Post by compsci on Aug 22, 2013 9:29:46 GMT
I'm currently trying (and largely failing) to comprehend the ticketing system for the Porto (Portugal) metro and bus system as I'm going there next week for a conference. It seems that it is a perfect example of how not to do it.
It starts out sane enough with a number of zones (checkerboard rather than rings), but the whole thing falls to bits when ring validity for individual tickets is superimposed on top. The first time you validate a ticket (single, day, month) your Andante card remembers which zone it was validated in, and your ticket is then valid for travel in that zone and then any other zone up to the number of zones you have paid for e.g a 4 zone ticket would be valid in the first zone and any other zone up to three hops away.
This might not sound too mad, but take the example of someone who lives in the North-West (Zone N3) and works in the South-East (Zone C14). If a monthly ticket was first validated in Zone N3 then it would have to be valid for 9 zones at a cost of €92 for 30 days. If it was validated in Zone C1 (e.g buy a single to the city centre on the first morning of the month) then it would only need to be valid for 6 zones at a cost of €65 for 30 days, even though it would still be perfectly valid for an end-to end journey from N3 to C14. I can't believe that the locals haven't realised this.
There are also 24 and 72 hour "tourist" tickets that are valid on the entire network at €7 and €15 each, yet there is such a thing as a 12 zone 24 hour ticket for €16.70.
Finally tickets must always be touched in even if they have already been validated for e.g 24 hours. Otherwise it's a €180 penalty fare.
After all that it's starting to sound like it will be easiest to buy enough tourist tickets to cover the time I'm there and then validate them every time I see a validator. Or maybe just walk instead.
It starts out sane enough with a number of zones (checkerboard rather than rings), but the whole thing falls to bits when ring validity for individual tickets is superimposed on top. The first time you validate a ticket (single, day, month) your Andante card remembers which zone it was validated in, and your ticket is then valid for travel in that zone and then any other zone up to the number of zones you have paid for e.g a 4 zone ticket would be valid in the first zone and any other zone up to three hops away.
This might not sound too mad, but take the example of someone who lives in the North-West (Zone N3) and works in the South-East (Zone C14). If a monthly ticket was first validated in Zone N3 then it would have to be valid for 9 zones at a cost of €92 for 30 days. If it was validated in Zone C1 (e.g buy a single to the city centre on the first morning of the month) then it would only need to be valid for 6 zones at a cost of €65 for 30 days, even though it would still be perfectly valid for an end-to end journey from N3 to C14. I can't believe that the locals haven't realised this.
There are also 24 and 72 hour "tourist" tickets that are valid on the entire network at €7 and €15 each, yet there is such a thing as a 12 zone 24 hour ticket for €16.70.
Finally tickets must always be touched in even if they have already been validated for e.g 24 hours. Otherwise it's a €180 penalty fare.
After all that it's starting to sound like it will be easiest to buy enough tourist tickets to cover the time I'm there and then validate them every time I see a validator. Or maybe just walk instead.
