Studies and analyses on the use of tickets and the mobility of users

Knowing the use of tickets: a decision-making aid for Île-de-France Mobilités

Île-de-France Mobilités needs detailed knowledge of public transport uses, and in particular the details of passenger mobility according to the ticket they use, from various points of view, in particular for the following activities:

• assess the role of revenues and/or traffic in the remuneration of transport operators
• distribute fare revenues between companies (the aim is for a company's share to be representative of the use that passengers make of its network)
• assess the adequacy between the service offered by a ticket and the mobility practices of its users
• assess the impact on revenues and mobility of the proposed fare measures to help the decision of the directors of Île-de-France Mobilités
• justify the contribution of local authorities that finance a particular tariff ticket or measure (Ile-de-France Region, Departments).

In addition to sales data, Île-de-France Mobilités uses two main sources of information:

• surveys conducted among users of a given ticket to find out their profile and mobility (e.g. survey of ticket users in 2006, survey of users of the ImagineR package in 2007). These surveys are cumbersome because several thousand people are questioned about all their trips by public transport over a period of one week or one month depending on the type of ticket; they are therefore only renewed at a frequency of 5 to 10 years
• the Validation Data Information System (SIDV). The anonymised data relating to all validations carried out with a ticket loaded on a ticketed pass are transmitted by the carriers to the SIDV, a system set up by Île-de-France Mobilités from 2008 under the control of the CNIL. Knowing that tickets on electronic ticketing currently represent 80% of traffic on the Ile-de-France networks (and eventually almost all), validation data constitute an extremely rich potential for information and their statistical use is intended to become the main tool for observing users' mobility instead of surveys. One of the current major challenges in achieving this ambition is to improve the modelling and adjustment rules applied to the data from the SIDV in order to achieve operations that are easily accessible to all.

In addition, ad-hoc studies can be conducted on specific topics.

Mobility surveys

Surveys on the use of tickets, tickets and short packages – 2006 and 2015

Over the course of a month, around 3 million Ile-de-France residents travel at least once with a travel ticket or a short ski pass. There are quite diverse mobility practices among these passengers, some using public transport on a very regular basis, others on a very occasional basis. The documents below present the results of the surveys conducted in 2006 and 2015 among users of short fares in the Ile-de-France region (non-Ile-de-France residents, who represent about 15% of tickets sold, were not questioned in these surveys).

Imagine R Plan Usage Survey – 2007

This survey was conducted before the introduction of the all-zone pass among a representative sample of the 755,000 pupils or students under 26 years of age who held an Imagine R subscription in 2007 (890,000 in 2016). It analyses the mobility of these young people, according to the type of package subscribed to (Imagine R School or Student) and their place of residence: volume and scope of travel, modes used, reasons for travel, use of dezoning, etc.

Amethyst Title Use Survey – 2002 and 2009

These surveys, conducted in 2002 and 2009, concern the 4 magnetic fares that existed before the electronic ticketing of the Amethyste pass in 2013: the free and half-fare Amethyste cards (valid on the RATP and SNCF networks), the Emerald card (allowing you to travel in Paris), and the Rubis card (valid on the bus networks of the outer suburbs operated by private companies. They show that holders of an Amethyst ticket, who are either elderly or disabled people with low resources, or veterans over 60 years old, make an average of 5.3 trips per week by TC, that they mainly use the bus, and mainly for leisure/entertainment reasons (and shopping/shopping to a lesser extent).

Exploitation of validation data

Dezoning

Dezoning, i.e. the possibility offered to users of a zonal pass to travel outside the zones of validity of their pass over certain periods of the year, historically concerned Imagine R. It was gradually extended to the Navigo, Navigo Solidarité and Améthyste passes from September 2012. The validation data made it possible to make an initial assessment of the extension of the dezoning: at the end of spring 2013, 5.5% of Navigo or Navigo Solidarité subscribers made a "dezoned" trip on a weekend of full traffic, i.e. 3 times less than Imagine R subscribers (16%). This discrepancy is probably explained both by the incomplete ramp-up of the practice of dezoning on Navigo and Navigo Solidarité at the time of the study, and by the greater mobility of young people in public transport at weekends, particularly for leisure activities.

The complementary course

The journey supplement allows holders of zonal passes who make a rail journey outside the areas of validity of their pass to pay only the supplement corresponding to the part of the journey made outside these zones. Implemented at the beginning of 2013, its ramp-up was long and sales in 2013 were much lower than expected, due in particular to the lack of awareness of this title. A report on the use of the Complementary Journey in 2013 was drawn up on the basis of the use of validation data, supplemented by some key results of a perception survey conducted at the end of 2013 among users of this transport ticket.

Calendar effects on traffic

The analysis of the validation data makes it possible to observe the more or less strong effect of calendar effects (working days/weekends, periods on or off holidays, long weekends, etc.) depending on the category of ticket: very marked for Navigo, less so for social vouchers (Navigo Solidarity and Navigo Gratuité).

Other studies