Time-Based Fares¶

Main files: fare_leg_rules.txt, timeframes.txt
Example: Translink (Vancouver)

Reminder

Time-Based Fares assigns fares for specific time-of-day or day-of-week, such as peak and off-peak fares and/or weekend fares. For more information revisit the Features section in the Introduction page.

Create fare products and fare leg rules¶

Create fare products and fare leg rules. Based on the fare structure, add the relevant fare products and fare leg rules.

For route-based fares, visit the Route-Based Fares section.
For zone-based fares, visit the Zone-Based Fares section.

For this example, both route-based and zone-based fares have been defined for Translink in the Route-Based Fares and Zone-Based Fares sections.

Create timeframes¶

Timeframes are the time windows that enclose the periods of different fares. e.g: A timeframe enclosing weekday morning rush hour for peak fares, a timeframe enclosing weekend evening for discounted fares, etc.

Timeframes contain both the days of the week and the times of day under which the fare is valid. They are created in timeframes.txt as follows:

Fill timeframe_group_id with the id for the group of timeframes.
Fill start_time with the start time of the timeframe for the special fare
Fill end_time with the end time of the timeframe for the special fare
Fill service_id: with the ID that references a service_id from calendar.txt or calendar_dates.txt. This allows the time-based fare to be matched to a service day or a range of service days.

Consult the documentation to read more about timeframes.txt and how to set it up.

Note

The timeframe ends one second before end_time. E.g. If end_time=11:00:00, then the timeframe ends at 10:59:59.
If a timeframe crosses midnight, then it should be split at midnight into two timeframe rows with the same timeframe_group_id. Values over 24:00:00 are forbidden.

Reminder

Translink offers reduced fares during the evening (6:30 PM to 3:00 AM) and on weekends. All SkyTrain and Seabus fares become a one zone fare (CAD 3.20). Travel from Sea Island during the evening and weekends costs CAD 8.20 (the CAD 5.00 surcharge + one zone fare of CAD 3.20).

This can be modeled using the file timeframes.txt. The cheaper time-based fares (fare products and fare leg rules) will be added to all the fare products that were created in the previous sections (Route-Based Fares section, Zone-Based Fares section).

In this example, three timeframe groups are created.

First, a weekday_daytime timeframe is defined from 3:00 AM to 6:30 PM.

Next, the weekday_evening timeframe is split into two parts because it crosses midnight: from 6:30 PM to midnight, and from midnight to 3:00 AM. Both parts are associated with the weekday service.

Finally, a weekend timeframe is created to cover the entire day on weekends. For this timeframe, start_time and end_time are left empty, meaning it applies to the entire duration of the weekend_service.

timeframes.txt

timeframe_group_id	start_time	end_time	service_id
weekday_daytime	03:00:00	18:30:00	weekday_service
weekday_evening	18:30:00	24:00:00	weekday_service
weekday_evening	00:00:00	03:00:00	weekday_service
weekend			weekend_service

Here's a quick look at calendar.txt, showing the service_ids that appear in timeframes.txt:

calendar.txt

service_id	monday	tuesday	wednesday	thursday	friday	saturday	sunday	start_date	end_date
weekday_service	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	20250101	20251231
weekend_service	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	20250101	20251231

Associate fare leg rules to timeframes¶

Fare leg rules are associated with different timeframes to ensure that leg matching is restricted to the time periods when the fare is applicable. This is done in fare_leg_rules.txt as follows:

Fill from_timeframe_group_id and to_timeframe_group_id of the fare leg rule with the ID for the timeframe (or timeframe group) when the fare is applicable.
- This is a Foreign Key referencing timeframe_group_id from timeframes.txt.
Replicate the same leg_group_id but with different from_timeframe_group_id, to_timeframe_group_id and fare_product_id to represent legs that have similar matching rules (network_id, from_area_id, to_area_id) but different timeframes and cost.

Note

For Translink, there's no information on whether a leg's end time affects the fare, so we assume it doesn't. This means if a leg starts during the weekday_daytime timeframe, it's treated as part of that timeframe, even if it ends in a different timeframe.

In this example, flat_fare_leg was repeated twice, once for the weekday_evening timeframe and once for the weekend timeframe. This allows the association of the one-zone/flat rate fare to SkyTrain and Seabus on evenings and weekends.

Furthermore, the flat_fare_sea_island_leg was created to associate the Sea Island legs that depart from sea_island to any zone with a sea_island_1_zone_fare during daytime_evening and weekend.

With rule_priority=1 for Sea Island legs, they keep their priority in applying the additional CAD 5.00 fare. Since all fares are 1-zone fares outside of weekday daytime, the additional CAD 5.00 applies to the 1-zone fare and the new fare for trips originating from Sea Island is sea_island_1_zone_fare which has an amount of CAD 5.00 + CAD 3.20 = CAD 8.20.

Note

If the column rule_priority exists, when from_area_id (respectively to_area_id) is left empty it means that the origin zone from_area_id (respectively the destination zone to_area_id) does not affect the matching of the leg. Similarly if one of from_timeframe_group_id and to_timeframe_group_id is left empty, that field is irrelevant to the matching process.

fare_leg_rules.txt (full file)

leg_group_id	network_id	fare_product_id	from_area_id	to_area_id	from_timeframe_group_id	rule_priority
flat_fare_leg	translink_bus	bus_flat_fare
ZN1_ZN1	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare	ZN1	ZN1	weekday_daytime
ZN2_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare	ZN2	ZN2	weekday_daytime
ZN3_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare	ZN3	ZN3	weekday_daytime
ZN1_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN1	ZN2	weekday_daytime
ZN2_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN2	ZN3	weekday_daytime
ZN1_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN2	ZN1	weekday_daytime
ZN2_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN3	ZN2	weekday_daytime
ZN1_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	3_zone_fare	ZN1	ZN3	weekday_daytime
ZN1_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	3_zone_fare	ZN3	ZN1	weekday_daytime
sea_island_ZN1	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_2_zone_fare	sea_island	ZN1	weekday_daytime	1
sea_island_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_1_zone_fare	sea_island	ZN2	weekday_daytime	1
sea_island_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_2_zone_fare	sea_island	ZN3	weekday_daytime	1
sea_island_sea_island	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_sea_island_fare	sea_island	sea_island		2
flat_fare_leg	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare			weekday_evening
flat_fare_leg	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare			weekend
flat_fare_sea_island_leg	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_1_zone_fare	sea_island		weekday_evening	1
flat_fare_sea_island_leg	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_1_zone_fare	sea_island		weekend	1

Simplify using rule_priority¶

Reminder

The rule_priority field determines the order in which matching rules are applied: rules with higher rule_priority values take precedence over those with lower or empty values.

Since the weekday evening and weekend fare is the same as a flat fare or a one-zone fare, further simplification can be achieved using rule_priority. This is done in fare_leg_rules.txt as follows:

Assign a higher rule_priority to evening/weekend legs.
Remove the timeframe association to weekday daytime legs.

In this example, by setting a higher rule_priority for the weekday evening and weekend legs, and leaving the rule_priority field empty for the weekday daytime legs (which is the same as setting it to 0), the evening and weekend legs are prioritized over the weekday daytime leg when they are in effect (during their timeframes). This will lead to the calculation of the correct fare.

The leg flat_fare_leg during weekday evenings and weekends is assigned rule_priority=1 so that it takes precedence over all other flat fare legs or zone-based legs. So when the journey takes place inside the timeframe weekday_evening or weekend, the flat fare leg is selected on top of all other legs (excluding Sea Island legs) since it’s prioritized.
The leg flat_fare_leg_sea_island during evenings and weekends is assigned rule_priority=2 so that it is prioritized over other legs originating from Sea Island (whose rule_priority was assigned 1 from the previous Zone-Based Fares section) during these timeframes.
The leg sea_island_sea_island_leg is assigned rule_priority=3 so that it is prioritized over all other legs that match from_area_it=sea_island and to_area_it=sea_island at all times. This guarantees the free fare within Sea Island at all times, regardless of any timeframes.

fare_leg_rules.txt (full file)

leg_group_id	network_id	fare_product_id	from_area_id	to_area_id	from_timeframe_group_id	rule_priority
flat_fare_leg	translink_bus	bus_flat_fare
ZN1_ZN1	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare	ZN1	ZN1
ZN2_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare	ZN2	ZN2
ZN3_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare	ZN3	ZN3
ZN1_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN1	ZN2
ZN2_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN2	ZN3
ZN1_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN2	ZN1
ZN2_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	2_zone_fare	ZN3	ZN2
ZN1_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	3_zone_fare	ZN1	ZN3
ZN1_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	3_zone_fare	ZN3	ZN1
sea_island_ZN1	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_2_zone_fare	sea_island	ZN1		1
sea_island_ZN2	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_1_zone_fare	sea_island	ZN2		1
sea_island_ZN3	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_2_zone_fare	sea_island	ZN3		1
sea_island_sea_island	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_sea_island_fare	sea_island	sea_island		3
flat_fare_leg	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare			weekday_evening	1
flat_fare_leg	skytrain_seabus	1_zone_fare			weekend	1
flat_fare_sea_island_leg	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_1_zone_fare	sea_island		weekday_evening	2
flat_fare_sea_island_leg	skytrain_seabus	sea_island_1_zone_fare	sea_island		weekend	2