Trial of travelling by payment card on public transport

From the end of January, registered train passengers will be able to check in and out with NS for six months using their contactless debit card or credit card on the route between Leiden and The Hague.

Contactless debit cards and credit cards

Participants can travel with a contactless debit card issued by ABN AMRO, ING, Rabobank, SNS, ASN Bank or RegioBank, or with a contactless Mastercard or Visa credit card issued by ICS (International Card Services). This restriction applies only during the trial.

Participants’ card details are held on a ‘white list’ in the contactless card readers at the various stations. The personal and card details required for the trial are processed with great care.

Only passengers who have registered with their payment card can use it to travel on the trial route between Leiden and The Hague. If the system is rolled out nationwide in the future, in principle anyone will be able to travel on public transport directly with a contactless payment card.

Trial route and participants

The trial covers the NS routes Den Haag HS–Laan van NOI–Leiden and Den Haag Centraal–Laan van NOI–Mariahoeve–Voorschoten–De Vink–Leiden Centraal.

Approximately 1,000 test passengers are taking part in the trial, which runs until mid-2019. They are mainly occasional passengers travelling without a discount. They travel in second class at the full fare using their payment card.

During the trial, participants can use a mobile app for iOS or Android to view their journeys and the corresponding fares.

Easier travel with a payment card

Travelling with a contactless payment card—a debit card or credit card—is a logical and accessible option that offers particular convenience to public transport passengers. They do not need to obtain a separate OV-chipkaart, load credit in advance or buy a separate ticket. During the trial, the customer’s payment card replaces the familiar OV-chipkaart: passengers check in and out at NS gates with their payment card in the usual way.

Participants travel in second class at the full fare using their payment card. Travel costs are processed overnight after the day of travel and debited through the participant’s own bank or ICS. This differs from contactless payments at points of sale, where the amount due is debited from the account immediately.

During the trial, at least one gate or card reader at each station between Leiden and The Hague supports payment card travel. These can be recognised by the contactless payment symbol.

Purpose of the trial

Major changes are required at all transport operators, Translink and all banks before nationwide public transport travel using a payment card can become possible. The technology is therefore being tested carefully in this trial first.

Checking in and out with a payment card uses contactless EMV technology from Mastercard and Visa.

Passengers’ experiences during the trial will be studied through surveys, a forum and quantitative research. Any improvements identified can then be included in the evaluation.

Broad collaboration

Public transport operators are developing new ways to pay for public transport, such as barcode payments, through the Public Transport Payments Innovation Programme (in Dutch) run by the public transport operators’ cooperative and Translink. The trial on the NS route between The Hague and Leiden forms part of this innovation programme and is a collaboration between banks, credit card issuer ICS, Translink and the joint public transport operators.