About client
A multimodal network at the heart of southern France
Since 2010, this public transport authority has partnered with Acorel to deploy onboard passenger counting across its entire buses and tramways fleet. Operating in a densely populated metropolitan area, it manages a large multimodal network that includes bus routes, tram lines, subway lines, and maritime connections. All working together to serve daily urban mobility at scale.
Serves a region of more than one million residents
Handles approximately 500,000 passenger journeys annually
Fleet of 550 buses and 45 tramways across the network
Devotes two-thirds of its budget to operations: rolling stock and drivers
Responsible for service frequency, vehicle capacity, and route efficiency
As the operator is accountable for ensuring its resources are used properly, it must continuously tune services (arrival frequency, vehicle capacity, stop placement), as close as possible to actual customer needs. That requires objective, system-wide data that neither ticketing systems nor one-off surveys can provide.
Getting an accurate picture of a complex, high-volume network
To adjust service offerings in real time and over the long term, the operator needed two essential pieces of information for every journey: vehicle travel time and vehicle load (number of passengers aboard at any given moment). Travel times were available through the existing operational support system (OSS). The load, however, was not.
No reliable, continuous data on how many passengers were aboard each vehicle
Ticketing data excluded fare evaders and provided no load profile over a route
Origin/destination surveys were one-time snapshots — not system-wide diagnostics
Field observations from staff lacked consistency and scale
No quantitative basis to justify schedule changes to the organising authority
Acorel automatic passenger counting deployed fleet-wide
Onboard sensors at every door
The operator deployed Acorel's automatic passenger counting (APC) solution in the early 2010s across its buses and trams. Infrared or 3D video counting sensors installed at vehicle doors record the exact number of passengers boarding and alighting at every stop, in real time — with no manual intervention required.
Counting gives us a realistic picture of demand, rich in information that helps us improve our product.
VISION Mobility platform. Sensor data, enriched by OSS and GPS inputs, is processed by the VISION Mobility software to produce standardised or custom reports on demand
Line load graphs. The system generates average load profiles ("line load graphs") for each bus and tram line across five distinct period types: weekdays, Saturday, Sunday, school holidays, and summer.
Optimising high-frequency lines with precise data
When two bus lines sharing fifteen downtown stops were reorganised to improve regularity and prevent bunching, the operator's teams combined travel times from the OSS, origin/destination surveys, and Acorel load analyses. The result: an accurate frequency schedule, 6 buses per hour at peak and 5 buses per hour between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. — grounded in real passenger load data rather than assumptions.
Having one extra bus running each hour on a line costs €20,000 to €30,000 per year. The passenger counting data helps allocate resources where needed.
A permanent diagnostic for operations and reporting
Beyond schedule optimisation, the passenger counting data serves as a continuous operational diagnostic. It helps quantify the impact of line diversions during maintenance, track ridership transfer when a new line opens, determine where higher-capacity vehicles are needed, and evaluate the benefit of adding or modifying stops. All findings can be reported directly to the organising authority, backed by hard data.
We can report our actions to our organising authority, based on hard data
Outcomes
Measurable results across the entire network
>98% Counting accuracy across all equipped vehicles
€20–30K Annual savings per line by avoiding unnecessary extra buses
5 types Period profiles modelled per line for precise scheduling
Benefits at a glance
Know real passenger load per vehicle and per stop
Reduce dwell times and operating costs
Validate field observations at a system-wide level
Support decisions with hard data for the authority
Optimise frequencies and timetables with confidence
Improve passenger comfort and on-board experience
Complement ticketing data and fight fare evasion
Enable long-term, evidence-based network planning
| Vehicle type | Fleet size | Sensor coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Buses | 550 vehicles | More than 80% equipped |
| Tramways | 45 vehicles | More than 50% equipped |
