How are the ticket prices calculated?

[Cedrick]

Hello everyone
I stumbled on th topic of the ticket prices in tpf2 and I do not understand how they are calculated (When talking about ticket prices I am always refering to passenger tickets, not to freight). Here is what I have found on this topic and what I discovered myself:

According to some people on the forum and on Steam, ticket prices are calculated as follows:
distance (travel from start station of a line to endstation of a line) + 7.5 * hight difference * max. speed of the slowest vehicle on the line.
However, I have serious doubts about this formula, since it did not comply with my tests. What I can conclude though, the ticket prices are not random. Under the same conditions, prices will always reach the same result.

THE SET UP FOR THE TEST:
I created a 50km/h rode, which is exaclty 1km long. I can confirm the lenght because parallel to it I created a straight line of tracks and checked on the information tab of you headquarters how much track I have build. The road was exactly as long as the line of tracks and therefore covered a distance of 1km. Also, I made sure to completely flatten the terrain beforehand. Then, I placed a bus station at the start of the road and at its end and connected one side with an asset building with 40 inhabitants and the other side with an asset with 40 commercial spaces and another one with 40 industry spaces.

THE TEST:
I ran several busses and trams on the line connecting the two stations. I always checked the passenger amount and the mony earned by the vehicle after arrival. I then divided the amount erned by the amount of passengers transported and got the price for one fair. I later did the same with a train line (120km/h track) and with two elevated roads. One climbing 10m and one climbing 20m in hight. I also made a controle set up where the lines had to travel 2km intstead of one.

THE RESULTS:
- A bus with max speed of 25km/h earned 1'308.50 per passenger for 1km transported
- A bus with max speed of 50km/h earned 2'017.60 per passenger for 1km transported
- A bus with max speed of 70km/h earned 2'526 per passenger for 1 km transported
- A bus with max speed of 100km/h earned 3'234 per passenger for 1km transported
- 2 different trams with max speed of 70km/h also earned 2'526 per pass. for 1km, so it's save to say that trams are calculated the same as busses.
- A train with max 160km/h earned 6'758 per passenger for 1km.
These findings have ALWAYS stayed consistend, which means that the prices CANNOT be random. BUT just watch the following results:
- The same train with max 160km/h earned 12'019 per person for 2km, which means that in that case, 1km is equal to 6'009 instead of 6'758 (reached with only 1km of travel). What the heck? What is going on? It's not that there was a basic penalty that you have to pay and then additionally for every km, I have tried, that does not add up. So what gives. Same finding when covering hights:
- A bus with max speed of 70km/h and 10m of hight differnce earnes 2'526 per passenger for 1 km transported
- Same bus and 10m of hight differnce earnes 2'704 per pass. for 1km
- Same bus and 20m of hight difference earnes 2'859
- Same bus and 30m of hight diff. earnes 3'001
The differences between those hight differences are equal in terms of hight difference but not equal in terms of price differences. What is going on?

So, with my results here: is anyone able to help me interpret that data, so that there can be a sensical way of how to calculate the ticket price? I'd be very gratefull!
Thank you all :)

[Huperspace]

https://www.reddit.com/r/TransportFever/comments/rj8b9l/so_i_heard_yall_were_wondering_how_payment_is/

[Cedrick]

Originally posted by Huperspace:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TransportFever/comments/rj8b9l/so_i_heard_yall_were_wondering_how_payment_is/

Omg, thank you so much! I can't believe I haven't found this myself!

So, (for anyone not klicking the link) the formula is supposed to be:
(0.3 + {distance in km}) * {pricing formula of vehicle type}

- Road: ticket_price = top_speed^0.78 + 4
- Rail: ticket_price = top_speed^0.86 + 10
- Air: ticket_price = -2.03*10^-5×top_speed^2 + 0.17*top_speed + 28.36
- Water: ticket_price = 0.65*top_speed

But this still leaves out a few questions though..
1. if that's the case, then why did the pricing of 1km chnage along with a change of hight? I.e. when my 70km/h bus transported people over 1km to another station on the same altitude, ticket prices were lower then when the start and the end station were not on the same altitude. The bigger the hight difference, the bigger the price difference. Is this because change in altutude creates a slightly longer route, since that's how the pythagoras theorem works?

2. if the "0.3 + distance in km" was true, then that would be equal to my initial guess, that there is a base fee to pay. But that didn't seem to add up. However, this might have also been thrown off by the random "+4" added with the "ticket price for the vehicle type". I will try confirm these things by testing them out and I will post about my findings here.

3. As far as I know, ticket prices are also affected by the difficulty. A factor which is completely absent from the redit post. Though, I have to admit that I left this factor out of my initial tests too. All my calculations were done on easy mode. I'm guessig that the data provided by the redit post is was using "normal difficulty". I will try to confirm this too.

[Cedrick]

So, I might be doing something wrong, but already when backwards calculating, this formula doesn't at all represent what is happening in my game...

Let's say I use the 70km/h bus. So, according to the formula, I can calculate the earnings per passenger as such:

(0.3 + 1km (the passengers travel route I set)) *70^0.78 + 4 = 1.3 * 31.49 = 40.94
In no game difficulty is this even remotely what the earnings are. I have tried easy, normal (now medium apparently) and very hard (yes, i left out hard, but I doubt this would have been the one). The lowest payment I received per passenger (in very hard mode) was 1'010. According to the formula, it should have been around 41.

I might missinterpret something or am leaving out some crusial detail, but I just don't understand the pricing system.
Any thoughts?

[Autocoach]

I've been in the old one ...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3040668938

Ticket price is explicitly quoted in 1 but not in 2 (same method though) . Here a 103mph vehicle as $2.61K so the quoted formula for price is not correct without further adjustment.

Going up elevation is a thing , I have tested it and got the 7.5* multiplier by building a massive uphill railway.

Here you go using TpF1. Looks correct when multiplied by about 66 .

Loco T/price Kmh ^.86+4
103mph 2610 64.375 35.93327724 39.93327724 2610 65.35902336
62mph 1800 38.75 23.22275112 27.22275112 1800 66.12116431
56mph 1670 35 21.27641821 25.27641821 1670 66.06948763

[doug]

If I had to guess, I would think that the speed is measured in meters per second.

[Cedrick]

Originally posted by doug:

If I had to guess, I would think that the speed is measured in meters per second.

That's a good guess, but 70km/h is only 19.4m/s making the multiplier and therefore the result even smaller than 40$. I, however seem to have ticket prices that are 1'010 lowest. So, if I understand your suggestions correctly, then it wouldn't hold. But I might have misunderstood you.

[Cedrick]

Originally posted by Autocoach:

I've been in the old one ...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3040668938

Ticket price is explicitly quoted in 1 but not in 2 (same method though) . Here a 103mph vehicle as $2.61K so the quoted formula for price is not correct without further adjustment.

Going up elevation is a thing , I have tested it and got the 7.5* multiplier by building a massive uphill railway.

Here you go using TpF1. Looks correct when multiplied by about 66 .

Loco T/price Kmh ^.86+4
103mph 2610 64.375 35.93327724 39.93327724 2610 65.35902336
62mph 1800 38.75 23.22275112 27.22275112 1800 66.12116431
56mph 1670 35 21.27641821 25.27641821 1670 66.06948763

I appreciate your answer. thank you! Yet, I cannot really follow your explanation... So, you claim the 7.5 multiplier exists? Then, how does it work, when there is no elevation? The equasion would be mutiplied by 0, leaving you wit no earnigs at all, right?

Also, you suggest a multiplier of "about 66", right? Howcome and how does that change?

Finally, I cannot really follow your chart at the end, what does it show exactly?

Thanks for clarifying

[Autocoach]

from TpF1 , distances 'as the crow flies'

Train T/price
103mph 2610
99mph 2550
62mph 1800
56mph 1670

Truck T/price
31mph 723
22mph 575

so using 99mph .
(1km + 0.3 bonus km) * 2550 = $3315

and if we have 10m increase in height (10m decrease is ignored)
(1km + 0.075 + 0.3) * 2550 = $3506

[Cedrick]

Originally posted by Autocoach:

from TpF1

Train T/price
103mph 2610
99mph 2550
62mph 1800
56mph 1670

Truck T/price
31mph 723
22mph 575

so using 99mph .
(1km + 0.3 bonus km) * 2 for pax * 2550 = $6630

Ah, so you are explaining how you can calculate it in tpf1, since the pricing is portrait in the information tab (as you showed in the picture of your first post).
So, given tpf1s Information you would calculate:
({distance in km} + 0.3}) * {ticket price portrait in information trab} * {passenger count}

Okay, I got you then. My question though is, how do I get the information for the ticket price (that you can see in your vehicle information window)? SInce this is (as you have stated coreectley in your post) not portrait in tpf2 anymore.

[Autocoach]

A believe TpF1 = TpF2 for ticket price(on normal difficulty I guess), TpF2 just does not show it to the player also (I think).

[Cedrick]

Originally posted by Autocoach:

A believe TpF1 = TpF2 for ticket price(on normal difficulty I guess), TpF2 just does not show it to the player also (I think).

Yes, I believe this too. But how can I get this information, sice it is not shown?

[doug]

The information on ticket price is available through the scripting interface. Give me a few minutes...

[Autocoach]

Well a test route can allow for it to be reverse calculated.

In your initial rail analysis the ticket price was 5198 for one test and 5226 for the other , assuming 300m free is correct.

I think in easy mode revenue may be *2 of standard perhaps as this goes back near to TpF1 fig of just over 2550 (5100 if *2) .

Maybe the distances are not perfect and flat ?

[Cedrick]

Originally posted by Autocoach:

Well a test route can allow for it to be reverse calculated.

In your initial rail analysis the ticket price was 5198 for one test and 5226 for the other , assuming 300m free is correct.

I think in easy mode revenue may be *2 of standard perhaps as this goes back near to TpF1 fig of just over 2550 (5100 if *2) .

Maybe the distances are not perfect and flat ?

The way I understand it the 300m are not free. On the contrary, they are payed additionoally to the actual length of the journey. At least, that's what the reddit post said and considering you are adding 0.3 instead of subrtracting them, I am pretty confident in that assumption.

What price values about my tests are you talking about exactly? I have only stated two values "6'009 and 6'758". Do you mean these results? How did you arrive at "5198 and 5226"?

Anyhow, maybe doug can provide clarity with their scripting idea

[Autocoach]

For 1km : $6758.

So 6758 / (1 + 0.3) = 5198 notional ticket price

for 2km : $12019
so 12019 / (2 + 0.3) = 5225 notional ticket price

hence the figure is about 5200 assuming you get 300m added to the distance which would look about right.