Variable rate travel fee based upon vehicle occupancy

A service for charging travel fees or awarding benefits as a function of vehicle occupancy, comprising:

• providing a computer infrastructure configured to:
• count a number of occupants within a vehicle traveling via a vehicle infrastructure by generating a discrete occupant count, the discrete occupant count correlated with a ride-sharing service point located along the vehicle infrastructure;
• select a rate value subset from a variable travel fee schedule plurality of rate values as a function of an association with the discrete occupant count and the correlated ride-sharing service point;
• and
• charge a travel fee or award a benefit to an occupant of the vehicle or an operator of the vehicle, the charging or awarding a function of the rate value subset and an amount of the vehicle traveling via the infrastructure.

A method for charging travel fees or awarding benefits as a function of vehicle occupancy, comprising:

• producing computer executable program code;
• storing the code on a computer readable medium;
• and
• providing the program code to be deployed and executed on a computer system, the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to:
• count a number of occupants within a vehicle traveling via a vehicle infrastructure by generating a discrete occupant count, the discrete occupant count correlated with a ride-sharing service point located along the vehicle infrastructure;
• select a rate value subset from a variable travel fee schedule plurality of rate values as a function of an association with the discrete occupant count and the correlated ride-sharing service point;
• and
• charge a travel fee or award a benefit to an occupant of the vehicle or an operator of the vehicle, the charging or awarding a function of the rate value subset and an amount of the vehicle traveling via the infrastructure.

A programmable device comprising:

• a processing means;
• a memory in communication with the processing means comprising a logic component;
• and
• a network interface in communication with the processing means and the memory;
• wherein the processing means is configured to:
• count a number of occupants within a vehicle traveling via a vehicle infrastructure by generating a discrete occupant count, the discrete occupant count correlated with a ride-sharing service point located along the vehicle infrastructure;
• select a rate value subset from a variable travel fee schedule plurality of rate values as a function of an association with the discrete occupant count and the correlated ride-sharing service point;
• and
• charge a travel fee or award a benefit to an occupant of the vehicle or an operator of the vehicle, the charging or awarding a function of the rate value subset and an amount of the vehicle traveling via the infrastructure.