube. Students, tourists, shop-pers, business travelers: Regensburg attracts many different types of public transport users. Using the new e-ticketing app by MENTZ, they can all find the right ticket quickly and easily.

Customer Project

Smartphone mobility even when purchasing tickets: soon after mobile journey planning was introduced, customers of the Regensburg Transport Authority wanted a shop for e-tickets. MENTZ made it happen.

Germany, Regensburg

Product Product E-Ticketing API in combination with the PT Companion by MENTZ Functions Companion app, journey planning, ticket purchasing and payment system

Contact schingnitz@mentz.net

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It couldn’t be easier: Booking anE-Ticket

THE PRODUCT

1 Registering as a new customer in the app

First, customers need to register with the ticket shop. Customers are then prompted to enter three types of data: user data, personal data and address information.

3 Ticket selection in the journey planner or selection list

Tickets are purchased via the journey plan-ner or using the selection list. When buying a ticket via the journey planner, the tickets and price categories valid for that specific trip or trips are conveniently provided on the right. Customers can then select the appropriate ticket

2 Customer account and registration by LogPay

After entering this data, a registration e-mail is sent which contains a link to the LogPay regis-tration. Following the link, the payment method is selected and bank details can be entered. Registration is complete and the screen returns to the app. Users can now purchase tickets.

4 Credit check by LogPay and delivery of e-ticket

If a customer buys the ticket, a credit check is performed by LogPay. After the customer’s credit standing has been confirmed, the ticket is delivered. Customers receive confirmation of the purchase by e-mail and the option to request a PDF file of the bill.

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“For us, the RVV e-ticket-ing system means: devel-opment of a new technical product. MENTZ has pro- vided apps for journey planning for some time.But the use of external

ticketing systems led to an extra step in user guidance when switching between the app and the ticket shop. The solution was to develop an in-house system that could be seamlessly integrated. The re- quirements: the system must have the same functionalities as other providers, be able to flexibly react to new requirements, be simple to use and work in concert with our Companion app for journey planning. Purchasing of e-tickets should be possi-ble using the journey planner and using a selection list. Finally, the system must have

In July 2016, RVV-managing director, Kai Müller-Eberstein, gave the go-ahead to start the development of the RVV app, which is used for journey planning in the county distinct, the region and beyond. Once launched, however, many passengers epressed a desire for e-ticketing. In October, MENTZ GmbH was commissioned to develop an e-ticketing system. After only nine months, on 26 July 2017, the system went online. The payment system was integrated into the “RVV Companion” – since then it has been running smoothly. “The time frame and technical specifications were quite challenging”, explains Dr. Christoph Schingnitz, Project Manager at the Munich IT- company that has specialized in software developments in transport management since the 70s. He reports from the project workshop:

customer management with a registration option and account management. The selection of tickets offered to customers ranges from single trip tickets in different forms and validities to all-day tickets, to the purchase of strip tickets and credit management. We decided to use LogPay, a subsidiary of the DBV-Bank SE, as a payment service provider. LogPay is a very experienced company in this market and has always cooperated with MENTZ in a professional manner. After six months, in April 2017, we began the first intensivetesting for the pilot version. In mid-June 2017, the field tests started with external users in the RVV. By the end of July wewere online.”

The technical solutionThe integration of ticketing is done over a dynamic API,which is made available via our background system. This is cutting-edge tech- nology and has many advantages.

Changes to the range of tickets or the price struc-ture can be displayed di-rectly in the app after being released by the transport authority or company.

Transport authorities can create their own new tick- ets, test them in a con-trolled environment and after being released, trans-ported to the live system.This is all possible without having to update the app.

The solution using a dynamic API also enables the integration of multiple ticketing systems inside the app. This is often required by some larger transport authorities.

The Goal: A Seamless System

THE PRO JECT

App(Companion)

Ticketshop(Magento)

Ticket generator

EFA

LogPay

mySQL

Ticket

JSON API

XML API

SOAP

MENTZ Magazine 1 / 17 The MENTZ E-Ticket for the RVV in Regensburg

8 MENTZ Magazine 1 / 17

NEWS IN BRIEF

DIVA from Munich for METRA in Chicago. After long-time Bayern Munich soccer star Bastian Schweinsteiger joined the Chicago Fire, the Windy City can now boast anoth-er quality signing from Munich: MENTZ product DIVA Duty Scheduling and De-ployment. Responding to an international Request for Proposal, MENTZ stood out from the competition and was awarded a tender by METRA, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation. Among many positives, the dialogcon-trolled transport management system DIVA scored extra points with its recentlydeveloped automatic deployment assis-tance and optimization.

METRA is the second largest regional rail network in the USA with more than 80 million passengers and 800 kilome-ters of routes that stretch all the way to New York. It also has a number of unique features: In addition to a conductor and an assistant conductor, the METRA trains require a technician to operate normally. Also unfamiliar to European planners are the so-called seniority moves. According to this work policy, a conductor that has acrued more years of service can displace a younger colleague from a slot in their personal duty schedule. No problem for DIVA: all of these special features can be depicted in the data model and in the optimization.

A Trip Companion – Indoor-Routing Assistance at the VRR Barrier-free routing through buildings for mobility- and visually-impaired customers:MENTZ expanded the app of the Rhine- Ruhr Transport Authority (VRR) to includeBluetooth-based indoor-routing assistance for navigation through public transport stations of the largest cities in the Rhine- Ruhr region.

To accomplish this goal, Bluetooth beacons are being installed in buildings to transmit signals for the VRR app. The app then uses the signals to calculate a user’s location and guide them. In a first step, the Ruhr- bahn GmbH (Essen, Mülheim) will equip the city stations, the VRR is responsible for other rail stations. In addition to beacons at stops, the Ruhrbahn will also install a beacon transmitter in vehicles which can inform the customer about additional routes and next stops via Bluetooth.

MENTZ augmented the VRR app to be able to receive signals and make their content available in the new trip guidance. This feature acts like a “guardian angel” that immediately informs a user about incidents along their route and suggests alternatives. When changing vehicles, the app finds an optimal route through a station and guides users by announcing the current trip section. If necessary, the app can display routes for the separate floor levels on detailed maps.

61. User Group in PaderbornThe 61st DIVA/EFA user group was held in Paderborn from September 27 th – 29th. This time around, the 60 participants from Germany and Switzerland were treated to two new innovations. Integrated optimiza-tion for duty and vehicle scheduling (see also page 10 of this issue) was demonstrat-ed live for the first time. On the second day, the new e-ticketing was shown using the RVV system, which had only been in oper-ation for 8 weeks, and with an overview on the CiCo POC at the VRR.

In the evening, participants took a journey into the computer’s past and thus into the company history of MENTZ. In the Nixdorf Museum, older customers and colleagues rediscovered a few devices that helped them take the first steps into the digital age of public transport several decades ago. That’s how long ago it’s been!

This year’s host was PaderSprinter GmbH, who made sure that all participants were well taken care of.

EVENTSWG EFA17 – 18 October 2017, TübingenOrganizer: naldo

1. Mobile Day07 November 2017, MunichHotel Maritim

IT TRANS 201806 – 08 March, Karlsruhe

WG Print30 – 31 January 2018, Karlsruhe, Organizer: KVV

WG GIS02 – 03 May 2018, NurembergOrganizer: VGN

62. DIVA/EFA User Group14 – 15 June 2018, MunichOrganizer: MENTZ

InnoTrans 201818 – 21 September 2018, Berlin

Invitation to IT TRANS 2018In 2018, MENTZ will have a stand at the IT TRANS from the 6 – 8 March in Karlsruhe,Germany. The IT TRANS is the second lar- gest trade fair for the transport industry in Germany and one of the most important branch meetings in Southern Germany. Once again, MENTZ will be able to present many exciting innovations. The team is look- ing forward to your visit at stand B5. Tick-ets can be pre-ordered at info@mentz.net.

News in Brief by MENTZ

Interview: with RVV Managing Director Kai Müller-Eberstein

The RVV started the app in July 2016. What is its core value?In the last few years, the RVV was a bit cautious when it came to digital informa-tion media. In return, we had the chance to use systems available on the market at reasonable costs. The overwhelming response and positive feedback to our app demonstrated rather quickly that we would win over our customers with the combina-tion of real-time journey planning and fare information. The only thing missing was e-ticketing.

What made you decide to collaborate with MENTZ? Definitely our previous cooperation, but also that we were prepared to support MENTZ in the technical development of the new app – and the resulting well-priced offer. A classic win-win situation.

The time frame of 9 months was rather ambitious… Yes, indeed. A bit of skepticism crept in when we were unable to see progress dur-ing the first few weeks. We had assumed that things would move at the speed of light. But when our project manager re-ceived a first test version only a few weeks later, it became increasingly clear that we would be able to meet our targets.

How has the app been received by customers? We have received our most positive feed-back regarding the user-friendliness of our app. The integration of ticket purchasing has been very successful. The 60,000 downloads confirm their approval. The in-creasing number of registrations for e-tick-eting show that there is a need for this kind of convenient sales channel. We anticipate that the number of ticket purchases will increase significantly.

Think about your colleagues in other regions who may want to implement e-ticketing: what kind of advice would you give them? If expenditure should be kept manageable, one should use existing external systems for information and ticket purchase. We started almost from scratch and, thanks to the DEFAS-Initiative of the Federal State of Bavaria, we could fall back on a highly functioning background system – without having to build a complex journey planning and fare server.

What is the next step for the RVV regarding e-ticketing? People in Regensburg love the strip ticket! Without it, the RVV app is only half an app.For this reason we want to integrate it very soon; a test version already exists.

The world heritage city of Regensburg is a popular tourist destination; for this clien-tele we would like to integrate PayPal as a payment option.

Where do you see the RVV in 5 years with regard to mobile customer service? The RVV is increasingly developing into a mobility provider for the region. RVV is, in a way, mobility. The app plays an impor-tant role in this. Customers should only need one app for multimodal journeys that involve bus, rail, bike and car-sharing – andnot have competing systems as is the case in other metropolitan areas.

A one-stop shop

THE CUS TOMER

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The duty and vehicle schedules of a transport authority specify how the various trips of an operating day are assigned to drivers and vehicles. It is in the best interest for transport companies to draw up these schedules in the most optimal way. Poorly planned duty and vehicle schedules can cause unnecessary costs for personnel and resources, but they can also upset the workforce, for example because of split duties, too many shift changes or long transfers on foot. A purely manual optimization is too cumbersome, takes too much time, and does not guarantee that a good solution will be found – that is why computer programs normally support planners. MENTZ has now developed a new, integrated duty and vehicle schedule that clearly differentiates itself from its com- petitors. Using it, the planner becomes a designer – and the software does the work.

Control with MENTZ duty analysisThe process of optimization can be con-trolled at any time, optimization parameters can be adjusted while it is running and the effects are immediately visible. Previous-ly saved or generated proposals can be introduced into the process and compared at any time. Direct access to the MENTZ duty analysis enables individual duties to be examined more precisely in a proposed solution. Users can investigate in detail why the optimizer generates certain types of duties, and not others.

Integrated optimization leads to many alternativesMany conventional optimizers only devise one proposed solution. The MENTZ opti-mizer, in contrast, proposes a number of alternatives and provides the option to visu-alize and compare them. Last, but not least, the MENTZ optimizer plans duties and blocks in an integrated manner – instead of the two-step approach used by many others (see box on the next page).

Instead of a black-box, a white-box always with the latest figuresMany other optimizers work according to the black-box principle: after they

have been fed input data and parameters, they often have to compute for a long time and– in a best-case scenario – they pro-pose a solution. What happens during the optimization is not revealed to the user. In contrast, the MENTZ optimizer is a white-box: from the very first second, the best proposed solutions are graphically present-ed, including a dashboard that reduces the essential features of the solutions to a few key performance indicators.

Quick Overview: During optimization, key performance indicators signal essential features of the best proposed solution.

Values are in the target area

Current costs of vehicles, drivers and their totals

blocks duty tendency: 173

duties missing shift typetime diff. to shift type:0 separate shift change:0

missing group split dutiesinvalid duties segments:236

unwanted duties deviation from

opt.: 0

standing times total costs: 3,706

duty tolerance

Indicators that show a need for optimization

(R)evolution:

Even algorithms and com-puting operations can orient themselves toward nature. Using bionic math, MENTZ has developed software based on evolution and ge-netic engineering principles that can rapidly optimize duty and vehicle schedules.

Development Project

Product Software for the design of duty and vehicle schedules Function Optimization with integrated

white-box-testing, dashboard with key parameters etc.

Contact info@mentz.net

Integrated Optimization – from planner to designer

EUR

123.4vehicles

EUR

234.1drivers

EUR

357.5total

1312 MENTZ Magazine 1 / 17

Faster to find proposed solutions using the multi-agent systemIn order to make duty and vehicle schedule planning faster, the engineers at MENTZ added a multi-agent-system to the evolutionary algorithm. Instead of randomly modifying proposed solutions, the agents actively search for a solution for potential areas of improvement (e.g. ablock with long standing time) and start modifications primarily in those areas. In doing so, the agents attempt to modify the proposed solution to exhaust the potential for improvement (e.g. reduce standing time by adding additional trips to the block). Through targeted intervention by the agents, the MENTZ optimizer gene-rates useful proposed solutions at a much faster rate.

What this means for our software usersCan the everyday work of duty and vehicle schedulers be improved? We think so. In addition to facilitating tasks like accoun-ting for duty composition parameters for

block optimization, planners have totally new options to get the job done. Previous-ly, the goal was often to reduce costs, to utilize vehicles to capacity and to be able to offer drivers “good duties”. MENTZ ta-kes these goals a step further: Are the to-tal costs more important than the perfect vehicle blocks? Should poor combinations of routes be avoided in a block? There is more than just “good” and “bad”, and the genetic conference understands that.

The planner becomes a designerMENTZ provides its software users the option to be a part of the optimization process and to co-determine its direction at all times. Through high performance, alternative schedules can be realised in minutes. The perception of work can dramatically change and the planner be-comes a designer.

Dashboard: the most important indicators of the proposed solution

Central control: display and control of cost factors Duty analysis:

detailed control functionality for duties, duty segments and the entire dutyschedule

Process monitoring: display of indicator processes

Main view: visualization of a proposed solution with duties and vehicle blocks

There is more than just “good” and “bad”, and the genetic conference understands that.

In the cockpit of MENTZ’s optimizer: quick overview of the target values, visualization of duties and every important parameter

Combinational optimization problem – a millennium problem of mathematicsDuty and vehicle schedule optimization belongs to the difficult combinational optimization problems, and it is a given in mathematics that there is no generally usable efficient algorithm for this class of problems. If a solution were to be discov-ered, it would also solve – concurrently with the P-NP-problem – one of the mil-lennium problems of mathematics.

Evolutionary algorithms – nature as a modelThis search for a solution may not sound very promising. The goal is to have an efficient problem solver, which also can be used generally. At this point, it makes sense to take a look at principles in nature: over millions of years, the process of evo-lution was able to produce a large variety of very different forms that were excep-tionally well-adapted to their respective

living conditions – and this without intelligent control. Evolution can be seen as a random process for “optimization of types” and is mainly based on two princi-ples:

Mutation and recombinationNew individuals are formed through a pro-cess in which genetic material, meaning the blueprint of the existing individuals is randomly mixed and changed.

SelectionClassic theory in biology states that organisms better adapted to their en-vironment are able to reproduce more frequently. In the long term, these adap-tions allow certain genetic material to be passed on to offspring.

In the realm of math, evolutionary algo-rithms function in a similar manner: at the beginning there are many randomly

generated solutions (“original population”). The algorithm evaluates these proposed solutions with a cost function (selection criterion) and rejects the worst of them. The better options are randomly modified and combined (“mutation” and “recombi-nation”) and form a new generation of pro-posed solutions. These are then evaluated, modified and combined so that incremen-tally better solutions are proposed.

The framework “Genetic Conference” – intelligent evolutionClassic evolutionary algorithms have one disadvantage: they are slow because changes are always made in random direc-tions. This is where MENTZ steps in: our framework “Genetic Conference” teaches evolution how to think!

The conventional approach to duty and vehicle scheduling is to split the search for a good duty and vehicle schedule into two sub issues that can be sequentially processed:

1. Vehicle scheduling “construct vehicle blocks from the given trips”

2. Duty scheduling: “cut the blocks at relief points and construct duties from the block sections”

This approach has a significant disadvantage: when vehicle scheduling, parameters used later for duty construction, like maximum driving time, rules for break times, etc. are not sufficiently accounted for. As a result, the vehicle blocks cannot be cut to construct optimal duties.

Using the integrated approach by MENTZ, duties and vehicle blocks are not sequentially, but rather simultaneously constructed.

This manner of computing is much more complex, but it provides better results because all conditions and parameters are always incorporated. Many alternatives present themselves during optimization that can be evaluated by a planner.

The integrated approach can be used for the scenarios and needs of all transport companies: in addition to integrated scheduling, scenarios like “only duty schedule optimization on existing vehicle blocks” and specifications like “duty = block” and “fewest possible changes from the specified begin-ning solution” can be processed.

Integrated Optimization:An approach for all scenarios

The old method of calculation New: integrated optimization

The many proposed solutions by the MENTZ optimizer can be generated so rapidly because atwo-step mathematical operation has been combined to create a so-called integrated optimization.

Integrated Optimization – from planner to designer

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1514 MENTZ Magazine 1 / 17

The people in Westphalia-Lippe have good reason to be excited. This region in the Federal State of North Rhine- Westphalia has just combined five fare regions into one. The result is the second largest common fare structure in Germany. MENTZ ensures fairness with DIVA Fares: passengers pay ticket prices according to their route, the involved transport authorities receive the revenue precisely according to use of their fare zones. The concept of fair- ness appeals to the higher good and that has its price: in this case in the form of an enormous amount of data and its display as fare areas. However, with a little mathe-matical trickery a simple, elegant solution evolved. This is applicable for all fare regions worldwide which plan to join with their neighbours.

“One for bus and rail”, that is the slogan behind the Westphalia fare, which on 1 August 2017 fused the

five previous regional fare networks into one. For passengers, trip planning has become much easier. The ticket price is calculated from origin, destination and route. Knowledge of the price categories when purchasing a ticket is not necessary. North Rhine-Westphalia has almost 18 million inhabitants and is thus the most populous Federal State in Germany by a large margin. Until 2011 there were nine fares in the state, and by July 2017 still eight, now there are only four – and in a few years maybe only one. The trend to fuse fare networks continues, promoted

by EU-provisions and economic consider-ations. In the coming years large Federal States will most likely have uniform fares, similar to what has been implemented in the Berlin- Brandenburg area. There is one salient aspect for all fusions: how to achieve fairness from the point of view of both the passengers and the transport authorities, which need to convert their portion of the route into revenue? The solution is distance-related pricing with territorial validity. It sounds easy, but it requires complex computing operations.

The second largest fare region in Germany The Westphalia fare combines an area of more than 19,000 square kilometers with 7.2 million people, and is thus the second largest fare region in Germany in which there are approx. 28,600 public transport stops. It is valid in 16 counties and three independent cities in West-phalia-Lippe. There are more than 60 transport authorities involved, an operating authority of the regional rail transport and 27 operating public transport authorities. The new fare network replaces Münsterland-, Hochstift-, Ruhr-Lippe-, Westphalia- South - and Sechser-fares.

Fare networks until 31.7.2017Five into one

Fare networks since 1.8.2017

Germany, Westphalia-Lippe

Product DIVA Fares: integrated fare calculation when aggregating multiple fare zones in the EFA journey planner

Function Calculation of possible routes and fair price determination according to route length or territorial validity Contact mentzh@mentz.net

Westphalia fare – five into one

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This complex system must now be visual-ized using Voronoi diagrams. To be able to view them, the fare zones and fareareas need to be colour-coded. Math can also assist in this task: The 4-color set im-plies that a map that is divided into areas can be colored with four hues so that the areas that have the same color never touch (see figure). Using this mathematic method for DIVA fares we achieved an extremely high resolution: currently there are approx. 54,000 relations in the Westphalia fare and this only represents the half of the matrix. In total, about 108,000 different territory validities can be sold.

The last step – integrating neighbouring fare zonesEven if the five fare networks were fused in Westphalia there are plenty of neighbors.Westphalia borders on the Rhine-Ruhr Transport Authority (VRR), on the Rhine-Sieg Transport Authority (VRS), on the Rhine-Mosel Transport Authority (VRM), the Osnabrück Transport Community (VOS), the North Hessian Transport Au-thority (NVV), the Rhine-Main Transport Authority (RMV) and many other areas in Lower Saxony and Holland. Passengerscannot be expected to know the exact borders. The journey planning system that calculates the trip needs to figure out which fare is valid, even if fares overlap. For example, the Rhine- Ruhr Transport Authority has collar areas with its neigh-bours and the Westphalia fare collar areas in the VRR. This leads to trips where pas-sengers can choose between two fares. Using the Westphalia fare one can ride into the eastern fare areas of the VRR. This is a challenge in terms of data because calcu-lators of the Westphalia fare do not want to capture every stop of the permitted VRR areas. The problem can only be solved by

with the territory validity, these are all the elements for ticket sales. The system also runs on mobile devices, but e-ticketing will be introduced as the next step. MENTZ also provides ticket shops. In the future, registered users will be able to purchase tickets on their mobile devices. This fea-ture will require a ticket broker.

Challenges for the developersEach fare has a spatial and temporal element, it has tickets and a set of rules that describes the temporal use and rules for what can be transported. The fare data are used in different applications: in fare calculation – here in EFA –, in ticket ma-chines and with other contractual partners like in control devices of the corresponding service provider. In Westphalia, the dataare fed into so-called product- and control modules, for which there are specifications by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV). These modules are used in ticketing machines and control devices.

Fare areas with precise spatial resolutionUltimately the fare network sells areas in terms of validity territories. These territo-ries are required to fairly divide revenue to the transport authorities and service providers. In order to capture and visual-ize these areas, the DIVA system had to be expanded to include the DIVA fares module by MENTZ. Visualization requires a large volume of data. The fare areas also have to be classified, and then subdivided into smaller fare zones. This work includes accounting for the approx. 28,600 public transport stops in the Westphalia fare area. In order to be able to sell tickets by areas, all stops must be correctly captured in the data. Some stops are located on zone bor-ders and can belong to multiple fare zones.

Westphalia-Lippe, home of medieval towns and old cultural landscapes. Millions of residents commute between city and countryside every day. Their paths lead through five former fare regions that have now fused into the Westphalia fare.

assigning fare zones and areas of the VRR to those of Westphalia. DIVA fares allow these kinds of assignments to be managed and visualized. In concert with EFA, a cross-border fare can be calculated. For a state–wide fare calculation, every fare in the journey planner area must be captured using this technique. In some instances this has already happened, but in others, there is more work to be done.

THE CONCEP T

Ultimately the fare network sells areas in terms of validity territories. These territories are required to fairly divide revenue to the transport authorities and service providers.

What do I get for my money?

More options, higher price – and vice versa: this is how the distance-related fare calculation of the Westphalia fare works.The full program (left map): whoever wants to commute from Münster (green) in the West to Bielefeld in the East (red), is shown two routes for ticket selection: one of them leads through Hamm, one does not. Travelling via Osnabrück is not possible with this ticket because it lies outside the validity territory (blue). For example, a “transferable transport pass” costs 239.10 Euro per month in the widest territory validity with a total of 49 trip options on one day. The reduced program (right map): next to the map, passengers are displayed the various product options to select the correct ticket. In our example, the passenger decided to use the shorter route. In this example it is no longer possible to commute through Hamm. The passenger also has fewer trips available with 14 a day – but only pays 230 Euro for the transport pass.

Fare calculation from the customer’s point of viewThe Westphalia fare was integrated into EFA system (electronic journey planner by MENTZ). In particular, the fare advisor helps users find and purchase the right offer for them. Passengers now get their information mainly from internet-based media. For occasional users it is relatively simple: they plan a journey from A to B, purchase a ticket and ride.

However, more than 80 percent of all trips are from the apartment to work or to school and are paid for using monthly or yearly passes. Whoever commutes and has to pay higher prices can now precisely check using the fare calculator and eva- luate what is best for them – because there are often multiple ways to reach a destination.

MENTZ’s fare calculation makes this com-plex task easy by showing route options on a map. Some of these routes are differen-tially provided, have different lengths and vary in price. If a commuter wants to travel through Westphalia, from Münster to Bielefeld, they are shown which so-called validity territories they must cross. Green is the starting area, red the destination area, and the blue areas are the ones that can be used in addition. In Westphalia, the fare is sold according to validity territories. The example illustrates which decisions the passenger can now make (see figure).

Using this technique, users can be shown what they get for their money. The method also works for shorter distances. In this case there are smaller fare areas, so-called fare zones, and for regional travel the larg-er areas or fare sectors are shown. There is a range of tickets for each validity territory.

This range of products differentiates ac-cording to ticket type and price. Together

The trend is towards uniformity of fare networks in the Federal States. Fairness in fare calculation can be technically solved and elegantly visualized.« Dr. Hans-Joachim Mentz

»

Münster

Münster

Bielefeld

Bielefeld

Osnabrück

Osnabrück

Hamm

Hamm

Westphalia fare – five into one

18 MENTZ Magazine 1 / 17

Sydney: Whoever wants to ride the public transport network from east to west needs patience and a few adjustments to their body clock, after all, it passes through three time zones.

Chicago: The city in the heart of the rust belt is now an innovator with regard to multi modality. If you go to Chicago, you should explore the green-painted bike high-ways on a Divy Bike. The EFA app will show you where to find one – in real-time.

London: Stars and celeb-rities gain recognition in the city by being made into wax figures and put in a museum. We think that with over 3 million planned journeys per day, EFA and DIVA should be next.

Dubai: 75 kilometers with-out a driver. This makes the Dubai METRO the longest driverless transport system in the world. It is one of more than 100 entries for the city in the GuinnessBook of World Records.

Capetown: Can you really see where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet? Look for yourself. The buses of DIVA user MyCITI will take you punctually to the southern tip of Africa.

EditorMENTZ GmbHGrillparzerstraße 18D-81675 MünchenTel.: +49 (0) 89 41 868 - 0Fax: +49 (0) 89 41 868 - 160E-Mail: info@mentz.netInternet: www.mentz.net

Editorial officealbertZWEI Media GmbHRosemarie Mentz

Designmattweis GmbH

Photo credits iStock S. 2, 3, 10, 12, 17

RVV S. 3 – 8 Westfalentarif S. 3, 14 –17

MENTZ S. 3, 9, 18

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