fare-revenue-management

End of the first test phase for Home Zone – a huge leap for digital fare innovation

The first e-fare offer specifically designed for season ticket customers ends this week after a successful four-month trial in Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV).

Up to now, e-fare projects in public passenger transport have focused on occasional users and hence on a much smaller customer group. Both pricing and marketing are geared to occasional use and are normally too expensive and impractical for frequent users.

Together with our client KVV, civity has developed an innovative e-fare model for regular customers. The basic idea behind this fare concept is impressively simple: Pas-sengers determine their personal fare zone themselves by defining a circle of any size (Home Zone) on a map on their smartphone. They can then use their season ticket during the selected period to travel on public transport within this area as often as they like. When they leave their individual Home Zone, a distance fare is applied. For the testers, journeys with public transport were free of charge in October; the actual fares for the Home Zone have yet to be determined.

Home Zone is scheduled to start a second trial next year. While the initial test focused on technical functions, the next trial will check the functions of the app, including usability and payment.