II/2004 - Mentz Datenverarbeitung GmbH

II/2004 

mdv 

Information Technology from Munich 

Content: 

Foreword 

Impressum 

Delivery of DIVA 3 

Day Specific Planning with DIVA 

Transfer Optimization with DIVA-Interval Timetable 

The Transport Authority Eastern Region (VOR) in Vienna is very 

enthusiastic about dynamically generated timetable booklet pages in IJP 

Short news 

Events 

news 

On July 23, 2004 the open day in the office of 

the Bavarian Prime Minister took place. The 

Board of Building and Public Works (OBB) 

and mdv together presented the multimodal 

journey planner to the public. This Internet 

application was developed within the framework 

of the INTREST project. The Bavarian 

State Minister Dr. Günther Beckstein became 

an in-depth presentation from Mr. Michael 

Müller of the OBB and Mrs. Dr. Christiane 

Steinhoff of mdv.

Foreword 

Masthead: 

Publisher: 

Mentz Datenverarbeitung GmbH 

Grillparzerstraße 18 

D-81675 München 

Tel: ++49.89.418 68.0 

Fax: ++49.89.418 68.160 

Editorial: 

Marjolijn Horsselenberg 

Design: 

Rosemarie Mentz 

Info: 

horsselenberg@m.mentzdv.de 

Masthead 

In autumn 2002, we started to 

regularly send you information 

via . The first six 

issues of received a 

great response. We will continue 

with mdv news ; however 

we would like increase our 

focus on more in-depth information. 

Therefore, we have 

slightly changed the existing 

layout. In the future, we will 

inform you more about developed 

products through professional 

articles. In this 

issue, there will be two such 

articles. 

Day specific planning within the Days of Operation module is a 

topic that is important for many customers. With the R 2004/1, 

this was released, and in R 2004/2 some additional features 

were added. The developments were implemented free of cost 

within the framework of the maintenance agreement. The 

related article provides an insight into this topic and its basic 

concepts. 

mdv news II/2004 - 2 - 

Our branch offices: 


Westfalenstraße 224 

48165 Münster 

Tel.: ++49.2501.969.0 

Fax: ++49.2501.969.300 

E-mail: mdv@ms.mentzdv.de 

Transfer optimization has gained in importance. mdv has 

worked hard during the last year on a new module, the DIVA 

Interval Timetable. With the support of the Transport Authority 

of Zurich and the Transport Authority of Basel we have created 

a module that enables the transport planner to analyse the existing 

network and transfers and run a fully automatic optimization 

program. This topic is explained more in depth in the 

second article. 

Of course we also would like to continue to inform you about 

current implementations and experiences. Since the end of 

2003, the Transport Authority Eastern Region (VOR) based in 

Vienna uses the IJP for dynamic generation of timetable 

booklet pages on the Internet . They draw a very favourable 

balance. 

At the end you will find an overview of upcoming events. We 

hope that we can welcome you to a User Group, exhibition, 

symposium or demonstration in the near future. 

We hope that you enjoy reading this edition of mdv news ! 

Dr. Hans-J. Mentz 


Rotebühlstraße 121 

70178 Stuttgart 

Tel.: ++49:711.61 55 43.0 

Fax: ++49.711.61 55 43.30 

E-mail: mdv@s.mentzdv.de 

Internet:www.mentzdv.de 

Mentz Informatique SARL (mi) 

11, rue des Corroyeurs 

F-67200 Strasbourg 

Tél.: ++33.3.88 26 95 30 

Fax: ++33.3.88.30.23.18 

E-mail: info@mentz-informatique.fr


By the end of the nineties, the DIVA 

system had developed into a standardized 

tool for transport authorities to collect 

and publish timetable data. Through 

the cooperation with HPW (now 

Siemens TTS) and the acquisition of the 

planning program IFES/DIES, the DIVA 

system was further developed to be 

used by of transport operators. The first 

implementation at an urban transport 

operator was in the end of 2000 at the 

Transport Operator of Freiburg. 

During the following years, the DIVA 

system was implemented successfully at 

many urban transport operators. The 

requirements to the system increased, 

especially through the use of the system 

by transport authorities that run integrated 

planning for various transport operators. 

As a result of this development, DIVA is 

today the only planning program that 

supports planning for both regional and 

urban transport operators, train and 

track related planning, planning of offered 

services, publishing, and the supply 

of necessary interfaces. 

mdv started the development of DIVA 3 

during the middle of 2000. In many discussions 

with the customers, for example 

at the user groups, the requirements 

for DIVA 3 were compiled. These are 

mainly: 

- The complete system should better 

support large installations with 20 or 

more parallel working users. This 

required the new development of the 

Common Data Server. The old version 

of the server was optimized for 

maximum work performance for up to 

three users. The new Common Data 

Server uses new techniques for network 

communication and efficient use 

of resources on the server hardware. 

The communication between the 

Common data Server and the clients 

was completely developed on a 

CORBA basis. CORBA is a technique 

that enables the transfer of whole 

objects (for example, a Stop with all 

sub-structures, such as areas, platforms 

and attributes) via the network. 

CORBA works parallel and therefore 

uses modern hardware optimally. 

Current servers normally have several 

processors. Multiple processors 

are also well supported by operating 

systems since Windows 2000. The 

Common Data Server is therefore a 

process with many program threads, 

which can be executed in parallel. 

Thus, if several users request data 

from the server at the same time, 

these requests can be executed in 

parallel. This greatly increases the 

performance of the complete system. 

- Installations with many users requested 

an access rights policy in order 

to regulate access to the data. DIVA 

Access Rights is a part of all DIVA 

programs. It is not necessary to use 

DIVA Access Rights. It can be deactivated 

for users that do not need it. 

- The design possibilities in the presentation 

programs, especially the Stop 

Timetable, should be more flexible. 

The presentation programs should 

also be able to compute print outputs 

for the Intermodal Journey Planner. 

Therefore the Stop Timetable, Book 

Typesetting, and CBS (Central Bus 

Stop) modules were changed into a 

client/server system. At the server 

side, the presentation server was 

implemented bundle the requests and 

run the computation. Thus, several 

presentation programs are also available 

in the Internet. 

- With DIVA 3, the new days of operation 

concept was implemented for 

operational planning. Details about 

this can be found in the article 

"Day Specific 

Planning in 

DIVA" this 

issue of mdv news . 

The development and 

delivery of DIVA 3 was 

to be very smooth. The changes 

were also supposed to be available 

as soon as possible. The 

changes were made during the 

last three years, without problems 

for the customers. 

Delivery of DIVA3 

With the DIVA Release R2/2004 the 

developments of DIVA 3 are completed. 

DIVA has noticeably grown, which is 

shown through the number of customers. 

We support, for example, installations 

with more than 3,500 routes and 

15,000 stops in one network. Today, 

DIVA is the only planning program which 

enables integrated planning (timetable/ 

vehicle scheduling, duty scheduling, 

GIS, optimization, planning of offered 

services, personnel deployment, publication, 

IJP, etc.), including the supply of 

an AVL system, for all transport operators 

in a large transport authority. 

What happens next? The development 

of DIVA 4 has already started. We have 

collected requirements during the last 

User Group at the NVBW in Stuttgart 

and discussed them with the users. We 

will take the requirements and prepare a 

concept for the implementation of DIVA 4 

within the next months. We are all looking 

forward to the exciting further developments 

of the system. 

Your contact person: 

Wilfried Düx 

duex@m.mentzdv.de 

Tel.: ++49 89 418 68 114


Day specific planning is used very differently 

by the individual transport operators. 

Some DIVA users cannot offer services 

according to the scheduled timetable 

on 80% of all operating days due to 

road works, exhibitions, etc. Naturally, 

these changes in the timetable must be 

planned and communicated to the passenger. 

Actually, day specific planning is nothing 

special. Through the definition of a service 

calendar, each calendar day is allocated 

to a day type. However, this can 

get very complicated for the user. 

Additionally, a large portion of the data 

must be redundantly entered and saved. 

The amount of data to be entered 

increases greatly with an increase in the 

number of routes. If, for example, on 

one day a route serves another route 

option due to road works, a new day 

type must be created for this calendar 

day. The planning during road works is 

carried out in the new day type. The problem 

with this: many other lines must be 

copied into the new day type. You can 

imagine what happens if two lines have 

separate road works deviations that 

timely overlap. 

The planning of a route group 

should be possible without influencing 

other route groups. In a 

route group, all routes that 

change are pooled. Within a 

route group, all blocks are consistent. 

For the first time, this is solved in 

DIVA through the introduction of a 

calendar per route group. In this 

calendar only special occasions 

concerning the route group are 

defined. The calendar of one 

route group does not influence 

the calendar of the other route 

group. 

This solution sounds trivial but 

has serious consequences for 

the DIVA program and its users. 

How are calendars per route 

group to be exported to VDV 

compatible systems such as AVL 

systems and passenger counting 

systems? Especially these interfaces 

are an important part of the 

DIVA system and were, amongst 

others, responsible for the success 

of DIVA in the last years. 

This is possible through the introduction 

of a network-wide valid 

service calendar that can be 


used, for example, for the VDV export. 

The calendars that are defined for each 

individual route group must be mapped 

on this network-wide service calendar. 

And how should the duty schedule 

work? The duty schedule does not know 

any route groups. The calendar of the 

duty schedule must work for several 

route groups. Often a reduced or extended 

calendar is necessary for duty scheduling, 

for example because services 

are not planned in the timetable schedule 

but are only defined as secondary 

service in the duty schedule. Therefore, 

in DIVA the calendar of the duty schedule 

can be extended and modified, based 

on the service calendar of the timetable 

schedule. 

For the publication of timetable data for 

the passenger, day type specific data is 

mostly not of interest. If all details of day 

specific planning would be presented, 

for example in a stop timetable, the passenger 

would drown in footnotes. In order 

to keep the stop timetable readable, the 

data are normally smoothed out. Therefore, 

in DIVA it is also possible to define 

a special calendar for publication purposes. 

Day specific planning can basically be 

performed following three different strategies: 

1. The service calendar is identical with 

the calendars of the route groups. 

This is a wise strategy for smaller 

operators with few routes. 

2. A calendar is defined per route group. 

The service calendar is defined in 

such way that on the one hand all 

route groups can be scheduled exactly 

and on the other hand as few day 

types as possible are created in the 

service calendar. This strategy is useful 

if a restriction on the number of 

day types in the consuming systems 

(AVL, passenger counting, etc) exists 

which excludes the third strategy. 

This is the case for most operators. 

3. Parallel to the second strategy, a 

calendar per route group is defined. 

The network-wide valid service calendar 

is defined on a 365 day types per 

year basis. This is a sensible strategy 

when more than one operator is planned 

in a timetable schedule. This 

strategy implies that the consuming 

DIVA Graphic Schedule enables the handling of overall day types in the new days of operation concept. The program sh

systems can deal with the larger 

quantity of data and range of values. 

Such a large extension in the planning 

software must of course be carefully 

implemented at each user. In April 2004, 

a workshop in Karlsruhe was organised 

in order to discuss the new functionalities. 

More than 65 users attended this 

workshop. 

After the workshop in Karlsruhe, the implementation 

of the new DIVA release, 

the optimal utilization of all new possibilities, 

and the decision for one of the 

above strategies were worked out with 

the users within a customer specific 

training. 

The new DIVA release was delivered to 

the DIVA users without additional 

licence costs. The development was 

financed completely through maintenance 

resources. 

From the implementation experiences 

and the feedback from the users, more 

requirements for day specific planning 

arose for several components of the 

DIVA system. Most of these require- 

ments have been implemented in 

the August release (R2/2004). 

The implementation of day specific 

planning was created in close 

collaboration with the users. The 

users were greatly involved in 

the development process in the 

form of workshops. Only in this 

way, it has been possible to take 

the requirements optimally into 

account. We would like use this 

opportunity to thank our customers 

for their collaboration. 

Through the new days of operation 

concept, the DIVA system 

has taken a large step forward. 

The reactions of the users show 

us that the developments optimally 

meet the requirements of 

the users. 

With the new days of operation concept, 

the DIVA system now has an additional 

distinguishing feature. No other planning 

program offers for day specific planning 

such a consequent optimal support in all 

components (timetable planning, duty 

scheduling, personnel deployment, 

ows whether a trip is also included in another day type and enables the use of handling features for all day types. 



Mr. Barth, responsible transport planner for the VAG in 

Freiburg: "End of 2000, we implemented DIVA within 

the framework of the acquisition of an AVL system. We 

were at that time already very enthusiastic about the 

possibilities of the system. The implementation of the 

new days of operation concept enables us to realize day 

specific planning even more accurately. The complete 

planning process has noticeably accelerated. This is in 

the end very positive for our passengers." 

presentation, journey planner, and interfaces 

for RBL systems). 


Dr. Markus Alefeld 

alefeld@m.mentzdv.de 

Tel. ++49 89 41868 119

Transfer Optimization with 

DIVA-Interval Timetable 

Every operator is interested in optimizing 

its processes. Generally, operators 

want to optimize those internal processes 

which decrease costs. However, it 

is very difficult to balance these optimizations 

with optimizations on the customer's 

side. But what would you say if 

you were handed a tool that makes your 

offered public transport services more 

attractive to your customers, increases 

your operator income, and at the same 

time decreases your operator cost? In 

case you are interested in this, DIVA- 

Interval Timetable could be the right tool 

for you... 

Transfer Optimization - what is it? 

All transport planners are familiar with 

the following problem: the passenger 

wants the public transport to have short 

time intervals, routes which follow the 

same path to be time-wise evenly distributed, 

and interchange transfers with 

minimal waiting times. In particular, the 

realisation of minimal waiting times for 

as many transfers as possible is a typical 

optimization problem. On the other 

hand, in order to reduce costs, the transport 

operator wants to manage blocks 

with the least amount of vehicles possible, 

while keeping with the operator's 

legal and technical requirements. This 

also influences the transfer situation 

along the route. It is not possible to 

satisfy both sides, passenger and operator, 

completely. So, at what point are 

the requirements of both sides optimally 

met? 

The experienced transport planner 

resolves this problem intuitively and 

realizes practical results. Because 

small changes in the interval-based 

timetable can often have a large impact, 

the transport planner bases the new 

timetable closely on the previous year's 

timetable. Thus, new approaches to 

solve the above mentioned problems 

are not to be expected, and as a result 

no clear improvement of the timetable is 

achieved. However, previously untapped 

economic potential can be gained 

with DIVA-Interval Timetable. 

Requirements for a transfer 

optimization 

It is expected that a tool for transfer optimization 

support the transport planner in 

each planning phase and give the transport 

planner information about all relevant 

planning data. It should be possible 

to: 1) easily define important transfer 

relations in the network, 2) have an 

overview as to whether or not the requirements 

at separate transfers are met 


(transfer quality), 3) change departure 

time blocks easily via drag and drop and 

see the resulting impact on the network 

plan, 4) build and control blocks in consideration 

of waiting times, and 5) perform 

a fully automatic optimization of the 

timetable and place this proposed timetable 

to the disposal of the transport 

planner for further handling. 

Implementation in DIVA-Interval 

Timetable 

A consequent orientation towards the 

needs and conditions of transport operators 

was very important in the development 

of DIVA-Interval Timetable. This 

could only be realized through a close 

cooperation with larger transport authorities. 

During the development phase, 

the Transport Operator of Zurich (VBZ) 

and especially Mr. Andreas Weisskopf 

(Weisskopf Engineering AG), with his 

experience in the field of transfer optimization, 

assisted mdv. We would like to 

thank them for their assistance. 

The prototype for DIVA-Interval Timetable 

was implemented in the course of 

a project with the Transport Operator of 

Basel (BVB). Moreover, scientific 

research about the practicability of the 

program was done within the framework 

of a diploma thesis that was supervised 

by BVB and mdv. Another objective of 

the diploma thesis was to refine the 

parameterisation of the system, adjusting 

the parameters perfectly to the 

actual needs. These efforts were made 

to guarantee a high practicability of 

DIVA-Interval Timetable. 

We are convinced that the new product, 

DIVA-Interval Timetable, meets your 

requirements for an optimal transport 

planning tool. With DIVA-Interval 

Timetable it is sufficient to select route 

options that are available in the system 

and to define the transfer relations. Preset 

parameters help to work with as little 

input as possible. Afterwards, any timetable 

scenario can be run through and 

can be compared and optimized with 

respect to transfer and block quality. 

This is done easily by drag and drop of 

routes, with an immediate control of the 

result, or fully automatic via the DIVA- 

Interval Timetable Optimizer. Footpath 

times that are needed by the passenger 

to interchange are taken into account as 

well as eventual waiting times of the 

vehicles at the last stop of a block, automatically 

of course. 

DIVA-Interval Timetable offers even 

more 

With DIVA-Interval Timetable it is even 

possible to synchronize an interval timetable 

with (external) individual events. 

This includes, for example, important 

transfers with the national or international 

long-distance transport with which 

the timetables must be aligned. 

Moreover, it is possible to refine the 

input about routes and transfers. For 

example, DIVA-Interval Timetable enables 

the restriction of the validity time 

interval. Thus, the weekday and day 

time dependent requirements can be 

elegantly taken into account. Also, vehicle 

sequences (e.g. on trunk routes, tunnel 

routes, etc) can be defined, or DIVA- 

Interval Timetable can define the best 

sequence itself, etc. 

Conclusion 

The large positive feedback from the 

transport operators has shown us that 

we have hit the bull's eye with DIVA- 

Interval Timetable. We have developed 

a product that is apparently highly 

demanded. Other transport operators 

and authorities have already raised interest 

in DIVA-Interval Timetable. 

Mr. Iffländer, operating manager of BVB 

Basel: "With DIVA-Interval Timetable, finally 

a tool is available on the market that understands 

the important issue of transfer optimization. 

The implementation by mdv can be 

seen as elaborate and highly successful. We 

are very enthusiastic about the possibility to 

run through different scenarios with respect 

to quality for a complicated network time 

schedule within a short amount of time. 

DIVA-Interval Timetable will be an important 

part of our transport planning in the future. 

With this tool we can considerably increase 

our passenger satisfaction and thereby the 

acceptance of public transport."

Since the end of 2003, the Transport 

Authority Eastern Region (VOR) in 

Vienna has had the new IJP (Intermodal 

Journey Planner) application for the 

dynamic generation of timetable booklet 

pages on the Internet in use. 

In 2003, The IJP Work Group, which 

meets regularly and actively supports 

and advises mdv regarding further 

developments of the Intermodal Journey 

Planner, requested the extension of the 

current IJP dialog with the possibility to 

make current timetable booklet pages in 

IJP available to the passenger. 

Timetable booklet pages have long 

since been available in the DIVA system, 

although the objective was to generate a 

one-time print output. 

Due to the request for timetable booklet 

pages IJP extension, the utilization 

value of the existing data is increased. 

Not only are the data that have been 

planned in DIVA and the developed 

timetable booklet pages offered to the 

passenger in the form of a timetable 

booklet, but the passenger can also 

request timetable information for individual 

routes at any time in the Internet. 

An important advantage of dynamically 

generated timetable booklet pages in 

IJP is that the pages are always up-todate 

because each page is generated 

on the fly. Therefore, the passenger 

always has access to the latest version 


of the timetable. 

In October 2003, the module for dynamic 

timetable booklet pages in IJP was 

released. The VOR was one of the first 

users of the new application. During the 

34th User Group in spring 2004 at the 

NVBW in Stuttgart, Mr. Flicker of VOR 

presented their implementation and 

experiences to the other IJP users. At 

that time, he could already report positive 

feedback from the customers. After 

only eight months a very favourable 

balance can be drawn. 

The module for dynamically generated 

timetable booklet pages in IJP is currently 

also in use at the Transport Authority 

of Stuttgart, the Transport Authority of 

Mr Flicker: "Our passengers are very enthusiastic. 

Since the request dialog for timetable 

booklet pages is available on our Internet 

site, the amount of request has increased 

rapidly. We couldn't have wished a better 

result. " 

Transfer Optimization with DIVA-Interval Timetable 

We are confident that transfer optimization will be an important issue in transport planning in the next years and that DIVA-Interval 

Timetable offers all the features that are needed to realize highly effective transfer optimization. 


Dr. Rodrigo Supper 

supper@m.mentzdv.de 

Tel. ++49 89 41868 153 

The Transport Authority Eastern Region (VOR) in Vienna is very 

enthusiastic about dynamically generated timetable booklet pages in IJP 

Month 

Number of generated 

timetable booklet pages at 

VOR 

December 2003 11.798 

January 2004 14.918 

February 2004 10.783 

March 2004 9.840 

April 2004 8.775 

May 2004 7.714 

June 2004 8.404 

July 2004 7.200 

High acceptance by VOR passengers. The 

amount of requests has increased up to 

9.800 requests/ month on average. 

Nürnberg, the Munich Transport 

Authority and the Traveline South East 

in UK. Implementations at the Transport 

Authority of the Rhine/Ruhr Region as 

well as the Transport Authority of the 

Dresden Region are planned for 2004. 


Helmut Mayr 

mayr@s.mentzdv.de 

Tel.: ++49 711 61 55 43 14

Short news 

Events 

Intermodal Journey Planner in London broke all 

records 

In July 2004, seven servers computed in parallel for the 

Intermodal Journey Planner of TfL (Transport for 

London). With more than six million calculated trips per 

month, TfL is the front-runner of the IJP-systems. The 

capacity is highly dimensioned because from experience 

the requests double on strike days. 

Urban Traffic Operator of Tübingen orders DIVA 

The Urban Traffic Operator of Tübingen, who in the past 

has used DIVA under its transport authority, will become 

an autonomous DIVA user. Even the onboard computer 

will be supplied with the timetable and block planning, 

including information for ticket machines and traffic 

signal system control, from the DIVA system. 

ITSinEurope, Budapest/ Hungary 

From May 24 - 26, 2004, the ITSinEurope congress and 

exhibition took place in Hungary. Dr. Mentz was invited to 

give a presentation on intermodal journey planning (IJP) 

for impaired passengers. The first part of the presentation 

was about the implementation of important interchange 

information in the IJP for mobility impaired. For mobility 

impaired passengers, it is very important to know 

whether or not an interchange is connected with a long 

footpath or if the interchange is possible with the help of 

escalators and elevators. Equally important is the information 

about wheelchair accessible vehicles. 

In the second part of the presentation, Dr. Mentz showed 

the design of a special interface for visually impaired 

passengers. This interface must be adapted to the needs 

and technical requirements of the tools that are developed 

for visually impaired. The participants from Europe 

and the new EU countries were very enthusiastic. The 

participants had the opportunity to inform themselves 

about IJP at our stand. 

Transports Publics 2004, Paris/ France 

mdv and mi were present at the 1st European Mobility 

Exhibition "Transport Publics" that took place from June 

16 - 19, 2004 in Paris, Porte de Versailles. This first 

"Transport Publics" had about 7500 - mainly Frenchspeaking 

- professional visitors within the first three days. 

The last day was open for the public and was visited by 

another 2000 people. The exhibition enabled mdv to 

make many new contacts and to show its know-how in 

the field of public transport. 

Ms. Cécile Pinsard informed many visitors at the exhibition 

"Transport Publics" in Paris about the products of mi and mdv. 

Events 2004 

Passenger Transport Solutions 2004 

September 15 -16, 2004 

Stand 42 

Olympia 2, London, UK 

36th DIVA/EFA User Group 

October 12 - 14, 2004 

Host: TraffiQ Local Transport Operator of Frankfurt am Main 

Holiday Inn, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 

Symposium: Evaluation of Ticket Inspection 

or: From ticket inspector to customer advisor 

Presentation: "Result-led ticket inspection" by Herr 

Albert Böhm (SSB) and Dr. Markus Alefeld 

Seminar Centre L'ENTREE 

November 15 - 16, 2004, Basel, Switzerland 

Preview 2005 


Spring 2005 

Host: Transport Authority of Middle Saxony (VMS) 

Chemnitz, Germany 

7th Austrian Transport Authority Symposium with Exhibition 

April 19 - 20, 2005 

Host: Syndicate of Austrian Transport Authorities (IGV) 

Innsbruck, Austria 

5th European Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent 

Transport Systems and Services 

June 1 - 3, 2005 

Hannover, Germany 


Autumn 2005 

Host: Transport Operator of Zurich (VBZ) 

Zurich, Switzerland

II/2004 - Mentz Datenverarbeitung GmbH

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