By Kevin Dobson

“Making life simpler is one of the most complex things we do. Fortunately, we’re into that kind of thing.”

Fare policy is rarely simple. It’s often a patchwork of legacy rules, political priorities, and a healthy dose of local nuance. And when you bring in Account-Based Ticketing (ABT), you’re not just replacing tickets – you’re given the opportunity to ask an entire ecosystem to rethink how fares work.

At Vix, we’ve built an Account-Based Ticketing platform, Pulse, to handle that complexity – but more importantly, to simplify it. Because in public transport, success isn’t about using every feature. It’s about using the features that drive the best outcomes for operators and their customers, while making sure passengers don’t notice how much is going on behind the scenes.

Flexible Design, Simple Experience

Take our deployment of Pulse in Edmonton, for example, which includes 7 transit operators in a regional scheme. Each of them had its own fare capping thresholds, and rightly so. But once passengers hit their cap, Pulse applied system-wide benefits. “You’ve travelled enough. Enjoy the ride.” 

That meant every operator could retain control of their local fare policy, but riders enjoyed a unified, coherent experience. They didn’t need to track which zone offered what discount. They just travelled, tapped, and moved on.

This was a deliberate policy choice, enabled by Pulse’s flexibility. As is often the case, the best fare policy here was the one that looks the least complicated, and feels effortless, to the people using it.

TfGM: Product-Based Thinking, Modern Infrastructure

In Greater Manchester, the transition to Pay-as-you-Go was designed to reflect the pre-existing product-based zonal model. Each historic pass type is now mirrored as a fare cap and the system is aware of the zones a passenger travels through. Simple for passengers, but under the hood, Pulse is running many simultaneous, stackable fare capping rules that work across modes and timebands. Pulse supports this approach without forcing agencies to abandon what already works while also giving room to transition into new and streamlined fare policy models

Phoenix: Evolution, Not Disruption

Phoenix is a great example of how agencies can evolve fare policies over time. In Phase 1 of its Account-Based Ticketing project using Pulse, they needed to retain a paper-like fare structure of single tickets in a barcode based mobile ABT solution. There were no contactless cards yet, and it was important to ensure passengers without phones or bank cards were fully supported.

So Pulse replicated the product-based experience in a mobile app – select your ticket, scan it, ride. In Phase 2, smartcards rolled-out, including options for passengers paying in cash. At that point, everything shifted to a unified PayGo model across all fare media. Selecting products was no longer required. Simply top up your account, scan, and ride.

The best part? While new infrastructure like POS devices and TVMs were introduced, the core back-end that managed accounts and processed fares didn’t need major rework. The shift was driven by configuration changes within the Pulse ABT platform, supporting a phased fare policy evolution that was not only possible but also practical.

What’s Next: From Creative Caps to Pure Imagination

Flexible fare policy isn’t just about adapting to legacy systems. It opens the door to real creativity.

Want to offer passengers personalised discounts based on their travel habits? Build a dynamic pricing model tied to zones or demand? We can do it..

If you can dream it, we can probably model it. (Though we draw the line at Oompa Loompas. Unless Hugh Grant gets involved. Then we’ll talk.)

Flexibility That Feels Simple

ABT gives us powerful tools. But the real magic is when passengers never have to think about them. Fare policy isn’t just a technical challenge; it’s a human one. At Vix, we work with agencies to build systems that serve the people who ride, the teams who run them, and the policies that shape them.

Flexible doesn’t have to mean complicated. Simple doesn’t mean limited. It just means choosing the right tools for the journey.