01475230

Component

Transfers allow customers to board connecting services without the requirement to pay an additional fare to reach their destinations. As transfers are a core component of fare policy, it is important to select an appropriate transfer time window, defined as the time between the first and final boardings in a journey. The transfer time window selected is important to satisfy both revenue and customer needs. Different approaches can be utilized to derive transfer time windows. For example, a transfer time window can be derived by finding the trip possible with the longest duration on the transit network and setting a transfer time window that allows this trip to be taken on a single fare. Alternatively, a transfer time window can be set so that the time spent on the system is proportional to the fare paid. Unfortunately, both approaches yield relatively long transfer time windows if extreme travel scenarios are considered. To address this concern, an alternative approach was developed to consider more common trips. This analysis found that a transfer time window can be better derived by selecting commonly accessed destinations on the periphery of the transit network, calculating transfer time windows for each origin-destination pair for a weekday during the midday, and then taking the 85th percentile of the transfer time windows required for the origin-destination pairs identified in the sample. The transfer time window should then be rounded to the next 15- or 30-minute increment for communication purposes. Additional considerations when setting a transfer time window include revenue impacts, forward compatibility, congestion and delays, and enforcement. Finally, transfer time windows should be reviewed periodically as the transit system evolves to manage any revenue or customer risks due to changes in network design and travel patterns.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP030 Public Transportation Marketing and Fare Policy

01470560

13-1377

English

22p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References (39) ; Tables

Fares; Origin and destination; Public transit; Revenues; Timed transfer; Traffic congestion; Transfer points; Transfers; Travel patterns; Travel time; Urban transportation policy

Finance; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-1377

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:22PM