The day has come! You can now officially check into (most) Dutch public transport using your phone, bank card or smartwatch.
After a long wait, OVpay is launching in most of the Netherlands TODAY. Alongside the NS, who are officially introducing the payment system on its trains, Qbuzz and Arriva are also joining the club.
This means that, besides your trusty OV-Chipkaart, you can now use your bank card to check into most Openbaar Vervoer (public transport). Hoera!
How does OVpay work?
Checking into public transport using your bank card is as easy as appeltaart. You do not have to activate a special setting on your card, so as long as you have a debit or credit card, you are all set.
Deze @nieuweknikkers is net ingecheckt bij de @NS_online met de bankpas op mijn horloge ⌚️. Dat ging snel met #ovpay pic.twitter.com/OLke05BrSY— Gertjan Rösken (@GertjanRosken) September 8, 2022
Here’s how it works:
- Take the bank card you’d like to use for travel out of your wallet, or activate the contactless payment function on your smartphone or watch. 🤳
- Just as you would with your OV-Chipkaart, hold your card or device against the card scanner. This will check you in.
- Check out using the same card you checked in with. This is important, because if you use a different one, the pole will recognize that as a new check-in, and will charge you extra.
And ta-da, you will have successfully used OVpay, gefeliciteerd! 🥳
Time to get rid of your OV-Chipkaart? Not just yet.
While the OVpay system is extremely handy, especially for tourists visiting the Netherlands, there are some functions that the system is still missing.
For the time being, OVpay does not allow you to use any discount subscriptions you may have. So, if you usually have student travel product, or 40% off outside rush hours, you’ll want to continue using your trusty yellow OV-Chipkaart.
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Will you be checking into public transport with your bank card from now on? Tell us in the comments!