Multiple booking solutions

Roles: Super Admin

In the Multiple booking solutions section in the management settings of a product, you can configure the product feature multiple booking solutions.

If the product feature multiple booking solutions is not activated, the following warning message is displayed below the title of this section in Control Center:

Feature not enabled: Changes to the setting(s) below will not take effect unless this feature is enabled

The following fields can be configured.

Time threshold to consider when filtering similar rides

To prevent duplicate ride offers that are close in time, offers that are too similar are filtered for the passenger’s convenience. The time threshold to consider when filtering similar rides determines which offers are considered close to each other in time.

The default value of this field is 10 minutes. It can be set from zero to 60 minutes in 1-minute increments.

If time threshold to consider when filtering similar rides is set to 10 minutes, only solutions with an interval of at least 10 minutes are offered.

Filtered offers receive the error status triage_multiple_booking_solutions_filter in the matching logs.

Multiple booking solution order

These settings define how solutions are assembled, ordered, and presented to the passenger. Depending on the enabled features and configuration, the system can generate the following types of solutions:

  1. DRT-based solutions – Only a shuttle is used for the entire trip.
  2. Intermodal solutions – A shuttle is combined with a public transport connection for the first or last mile. These are generated only when the intermodal journeys feature is enabled.
  3. Public transport-only solutions – The entire journey is handled by public transport, without any shuttle. These are generated only when the public transport alternatives feature is enabled.

Each of these solution types is first sorted and limited individually. Afterwards, the results are merged according to the solution types merge order.

Finally, the merged list can be sorted and limited again based on the order of final solution list. If a particular stage is configured with No ordering, the original order from the underlying systems is preserved.

  • No ordering. Leaves the order unchanged.
  • Departure first hop. Sorts all solutions by the departure time of the first hop, regardless of whether it’s a walking segment or vehicle ride.
  • Departure first vehicle hop. Sorts all solutions by the departure time of the first non-walking segment (i.e., first vehicle).
  • Relevance. Sorts solutions based on their relevance score, with the best score shown first. Remaining solutions are listed in descending order of relevance.

Order of DRT Solutions

This setting sorts the DRT-based solutions within their own type, before they are merged with the other types. The options are the same four described under multiple booking solution order, applied here only to DRT-based solutions.

The default value is Relevance.

Maximum of delivered DRT matches

This setting limits how many DRT-based solutions pass to the merge stage. It can be set from 0 to 50 in 1-step increments. The default value is 1.

Order of Intermodal Solutions

This setting sorts the intermodal solutions within their own type, before they are merged with the other types. The options are the same four described under multiple booking solution order, applied here only to intermodal solutions.

The default value is Relevance.

Maximum of delivered Intermodal matches

This setting limits how many intermodal solutions pass to the merge stage. It can be set from 0 to 50 in 1-step increments. The default value is 1.

Order of PT Solutions

This setting sorts the public transport-only solutions within their own type, before they are merged with the other types. The options are the same four described under multiple booking solution order, applied here only to public transport-only solutions.

The default value is Relevance.

Maximum of delivered PT matches

This setting limits how many public transport-only solutions pass to the merge stage. It can be set from 0 to 50 in 1-step increments. The default value is 1.

Solution types merge order

This setting defines the order in which different types of booking solutions are merged and presented to the user. It determines the sequence in which the solution arrays (DRT, intermodal, and public transport) are concatenated. This directly influences the prioritization and display order of the offered travel options.

Select one of the following options from the dropdown menu:

  • 1. DRT | 2. Intermodal | 3. Public Transport
  • 1. DRT | 2. Public Transport | 3. Intermodal
  • 1. Intermodal | 2. DRT | 3. Public Transport
  • 1. Intermodal | 2. Public Transport | 3. DRT
  • 1. Public Transport | 2. DRT | 3. Intermodal
  • 1. Public Transport | 2. Intermodal | 3. DRT

Order of final solution list

This is the final ordering stage. Each solution type (DRT, intermodal, and public transport-only) is first sorted and limited on its own. The results are then merged according to the solution types merge order. This setting sorts and limits that already-merged combined list one last time before it’s presented to the passenger. The maximum of delivered solutions sets the limit applied at this stage.

Select one of the following options from the dropdown menu:

  • No ordering. Keeps the combined list in the order produced by the solution types merge order.
  • Departure first hop. Sorts all solutions by the departure time of the first hop, regardless of whether it’s a walking segment or a vehicle ride.
  • Departure first vehicle hop. Sorts all solutions by the departure time of the first non-walking segment (i.e., the first vehicle).
  • Relevance. Sorts solutions based on their relevance score, with the best score shown first. Remaining solutions are listed in descending order of relevance.

Maximum of delivered solutions

This setting defines how many travel options are shown to the user. It can be set from 1 to 50 in 1-step increments. The default value is 1. This limit is applied to the merged list after all solution types are combined, so it can reduce the total below the sum of the per-type maximums. If fewer solutions are available, only the available ones will be displayed. Irrelevant solutions or those filtered out due to the time threshold to consider when filtering similar rides are not shown.

The importance of the max number of persisted solutions

After configuring the MBS settings, verify the max number of persisted solutions matching parameter. It caps how many DRT solutions the matching keeps for each request, so it must be at least as high as the Maximum of delivered DRT matches. Otherwise, some DRT solutions are discarded before they can be delivered.