Rider Categories

Main files: rider_categories.txt, fare_products.txt
Example: Translink (Vancouver)

Reminder

Rider Categories represent the different groups of riders, such as seniors, students, children, and adults, eligible for specific fare rates based on their age, status, or needs. For more information revisit the Features section in the Introduction page.

Defining rider categories allows trip planners (GTFS consumers) to display different fares based on the rider's status—such as age, accessibility needs, or social circumstances—ensuring appropriate fares are shown for each group.

Specify rider categories

Each rider category is created in rider_categories.txt as follows:

1. Fill rider_category_id with the unique id of the rider category
2. Fill rider_category_name with the rider-facing name of the category (Adult, Student, etc)
3. Fill is_default_fare_cateory; if the category is the default one, set this field to 1, otherwise set to 0 or keep it empty.
4. If available, fill eligibility_url with a web page that contains information about the conditions for the rider category. Otherwise, the entire column is optional.

Consult the documentation for more information regarding Rider Categories.

For this example, two categories are specified for Translink, adult and concession. adult is the default category. An eligibility_url is also added for the concession category, explaining which riders are included in the category.

rider_categories.txt

rider_category_id	rider_category_name	is_default_fare_category	eligibility_url
adult	Adult	1
concession	Concession		https://www.translink.ca/transit-fares/pricing-and-fare-zones#fare-pricing

Associate with fare products

Each fare product can be eligible for one or multiple rider categories. To showcase this eligibility, rider categories are associated with fare products in fare_products.txt as follows:

1. For each fare product, fill rider_category_id with the ID of the rider category that determines the cost of the leg.
2. This is a Foreign Key referencing rider_category_id in rider_categories.txt.
3. An empty rider_category_id in fare_products.txt means that the fare product is eligible for any rider category.

For this example, two different bus fare products are specified for flat bus fare for adults and for concession categories. When bus_flat_fare is associated with the adult rider category, the amount is CAD 3.20. When bus_flat_fare is associated with the concession rider category, the amount is CAD 2.15.

fare_products.txt

fare_product_id	fare_product_name	amount	currency	fare_media_id	rider_category_id
bus_flat_fare	Bus Flat Fare	3.20	CAD	contactless	adult
bus_flat_fare	Bus Flat Fare	2.15	CAD	contactless	concession