Lines

For what this feature does, see Lines in Platform. This item appears in the Control Center product sidebar only when the lines product feature is active.

View lines

Permissions: manage_lines

From the product overview in Control Center, select Lines in the left sidebar. In this view, lines are listed in a table containing the following information.

By selecting on the name or selecting Show in the dropdown menu, the detailed view can be opened.

Here, the line stops are shown in order of the specified tier. The relative times are the times of the pre-planned line stops in relation to the start of the Vehicle Planning.

The relative times are in ascending order and should always start with 00 seconds. Note, that the line starts when the corresponding vehicle planning starts.

This is why the start place of a vehicle planning with a line should always be the same station as the first line stop.

Create a line

Permissions: manage_lines

Lines can be created manually by selecting Create new, or imported in bulk by selecting Import, which opens ioki Data Bridge.

The following information has to be specified.

Name. Enter the name of the line.
Slug. Enter the slug of the line. In general, slugs serve as unique identifiers that are used to reliably identify resources. Slugs may only contain lowercase letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), underscores (_), and hyphens (-). Spaces, uppercase letters, and special characters are not allowed.
Route number. Enter the route number if your service uses one.
Variant. Enter a variant if you need to distinguish different variants of the same line.
Matching Mode. Select how negotiated pickup and dropoff times are derived from the line stops’ relative times. For the behavior of each mode, see Time matching modes and “skip time window check” in Platform.
Skip time window check. Enable this only for lines that should use fixed scheduled times. For details, see Time matching modes and “skip time window check” in Platform.
Create tasks for every scheduled line stop. Turn the line into a fixed-schedule line. When enabled, the line spawns a line stop task for every scheduled stop on each vehicle planning that serves it, so the vehicle visits every stop regardless of bookings. For details, see Fixed-schedule line stop tasks in Platform. This is disabled by default.
Line stops. For each line stop, select a station, enter a tier and a relative time, set the matching mode for pickups and dropoffs, and choose whether passengers can get picked up, dropped off, or pass through. Inherit uses the line’s time matching mode. Floating removes time constraints for that direction, and Strict uses the exact stop time.

In more detail: When saving a line and reloading it, the line stops are automatically ordered first by tier and then by relative time. It’s further ensured that lower tiers have lower relative times. Otherwise a line cannot be saved and the warning appears: “Line stops must have ascending relative times.”

Edit a line

Permissions: manage_lines

To edit a line, select ⚙️ > Edit in the dropdown menu.

The edit form contains the same fields as the create form: Name, Slug, Route number, Variant, Matching Mode, Skip time window check, Create tasks for every scheduled line stop, and the editable list of line stops. You can add line stops, remove them, or change their station, order, timing, and pickup or dropoff behavior.

After making your changes, select Save.

Run a line on a fixed schedule

By default, a line visits only the stations that have a booking. To make the vehicle visit every scheduled stop instead, enable Create tasks for every scheduled line stop on the line. Each vehicle planning that serves the line then gains a line stop task for every scheduled stop. For the underlying behavior, see Fixed-schedule line stop tasks in Platform.

Product-wide behavior for line stop tasks—completion timing, cancellation, and automatic completion—is configured in driver-related settings.

Sync or remove line stop tasks

Permissions: update_task_lists

Line stop tasks are added automatically when a vehicle planning that serves the line is created. You can also update or clear them for an existing vehicle planning from its actions menu. These actions appear only for products that use lines.

Sync line stop tasks. Reconcile the vehicle planning’s line stop tasks with the current line schedule. Missing tasks are created, and tasks for stops that were removed from the schedule are cleared. Tasks that are already completed or canceled are left unchanged. This action is available only when the vehicle planning serves a line.
Remove line stop tasks. Clear the line stop tasks from the vehicle planning. Tasks that are already completed or canceled are left unchanged.

Example line-based matching configuration parameters
The following are example configuration parameters typically used for a matching configuration for a line-based service. Please note that this is intended as a guideline, not a one-size-fits-all template for every line-based matching configuration.
Matching
Matching mode pickup = Station
Matching mode dropoff = Station
Matching parameters: Search space & performance
Considered stations (affects station-based products only): For line-based products, a 1x1 configuration is typically used, depending on the station distribution and service area characteristics.
In urban areas with multiple viable station options, a 2x2 setup may be more appropriate.
In rural areas with sparse station distribution, 1x1 is the preferred choice.
Max number of enclosed tasks: A value of 8 has proven suitable for most scenarios. For line services with high-capacity vehicles (e.g., buses with many seats), consider increasing this value in proportion to the number of line stops. However, keep in mind that increasing this parameter significantly expands the solution space and may impact performance. It is generally advisable to adjust this only for 1x1 station configurations.
Matching parameters: QoS & Pooling
Allowed travel time in relation to direct travel time = 600%
Maximum tolerable timely detour = 360 minutes
Matching parameters: Solver weights
Penalty per second driving time (driver) = Should be 0