Trains can get really crowded sometimes, so wouldn't it be great to know in advance how busy your train will be, so you can take an earlier or later one?
With iRail, we created just that. It shows you the occupancy of every train, and you can adjust it if the prediction is different from what you see on your train. iRail will learn from that, so the more feedback you give, the better it will predict!
iRail occupancy levels are still in beta. It means that its predictions might not be as accurate yet, and that it still lacks some functionalities. However, we want you to start using it, so we can use your feedback to improve it. The more you indicate the occupancy of the train you're on, the better iRail will be able to predict busy trains in the future. So let's get started!
Additionally, iRail occupancy rates can be seen Railer, HyperRail and BeTrains soon. Download them now, so you can be the first to use the new feature!
iRail assigns an occupancy level (Not Busy/Busy/Very Busy) to every stretch between stops, for every train, every day. For a bunch of trains in the peak hours, we already know between which stations they're full based on data we got from NMBS/SNCB and a survey together with TreinTramBus.
For other trains, we don't have information yet. That is where you come into play as a user. The more feedback you give, the more iRail will learn about busy trains. We will use this to predict busy trains for other other times in the future.
Imagine you’re taking a train from Bruges to Brussels, with one stop in Ghent. iRail assigns the occupancy level you entered to the stretch between Bruges and Ghent, and will then use a nifty occupancy transfer algorithm to predict the occupancy for the stretch between Ghent and Brussels.
If the iRail prediction is incorrect, you or another user could correct it. Over time, iRail will learn to show the correct occupancy levels.
So that's it: the more you use Spitsgids, the better it will become!
