System for public transit fare collection, decomposition and display

摘要

A system for managing fare collection in a public transit network may include a fare collection system and a fare management system. The fare collection may collect fare information from passengers boarding or getting off a vehicle. The fare management system may use the received fare information to determine a fare return series over a period of time, which includes multiple fare returns. The fare management system may use a hierarchical cluster method to cluster multiple fare returns into one or more clusters represented in a dendrogram, apply a “silhouette” method to the dendrogram and obtain an optimal clustering. The system may further output a graphic representation, such as a trend line, for each of the clusters over a time period. Based on the clustering results, the system may also deploy a revised fare class schedule or transit system schedule to the fare collection system.