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Amsterdammers! You can finally use your bank card to check into Dutch public transport

Say goodbye to your little friend, because your blue or yellow chipkaart will no longer be needed to check in for public transport in Amsterdam.

Hoorah! By the end of the year, the OV-Chipkaart will become obsolete as the Dutch transport system advances to a new payment method — OV-Pay.

Rather than needing your chipkaart to check in, you can now do so with your bank card, reports Het Parool.

Travel from Amsterdam with ease

Forgot your OV-Chipkaart? No, trouble, because now you can check in with your bank card.

How does it work? Well, very similar to how the chipkaart works.

To check in using your bank card, hold your phone, smartwatch, or contactless card against the device. Later, the fare will be deducted from your account under the name NLOV (Nederlands Openbaar Vervoer).

Yes, you heard that right! Not only can you use your contactless bank card, but if your card is linked to your phone or smartwatch, you can also use those to check-in.

READ MORE | Public transport in the Netherlands: the complete guide

And, don’t fear; just like with the chipkaart, you won’t be charged for going in and out of the gates at the stations without travelling.

Translation: OV-pay is indeed a new way to pay for your train, bus, tram or metro ticket. For business trips you still use your NS Business Card so that they can be invoiced to your company or employer.

An added plus to OV-Pay is that there is no minimum balance needed, so you can say doei to having to top up your chipkaart while your train pulls in. 🚅

OV-Pay not loaded with discounts

However, the one catch to using your card is that you can’t avail yourself of any subscriptions or discounts you might have for public transport.

So, for now, those of us who have the handy dandy Dal Voordel, we’ll have to keep track of those OV-Chipkaarts. 💳

Will you use OV-Pay? Tell us in a comment below! 👇

Feature Image:Depositphotos
Heather Slevin
Heather Slevin
Heather is a Dublin native, addicted to catching the Luas, the Irish version of a tram, for one stop, and well used to the constant rain and shine. Seeking to swap one concrete city for another (with a few more canals and a friendlier attitude to cyclists) here she is with the Dutch Review! As a Creative Writing student, she can usually be found sweating over the complicated formatting of her latest poem or deep inside the pages of a book, and loves writing, writing, writing.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Be careful if you have tickets with QR codes on your phone!!!

    I was the first to get caught off by the system on the day of launch. I was trying to scan the gate with my international train ticket QR code. To my surprise – instead of the scanner reading the QR code, it charged my bank card. Yex, i have my bank card connected to google pay. Now I need to go through a 3 week ordeal to get my money back.

    So, it is an improvement for many, but keep in mind that if you have a QR code you want to scan to enter you need to disable NFC.

  2. Most of the people use subscriptions. For me like them, we are still going to carry the chipkaart to get some discounts on already increased train fares.

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