It’s done – it’s over, you ruined it! We all ruined it! Oh, the humanity! But, you still have two weeks – so grab your hobo-stick and ride that train into the sunset…
Facebook Ruins Not Just Your Life – It Also Ruined the Group Ticket.
It’s unfortunate but true, people gathered in countless Facebook groups and began forming make-shift arrangements to get their discount prices (7 Euros for cross-country travel!) – which was working against the NS more and more. Worse however was that an underground economy was starting to build, resulting in a real black market for group tickets.
Some people, some may call them exploiters and others clever, were in the business of setting up group arrangements for the tickets and re-selling them for an additional fee. Of course, some of these people weren’t quite trustworthy (surprise!) and left their ‘customers’ empty handed on more than one occasion. Needless to say, the NS took note and wasn’t happy about it.
No More Cheap Traveling? Don’t Worry Meet Group Ticket 2.0!
Technically, the original ticket was a “Group Round Trip Ticket”, which did not require the group to travel together – they only needed the same destination. The latter left much space for arrangement and as a result space for fraud.
The Netherlands Railways (NS) still wants to offer people the option to travel cheaply and in groups – they just don’t want to lose a small fortune on fraud. So, meet the NS’ new love child, the actual “Group Ticket”. From now on you are expected to travel as a group, in other words you all physically meet and get together on the same train to the same destination – one way trip, not return. The group needs to be at least five people and the price has been reduced to 6,50 Euros. You can, of course, still travel anywhere you want to as a group – so you can travel from Groningen to Maastricht for 6,50, one way if that tickles your fancy.
So, yes – it’s unfortunate that the original “Group Round Trip Ticket” is gone, but frankly – people themselves ruined it. But with the new incarnation, even though it’s one way, you will stay have a significant discount going for you. And, as we said at the start of the article, the new ticket starts January 15th, you have until then to use the old, fraudulent Round Trip-variant.
And if you’re still disappointed, imagine how those poor black market profiteers feel… So unfair…
People? Chinese people, you mean. It’s usage exploded after the Chinese picked it up. The black market was completely Chinese, the scammers were Chinese, and the fraudsters were Chinese. Others used it sporadically, if at all.
oh dear o dear …this is sad and yes you are right..we ruined it. Infact when I first came to NL, I thought how can a perfectionist nation leave this loophole open to be exploited. But yes I also realise that NL trains are very expensive…a public transport should not be so expensive as it pushes people to travel by car and pollute the environment more and occupy more space on the road. Anyways, in this situation, I would recommend taking WEEKEND FREE pass. I have it already and costs me around 30 euros for two people and my weekend travel becomes free.
[…] are preparing for a change (have you noticed I said TRAVELLING TOGETHER in the first sentence?) Read our other guide to the group ticket fiasco, if you want to know […]
[…] are preparing for a change (have you noticed I said TRAVELLING TOGETHER in the first sentence?) Read our other guide to the group ticket fiasco, if you want to know […]
Dear ,
We have 5 person in gruop. And we would like to go Giethoorn on Nov 27. Please help to advise if we can buy it as we can’t find this date in system.
Thank you for your help
BR/Huong