The OV chipkaart issuer Translink announced the introduction of a new public transport payment system.
If you’ve been enjoying the perks of having a personal OV chipkaart in the Netherlands, you may be sad to find out that the days of this piece of plastic are coming to an end, but happy to see that something better is coming to replace it.
The new system replacing OV chipkaart — OVpay — will allow travellers to use their debit cards and smartphones for public transport. The system is to be introduced next year, reports RTL Nieuws.
Work in progress
OVpay is currently being tested on city buses in Lelystad. Once all the bugs are fixed, the rest of the country can follow.
According to the spokesperson for Translink, Gerbrant Corbee, “60,000 gates and card readers will already be adapted this year for OVpay.”
Public transport companies are investing 100 million euros in the transition to offer customers more convenience.
“OVpay is a more modern solution that offers travelers easy, fast and safe public transport,” says the chairman of the umbrella organisation OV-NL (Openbaar Vervoer Nederland) Pedro Peters.
Are you sad to see the good old OV chipkaart go or are you looking forward to this new system? Tell us in the comments below!
Feature Image: Alwin Croon/Unsplash
I hope the old cards will still work for a while, we’ve got quite a lot of credit on various cards
Will this also apply to the anonymous card?
Sad? But why would anyone be sad? I dont have to worry about carrying another card anymore and can have a card payment added to my mobile. It’s a massive reason to celebrating rather than feel sad about it.
Also they are giving back the money on the old cards 😉