2013-present

THE QUESTION

The railway companies carry a joint product range. For the revenue distribution of the subscription sales, the carriers, united in the Working Group Eindbeeld Opbrengstverdeling Spoor (EOS), were looking for a party in 2013 that could determine correct and by all parties accepted distribution keys. They asked us to think about a fair revenue distribution.

HYPERCUBE’S WORK

Hypercube first drew up ‘business rules’, signed by all parties, in consultation with the carriers. Based on these business rules, the first distribution agreements were then set up and executed. We guided the process to reach consensus, whereby we considered not only the ‘purest’ method, but also a distribution method that all carriers can agree on. Furthermore, a procedure was developed that is used for concession transfers to other carriers. The correct distribution of continuous subscriptions is thus guaranteed.

Also, non-chipped products such as actions from the NS Spoordeelwinkel and barcode tickets are subject to the revenue distribution. In order to be able to determine the likely journey made between the origin and destination station, we have developed a reference database in which, per origin-destination relationship, key figures of all train journeys made in the Netherlands over a number of years are recorded. Based on coordinated profiles, the actual travel behavior of a group of travelers can be used in this way to determine distribution keys in these types of situations for journeys for which no check-in and check-out data are available.

We are currently supporting the EOS Working Group on issues surrounding the introduction of new subscriptions for the public transport pass and the associated distribution methods and data deliveries.

RESULT AND FUTURE WORK

Since 2013, we have been working with the EOS Working Group when it comes to determining the distribution keys for interoperable subscriptions. The initial list of eight subscriptions has now grown into a list of more than 50 product groups with very diverse characteristics. In collaboration with Translink, Hypercube has also already ensured that the current method for revenue distribution is suitable for application within OVpay.