Transit authority tagging

[pavvv]

@Minh_Nguyen

Public transit cards are quite commonly tagged via the payment:*=* tagging scheme.

I know how they’re tagged but in my opinion if I tag one method, then I should tag all of them rather than leaving just one. This could make quite a mess with the number of tags added but I might add them regardless.

@Minh_Nguyen

I suspect it’s mainly used in three situations, which may or may not apply in Wrocław:

• The POIs and routes that accept this card also accept other forms of payment.
• This card is accepted by multiple networks or not on all of a network’s routes.
• This card is accepted by things other than public transit infrastructure, such as parking garages.

Urbancard is used only for buses and trams in Wrocław and nearby municipalities and also trains within the borders of Wrocław (with the exception of one station outside the city). This is basically untaggable so it’ll just stay on trams and buses.

@Minh_Nguyen

Aside from behind-the-scenes aspects like financing and GPS tracking, what are the reasons why an ordinary person on the ground would know about MPK? What would this rider perceive to be the transit network based on station wayfinding schemes, equipment liveries, and official transit maps?

If you hear of public transport in Warsaw, you think of ZTM Warszawa, for Kraków – KMK, and for Wrocław it’s MPK Wrocław. That’s the perception the passengers here have. If lines have temporary detours, it’s always MPK that announces them, even if it’s for lines that they don’t currently operate. MPK’s own app iMPK used for seeing the positions of buses and trams in real time shows buses from other operators also. Basically MPK Wrocław = public transport in Wrocław in the minds of most but when getting into technicalities, they don’t control as much as one might think.

@Minh_Nguyen

To put it in crass tagging-for-renderer terms, if a map were to mark each bus stop with an icon that distinguishes it from other services, whose logo would it be?

Well, stops themselves are managed by another municipal company – ZDiUM (Road and City Maintenance Authority) though soon that task will be moved to MPK. Also MPK takes care of the tramways.
The icon would just be a bus icon because many different operators can use such stops. MPK shares stops with its subcontractors. Actual independent, private bus operators have both their own stops but also the same ones MPK and it’s subcontractors use.

@Minh_Nguyen

And if the network=* ends up having any relation to MPK, then a separate regulator=* tag may not be necessary after all.

We already established that a separate entity sets the routes, timetables and ticket prices so they have to be in a separate tag because the network does not give all info and because maro21 insists on tagging this department.