2013-present
THE QUESTION
Rail companies operate a joint subscription range. For the revenue distribution of monthly and yearly subscription sales, in 2013 the carriers, united in the Working Group ‘Eindbeeld Opbrengstverdeling Spoor’ (EOS), were looking for a party that could determine correct distribution keys accepted by all parties. They asked us to help and think about a fair revenue distribution.
HYPERCUBE’S WORK
In consultation with the carriers, Hypercube first drew up ‘business rules’ endorsed by all parties. Based on these business rules, the first distribution agreements were then set up and implemented. We guided the process to reach consensus, looking not only at the most detailed and cleanest method, but also at an allocation method that all carriers could agree on.
Non-chipped products (tickets from the Spoordeelwinkel, e-tickets and international tickets) are also the subject of the study. To determine the most probable trip made between origin and destination stations, we developed a reference database in which, for each origin-destination relationship over a number of years, key figures of all train trips made in the Netherlands are recorded. Based on matched profiles, the actual travel behaviour of a group of travellers can thus be used to determine distribution keys for journeys for which no check-in and check-out data are available.
RESULT AND FUTURE WORK
Since 2013, we have been working with EOS when it comes to defining the distribution keys for interoperable subscriptions. The initial list of eight subscriptions has since grown into a list of more than 50 product groups of a very diverse nature. Hypercube is currently investigating the impact of the new public transport payment (OV-pay) on the distribution issue on behalf of the EOS Working Group.
