Resplus binds together Sweden’s public transport

Resplus is the trademark for combined tickets in Sweden. The company behind Resplus is called Samtrafiken1, which was founded in 1993. Besides the 30 companies that own Resplus, about 15 additional carriers participate in the Resplus cooperative programme. This means that Resplus includes combined tickets for all long-distance train traffic, regional and local trains, trams and the underground as well as a broad selection of both commercial bus and boat transport. Resplus even includes taxis reserved in advance in sparsely populated areas as well as museum railways.

There are approximately 350 railway stations in Sweden, but with Resplus, the total number of saleable stops in the systems where long-distance trains are booked increases to 3,500. This strengthens the offerings of long-distance train companies and gives regional carriers an unbeatable national network of sales and distribution channels.

Cooperation within the industry through Samtrafiken involves not just ticket coordination but also planning with respect to timetables, information and travel options and dealing with traffic interruptions. At the infrastructure level, Samtrafiken also coordinates orders for station services by carriers as well as disability issues.

Timetable data is collected from all participating companies

Our database encompasses almost all public transport throughout the country. A selection of lines, stops and transport considered most important are available for sale at Resplus.

Our own national travel planner, Resrobot2, contains everything in the database, including ferries to and from Sweden and all domestic flights, as well as a route planner for cars. Samtrafiken provides the data to its owners and to outside companies and also takes part in EU-spirit3, a collaboration that makes our transport data also available through information systems outside Sweden’s borders.

In order to combine different modes of transport, uniform timetable changes are being implemented for trains and buses. Swedish train operators have just converted to changing timetables in December instead of June in keeping with EU practices, and within the next few years several bus companies will do the same.

In a country like Sweden that has infrequent departures, transfer options are an extremely important factor in reaching a destination. In connection with timetable planning, many carriers have joint meetings to try and improve coordination. Moreover, within Resplus, transfer times are specified for every single company at every junction. Ultimately, individual trips can be linked together even if the time for transfer is really too short at the junction. This can be done in cases when collaboration is known to be good and traffic interruptions on the incoming train lines are at a low level.

A great deal of coordination occurs before timetable changes in June and December, but every week there are changes and new additions, so Resplus makes changes from week-to-week. There are sudden occurrences, such as minor track work or the addition of a certain train, almost daily, but unfortunately the process involving search engines and booking systems in mainframe environments is too slow-moving to accommodate daily updatings. Consequently, listings of possible Resplus travel combinations are updated once a week in a search engine. The listing is then further made available to reservation systems and travel planners to show what selections can be sold.

Price-setting by relationships and companies

In tandem with work on timetables, work is progressing on defining fares for travel relationships. There is one fare for each category of travellers and it is set as a percentage of the adult price. Our current price system is based on fixed prices among relationships. This constitutes one of the limiting factors that prevents us from being able to ‘sell everything’. Most companies today supply gross fares, and the large train operators supply dynamic net fares directly to the reservation systems. The strength of the system is the ability to combine fixed and dynamic fares and to always be able to provide the best offer. The customer also gets an opportunity to choose comfort levels and whether or not the ticket can be repurchased, which also affects the fare.

How Resplus tickets can be purchased

Resplus tickets can be purchased from more than 500 independent travel agencies, at the call centres and websites of the major Swedish train companies, at ticket vending machines and ticket offices in more than 100 train stations and also in more than 200 kiosks/supermarkets nationwide. In addition, this is complemented by 2,050 kiosks and convenience shops that are ATG representatives. They are equipped to distribute but not to sell tickets. In total, this means that there is almost one ticket outlet per Resplus stop.

Web sales account for almost 60% of sales. Recently, a fourth company, with a strong regional brand, is also opening a new web sales channel. Sales outlets compete on the basis of service, price and accessibility, and competition on the sales and distribution side is strong.

The sales channels are clients of the two reservation systems. What differentiates the reservation systems are the range of selections and what options they can provide their client hosts. To enable all sales channels to have access to the entire Resplus selection, there is an interface that permits communication between the reservation systems.

How passengers use Resplus tickets

When Resplus began operations, travel was greatest during the summer, but in recent years travel during the other seasons has also increased. Surveys have shown that between 20% and 40% of the trips would not have occurred if the combinations made possible through Resplus did not exist.

The advantages of the Resplus ticketing system

The Resplus system incorporates both short and long, cheap and more expensive travel components. The system’s strength lies in the opportunity to make such combinations. Broad ownership coupled with the possibility to influence and the will to reach mutual agreements have been the cornerstones for building Resplus into what it is today.

Competition in the marketplace, cooperation during the trip

In a world of increased deregulation, it is hard to make all companies realise that it is the network of public transport and cooperation among carriers that causes the traveller to return to public transport instead of choosing the greatest competitor, with four rubber tyres, parked right outside their home. Resplus’ success formula has been, and always will be, ‘Healthy competition for the customer in the marketplace, but cooperation during the trip itself’.

New traveller terms

The core of our travel guarantee is an ‘arrival guarantee’, which means that all participating companies will work together to help travellers reach their final destinations, even in the case of traffic interruptions.

At the moment, we are working on new traveller terms that will take into account the EU regulations for all modes of transport. Unfortunately, all the regulations are not yet on the table, and the situation looks a little different depending on which modes of transport are affected. Until now, the respective carriers have applied their own travel time guarantees on their respective travel segments, but it is hoped that we will receive our own first mutual travel time guarantee in 2010. As matters now stand, travel terms focus on helping the traveller proceed with the trip more than on providing economic compensation for damages that have occurred.

Our travel guarantee today

The following points aim to give our customers piece of mind:

• In cases of traffic interruptions and erroneous information, the carrier that made the mistake prepares a new travel plan for the traveller
• The traveller is first referred to another carrier, which is made available without charge within the Resplus cooperative programme
• Taxi or lodging is provided only if traffic has ceased for the day or under other special circumstances
• In case of service shortcomings, all or part of the ticket price is refunded
• If the purpose of the trip could not be fulfilled, the entire ticket price for the Resplus trip is refunded

To support the carriers and customer service in case of traffic interruptions, Samtrafiken has developed a real-time database through which it is possible to monitor delays and see which travellers will have broken connections. The carriers communicate with one another in the system and decide if the bus should wait or how the passenger will otherwise be able to travel to the final destination. Since the information is immediately available for the carrier whose train has been delayed and other parties concerned, on-board personnel and traffic communicators can obtain correct information on the new travel plan.

Broader Resplus selection and more flexible ticket solutions

Through better use of existing systems, we made it possible in 2007 to sell combinations of county transit and express bus transport, with trains not compulsory as it was before. After only one quarter, these tickets accounted for 10% of total Resplus travel. When the connection among train companies as both sellers and implementers was eliminated, the costs for booking and distribution that the train operator previously had borne alone suddenly became evident. We are now in the process of trying to streamline and reduce costs for the system and distribution. An important part of this effort is to switch from conventional stored value paper tickets to a system that dispenses tickets electronically. The goal is to issue at least 50% of tickets either through SMS or Self-prints within two years. We will offer carriers the opportunity to integrate their own security measures with our SMS; so that tickets can be verified in the same way that on-board personnel verify the carrier’s own tickets. This is a challenge because security measures are often designed by individual companies. The system we are developing will be based on a common router that can communicate with both reservation systems and the carriers’ security measures. This means that upon the next technology transition from SMS to, for example NFC by mobile telephone, the core of the system can be re-used and only the form of distribution need be altered.

Control system for Resplus tickets

Today, Samtrafiken administers a national database of ‘sold’ Resplus tickets. Carriers have access to their own sales data, which can be used for follow-ups and financial accounting. This information is used daily to determine the volume of bus traffic on certain lines.

On-board personnel can also check to see if a ticket is valid via SMS and the internet.

Within half a year, we will be able to offer this ability using on-board handheld computers linked with our database via the carriers’ server. Therefore, control of Resplus tickets is being integrated with the regular control system, and transaction costs are reduced when SMS is not used for controls.

Deregulation makes a flexible system more attractive

Resplus has become more flexible during the past two years. More traveller categories have been introduced, and greater freedom to control fares has been allowed. The uniform rules are now reduced to rules that enhance the traveller’s trip experience. For example, different discounts are allowed, but different amounts of luggage on different travel segments are not permitted.

In March 2009, the Swedish government decided on deregulation of the national railway market that is more far-reaching than that called for by the EU. In July 2009, the market is being opened to competition for weekend and holiday transport on the state railway network. This coming autumn, operation of international passenger traffic on Swedish tracks (without restrictions on boarding and disembarking) will be allowed, and on 1 October 2010, SJ (Swedish Railway) will face full competition for all national passenger traffic.

What effect will this have on Resplus?

• Elimination of the SJ monopoly will result in savings of 15%
• More companies (established and new) are prepared to begin operating on the most profitable segments
• Most companies will want to become associated with Resplus, but some will follow the ‘RyanRail’ model instead and not cooperate with others
• All companies will be invited to cooperate under the same conditions
• Samtrafiken probably will be given the assignment to manage the national transport information system in which all carriers must cooperate

Demands on Resplus will grow, including the need to be more flexible and to enable quicker entry and departure for tours, lines and carriers as a whole.

Local traffic is also being deregulated

The traffic authorities that have existed in every county since 1978, and that are owned by the local and regional municipalities, currently have a monopoly on setting rates and ordering line traffic within the county. The transport itself is almost without exception, ordered through public procurement – usually under an overall contract – and operated by private companies.

Deregulation of the railway market will be followed by additional reregulation of the local and regional market. An inquiry ordered by the government proposes that the traffic authority be abolished and replaced by regional authorities charged with evaluating if a segment or area has a sufficient basis to support economically feasible transport or not. Through public announcements, profitable segments will be assigned to private interests that will be entirely free to establish fares, timetables and routes. The remaining areas will be assigned to companies through service concessions. Even in these cases, the intention is to reduce society’s influence on fares and timetables and instead allow the respective carriers to exercise control, which is expected to increase flexibility and responsiveness to passenger needs. In both cases, the government will require information and ticket cooperation. That strengthens the future utility of Resplus at the local/regional level as well.

With regard to bus transport, there is less dependence on national planning than for rail and there is a risk of too rapid entry and departure within that line of business.

To sum up, we will see a more dynamic and innovative public transport market in the future, which places greater demands on a more adaptable Resplus. The journey to this point has begun, but there still are many travel segments remaining at the moment with unlaid tracks.

References

1. www.samtrafiken.se
2. www.resrobot.se
3. http://www.eu-spirit.com/