Traveling in the Netherlands using public transit is really a treat. It is reliable, quick and inexpensive. This is a long post and effort was made to make it as concise as possible but it’s a big subject.
Paying with credit cards, phone, purchasing tickets in the respective app, and the OV-ChipKaart
There are multiple options on how you can pay with it being valid to combine some of these options. Some offer convince and others help you save money. What you do is going to depend on a couple things.
- How often will you use transit and which ones?
- How long are you staying in the Netherlands
- How often will you be in different transit areas?
- Do you have an address that you can get mail?
- What is least expensive.
The OV-chipkaart
The Netherlands has a one card transit solution called the OV-chipkaart. It works on all trams, busses, metros and trains. It cost €7.50 just for the card and then needs to be funded for use on the transit system of your choice. There are 2 types of OV-chipkaarts a personal card and an anonymous card.
Anonymous cards can be purchased at vending machines at the station or service desk
Personal cards can be ordered online and are mailed to you so you need an address
Only the personal card (card with the yellow back and has your photo) can be used with subscriptions. Simply this helps prevent abuse by people purchasing a subscription and using it amongst several persons. The anonymous card however can be used with discount fares for the elderly and young by registering the card with the OV-App. This feature is also possible with a credit card. More on that later.
If you are going to be using transit a lot it is not a bad idea to get either one of these cards so you are not pulling your credit card out for entrance to the transit and potentially having drop on the track.
It should be noted that Apple Pay is also possible but requires you to have the card out on the screen, express pay is not supported. This like having your credit card out and can be inconvenient as the old trams have a cramped entrance area that is often crowded with people that don’t move further into the tram.
Short Stays or infrequent transit use
If you are renting a car or just don’t need frequent use of transit then you have a couple options. You can simply use credit card or Apple Pay or Google Wallet to gain access to any bus/tram/metro/train in NL. <insert video>
One thing to remember is that a separate credit card is needed for each person in your party as it is one fare per person. This is also true with OV-chipkaart.
If you are elderly or a child there is an option to get the lower fares by using the OV-Pay app. This allows you to associate your credit card with an account that prescribes the correct fare.
Paper Tickets are still possible
Paper tickets come in a few forms.
Length of stay
It takes about a week to get a personal card and the subscriptions are all for 1 month so < a month probably will not pay off unless you are taking long train trips several times a week
If staying > 1 month it can work out if you’re going to be traveling about a lot.
Types of season tickets
Trains
There are 2 train companies in NL. Arriva only in the north and NS that covers the entire country. The NS season tickets cover all trains and I have no experience with Arriva so that’s for another person to write about.
There are discount subscriptions that take the edge off the cost to all trains travel is included for the length of the subscription.
Here is a list from the NS site:
NS.nl Season Ticket product page
There are two requirements for subscriptions.
- Personal OV-Chipkaart
- A local dutch bank account or an international account that supports SWIFT/IBAN
If you know someone in NL you can ask for their help in purchasing a subscription otherwise you have to have a bank that supports the IBAN interchange. Openbank by Santander does and E*Trade does not. However Openbank charges fees for this use.
Be aware of what fees your credit card out bank may charge for using your accounts in foreign countries. Credit cards are typically better about this than banks. The fees can be significant!
European persons probably have a better ability to use their bank accounts internationally than Americans. However US credit cards are often available with no fees for international use.
Which subscription?
Since at reTraveled we target stays of 3 months the best choice for us is …
Dal Vrij @ €119
Train journeys:
- Unlimited travel during off-peak hours
- Unlimited travel at weekends and on public holidays
- 40% Co-travel discount during off-peak hours for up to 3 passengers travelling with you
Being retired means no early starts to the day which makes the off peak hours a non-issue and keeps the price down.
Off-peak hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm and 6.30 pm to 6.30 am.
Weekend: Friday evening 6.30 pm to Monday morning 4.00 am.
A couple round trips a week will easily pay for this. As a single traveler this was an easy call as a couple its a bit more complicated because you do get 40% off for up to 3 companions. These people must be traveling with you to get the discount.
NS is vigilant about checking tickets and are smart about where they check. Don’t think you can get away with a free train trip. Likewise having a dead phone that has the ticket information is not an excuse
The nice thing about this deal is regularly having coffee in another city just because it sounds fun. Frequently the day starts with seeing what train is leaving when arriving at the train station and just giving it a go.
There are other options weekend only unlimited travel to inexpensive discount travel see what works best for your schedule.
BTM – Bus/Tram/Metro
The situation with BTM is a bit nuanced compared to trains. There are many transit companies when talking about BTM. Each geographic area will have its own. We know Den Haag the best and will use HTM as an example other systems may have similar solutions.
In Den Haag the transit authority is HTM and they have a few subscription options. One just for travel in Den Haag that covers BTM but since Rotterdam and Leiden are figuratively just around the corner a regional solution for discount on BTM travel in South Holland or Zuid Holland which is the providence where Den Haag is located.
The HTM Maadkorting @ €4 per month provides 20% discount on BTM travel in their district of Den Haag.
The regional subscription is €40 per month. A 10x increase so you really need to do lots of travel to from Leiden, Rotterdam or Zoetermeer for it to make any sense.
In good European fashion the HTM subscriptions don’t auto renew so be thoughtful about that if you want to keep it month after month.
The confusing part…
One could easily see wanting a subscription for NS and then one for the regional BTM. It is possible but not without effort on your part.
First thing to understand is that once you setup your NS season ticket (subscription) it rules over everything on your account and will just debit the subscription cost as well as any BTM travel monthly to the bank account that used. To explain the situation the following scenarios are provided to help explain.
Scenarios
Scenario 1: You only want an NS train season ticket (subscription) and for BTM travel don’t mind getting a monthly charge for your usage.
This is easy just get the NS subscription you want on your personal OV-chipkaart.
Realize that if you are using someone else’s bank account they will get a charge for all BTM use at the end of the month.
Scenario 2: You want both an NS season ticket and a BTM subscription for discounted tram travel
This requires you to get the NS subscription then contact NS.nl customer service to remove BTM on your account. Then you can add in the BTM subscription such as HTM Maadkorting.
This scenario means that you must charge your OV-chipkaart as would when you had no subscription. The link to the bank account is broken for BTM travel and your card must have sufficient funds for travel.
Scenario 3: You only want a train subscription but do not want BTM travel charged monthly to the linked bank account. Probably because the bank account is not yours but an unsuspecting cousin that is helping you out.
As in scenario 2 you would have the NS customer service remove BTM.
You can apply your train subscription but not have BTM travel charged at the end of month to linked bank account. Requires the card to have sufficient funds for BTM travel.
Scenario 4: You only want a BTM subscription.
Easy go to the BTM company and order the subscription.
BTM travel with discount. You can still use your OV-chipkaart for train travel but at no discount
Scenario 5: No subscription desired
Skip getting a personal OV-chipkaart and just get an anonymous card, use a credit card or manual tickets.
This is the easy solution but does not offer as many discount options.
Scenario 6: You don’t want to use a card of any type
Paper tickets can still be purchased and sometimes offer better deals for infrequent travelers. See the paper ticket section
The term paper tickets is used loosely for NS train service. The NS app will allow the purchase of tickets, sometimes at a discount for travel on trains. For people only in NL for a few days this is a great option.
Removing BTM
To remove the BTM function on your OV-chipkaart you must contact a NS customer service representative. This can be done easily via their app and is a quick process.
It is also possible to do at a service center at the train station. This has one advantage which is once you add a subscription you have to “load” it on your ov-chipkaart and this loading can all be done at the customer service desk.
If you want to go the app route be prepared to provide the following information.
Tell the rep you want to remove BTM. They will ask for the following information (list from memory so please let me know what was missed):
- OV-chipkaart number and experation date
- Full name and DOB
- Address
- Phone number and Email
As stated previously you must now load the change to the card which will then make it active. To do this go to an ov-chipkaart kiosk that can be on the tram or at the station.
- Place your card on the reader
- Select your language
- You don’t have to hold your card on the reader the whole time the machine will let you know when you need to place it again
- Select the “Load product….”
- Make sure your removal of BTM – Bus Tram Metro is selected. Others can be selected too if you are doing multiple items.
- Select the load product button
- Present your card on the reader
- Done!
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