Transportation smart card implemented despite problems
21 January 2009
The new Dutch public transport smart card is due to be implemented nationwide this year, in theory enabling passengers to use the prepaid electronic smart card in trains, trams, metros and buses everywhere.
Commuters can 'load up' the card with money which will automatically be deducted for each fare. Customers can choose between cards that either carry personal details or, for more privacy, are anonymous.
After years of debate, Rotterdam will be the first city to completely phase out paper tickets. As of 29 January, the Rotterdam metro cannot be boarded without the smart card. Yet the transition has been far from trouble-free.
Solving one problem, but creating others
The Dutch smart card is comparable to those in Singapore, Hong Kong and London, where several issues had to be ironed out before the cards gained wide acceptance. The Dutch electronic payment system was initiated by the five biggest public transport companies in the Netherlands, which were unsatisfied with the previous paper version of the national transport ticket. Currently only one type of paper ticket can be used in metros, buses and trams around the country. This system, where commuters must stamp their tickets according to the number of zones they travel, makes it difficult to divide the costs and revenues between the companies when passengers use multiple means of transport.
Later in the year the metro in Amsterdam will only be accessible with a smart card and in October trains travelling nationwide will have adapted the new technology. "Around half to three quarters of the passengers in the tram, metro, bus and train will travel with the smart card this year," predicts Leen Verbeek, who chairs the steering group for decentralised implementation of the smart card.
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