Better Integration for door-to-door journeys

D2D

Project information

Better Integration for door-to-door journeys
Project director: Marc Guigon
Project manager: David Sarfatti
Status: ongoing project
Project code: 2019/PAS/617

Project description

Integration between rail and other surface transportation services, such as local public transportation, buses, car sharing and bikes, is beneficial for all parties involved. For rail companies, the main benefits include improving customer service, additional passenger volumes, encouraging modal shift, new ancillary revenue sources and the opportunity to evolve from a pure transport operator to a mobility service provider.

The project will enable rail companies to offer door-to-door journey packages through digitally-enabled ticketing, journey management and validation systems, and will leverage the growing adoption of account-based ticketing by transport providers. Moreover, the project has defined guidelines and formats for the exchange of real-time data, including train tracking.

Project objectives

D2D is an ongoing project by UIC Passenger Services Group (PSG). It aims at providing resources to Rail Operators and other mobility ecosystem players to facilitate the creation and delivery of door-to-door services. Such resources include guides that can help understand relevant market and technology trends, available standards and specifications, challenges and opportunities, use cases and customer journey, implementation guidelines. Domains covered by the guides include: schedules and journey planning, fares, availability and reservation, ticketing, validation and inspection, customer care, revenue sharing, responsibilities.

The D2D project is staffed by an experienced team of UIC and railway experts and industry consultants that is available to support the launch of efforts by rail operators and their partners to develop door-to-door services and implement MaaS.

The D2D team includes experts that are also leading the design of UIC services and specifications that aim at transforming the passenger experience. This includes facilitating the integration of multiple modes with rail services. A quick overview follows.

The MERITS data service now provides up-to-date rail timetables in GTFS format, very commonly used to exchange public transport schedules.
eTCD is a platform and digital service allowing carriers to validate and inspect electronic entitlements issued by other carriers. Passengers just need to show a digital token on their smartphone to be recognised. Ticket information is shared almost in real time. Ticket issuers receive up to date information on ticket control and usage. It greatly simplifies interoperability among carriers (and, potentially, other mobility ecosystem players) as it does not require an integration of ticketing or booking systems.
Flexible Content Barcode is a UIC specification that enables digital travel rights to be represented with a 2D- barcode in a secure and seamless way. It supports multiple use cases, including offline and online control, opening of station gates, refunds and after sales processes, annotations. Besides rail products, it is suitable for local transport, intercity bus, ferries, shared vehicles, and on demand transport.
OSDM (Open Sales and Distribution Model) includes specifications for the offline exchange of fares as well for online API interfaces supporting distribution of transport products. OSDM supports a wide range of fares, providing high flexibility, for example, in defining zones and conditions of regional validity. The online APIs are suitable for managing different types of mobility services. OSDM already supports public transport and over time will include additional features, extending its applicability to different use cases.

The combination of the above resources can be a game-changer for Rail Operators interested in providing door-to- door services. Benefits include simpler interoperability with partner mobility service providers, interlining with partner rail operators (so enabling roaming services across borders), reduced investments and increased reuse across multiple ecosystems.