In regions where several carriers operate public transport, passenger revenue has to be distributed from the retailer to the involved carriers. This can be quite complicated in some cases. There is a need for an independent party to give a definitive answer, based on a clear distribution method accepted by all parties.

For example, how should revenue be distributed from non-chipped tickets that can be used with multiple carriers? In many cases, a seemingly limited amount of data is available. Through clever tools and methods, it is still possible to determine a good distribution in many cases. We find these types of complex issues the most interesting to solve.

We have been active in this field for over 20 years and have satisfactorily carried out this work on behalf of various local authorities and associations of transport operators.

Public transport operators and/or governments regularly want to make larger or smaller changes to the products and rates in their concession(s) to achieve passenger growth or a better distribution of travelers over the day. To predict the consequences of an adjusted tariff policy, Hypercube has developed a scenario tool. This tool makes effects visible for every possible combination of new travel products and prices. This concerns volume changes, migration patterns and consequences for revenues from sales to and use by travelers, as well as the price tag for the traveler.

The scenario tool uses usage data from the public transport chip card and/or debit card, supplemented with information about the sale of non-chipped products and fixed-rate revenues. This scenario tool uses the principle of backcasting. By this we mean that a traveler’s past travel pattern is projected onto the newly proposed fare policy. The tool determines the chances with which each traveler will travel with a particular product under the new rate policy, and to what extent.

In a scenario study, collaboration with governments, operators and traveler organizations is very important and an integral part of the process that we ideally want to go through. We like to start that process with an up-to-date picture of the market, a market scan. The basis is formed by a recent year of user transactions. How often does who travel with which products and when, and what is the spending pattern of various travelers? In consultation, we develop possible improvements in the offer to the traveler, in line with the current objectives and making use of the current options. These improvements are placed in scenarios that we analyze with the forecast model.

Over the past two decades, Hypercube has built an extensive network and developed the necessary expertise in public transport in the Netherlands. We are asked by governments and transport operators to advise on the revenue model of concessions and distinguish ourselves with unique tools in the field of changes in fares and product portfolio. We also develop and provide revenue models for interoperable products.

We offer the results of our analyses and research in, among other things, an information portal that is set up in consultation with the client and shows the policy-supporting insights in an appealing way.

Virtually all our advice is fact-based (read: data-driven). Monitoring and information provision are often an important part of our services. For example, we monitor whether a new tariff policy is delivering what was intended. We are very familiar with handling, for example, OV-chipkaart transactions and publicly available data such as timetable information.