Occupancy measurement and analysis with DILAX Citisense at SBB CFF FFS

You work with DILAX Citisense as an SBB CFF FFS revenue distribution specialist, Mr. Seematter. Where do you collect the data in your network for this?

More than 2,000 vehicles are in operation for SBB throughout Switzerland and its border regions. So far, only regional traffic has been equipped with APC systems. The exception is the EC250 (Giruno) and now the ICN train in long-distance traffic. In order to have an accurate record of how many passengers we transport, we are currently measuring and analyzing the passenger numbers of about 100 lines with DILAX Citisense. In a next step, the remaining long-distance traffic will be equipped with APC. These figures will then also be processed by the software.

Are these all the same vehicles, i.e. identical installations?

No, roughly speaking, the software processes counting data from ten different vehicle types. A distinction is made between four door composition scenarios.

You have only been using the software since 2021. How was the migration to the new system?

It was a complex project for us and for DILAX. We use Citisense as SaaS in a cloud. At the beginning of the year, the migration from the old system to the new one was accepted. But as with any software, we still had change requests to optimally integrate the software into our system and meet specific requirements of different users. It was a good collaboration with the DILAX team.

Who in your company works with the figures and reports from DILAX Citisense, and in what contexts?

The main players in our company are specialists and managers in the Finance, Offer Planning, Rolling Stock departments. They use the reports for offer and bid planning, ticket structure and occupancy forecasts.

Do you also use the live data?

The occupancy forecasts are based, among other things, on the counting data from Citisense. These are also made available live to the customer on the platform.

What recommendation would you have for a transit agency new to Citisense?

It is essential to know the entire processing chain of the counting data and to coordinate it optimally. In addition to the software, this also includes the decentralized APC system on the vehicles and other subsequent data processing steps. Resource planning for the entire duration of the project is certainly also important. The implementation must not be underestimated, since the counting quality is decisive in the end.