Public Transportation Woes in Amsterdam

I was riding Tram 14 a couple weeks ago, heading home from my volunteer job, when I spotted a sign that caught my eye. When I realized that every sign in the tram was exactly the same, it gave me a sad chuckle. The sign that was plastered all over the tram was for a discount of 80 percent on the purchase of an OV-chipkaart. “OV” stands for Openbaar Vervoer in Dutch, and it means public transportation in English. A chipkaart is basically a debit card, and in this case, it’s a debit card for public transportation credits. The OV-chipkaart is relatively new to the Netherlands, and it’s supposed to replace the ubiquitous strippenkaart, which is the current per-trip, paper-based payment system.

From what I’ve read in the papers and online, the main reason the whole country is moving to this new system is to crack down on people who ride the trains, trams and buses without paying. Of course the public transportation companies are marketing it in a more positive light—that it will soon be possible to travel all around the country using just one pass. (A strippenkaart works on all the trams and buses, but not all the trains.) Unfortunately, the OV-chipkaart has been controversial since it’s introduction to the public a few years ago, mainly because it seems worse than the current system.

The Netherlands began a phased rollout of the card in Rotterdam in 2005, and it has slowly extended this to other cities over the past few years. During this time, however, the card has been plagued with problems and negative publicity. A little over a year ago, German hackers cracked the transport card’s security system, enabling them to alter cards and travel for free. And last spring, students in Nijmegen (a city near the German border) accessed the data stored on the disposable versions of the cards. Neither of these developments has put Dutch travelers at ease with the new system.

Now, it’s becoming an important issue in Amsterdam because the public transportation company of Amsterdam (the GVB or Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf) has begun switching its system over to the card.

Aside from the issues with hacking and the negative publicity, I think there’s an equally large stumbling block that’s finally getting some attention—the cost. A strippenkaart has no additional cost; you pay based on the number of trips you get. The new OV-chipkaart is actually a product itself that you must purchase in addition to the price of any traveling you do. The base price for the two main types of cards (the personal and anonymous cards) is €7.50. As you might imagine, this may not go over well in a country whose people are known as being very frugal.

And this finally gets me back to why I thought the signs on the tram were sadly funny. This whole OV-chipkaart situation is a PR disaster and rather than deal with it, the GVB are avoiding it and hoping a sale will salvage things. Now the Dutch love sales, but I don’t think they’re going to buy something they don’t want, no matter what the price. They definitely weren’t buying the cards before the sale started. If they were, there’s no way the GVB would’ve reduced the price by 80 percent (it’s an unheard of reduction on anything in Amsterdam).

I'm sorry that the sign is a little out of focus.
The tram was moving when I took this photo.

So why are the cards so much cheaper all the sudden? Is it just a gimmick? Why were the cards priced at €7.50 to begin with? Is that the price of producing one card? Is it to help recoup the costs of implementing the system? I don’t know. In all the news articles and GVB information I’ve read, I have not seen an explanation for the original price. Will they lose money with this sale? Or will they just break even now, charging the lower price? Again, I don’t know. I haven’t seen an explanation for the sale price either.

Please don’t get me wrong. I love public transportation, and I think the trams, buses and trains in Amsterdam and all around the Netherlands are great. I use them often, I’m happy to support the system, and I think most residents of the Netherlands would say the same thing. But in order to keep the public happy with and supportive of public transportation, I think the transportation companies and the government have a responsibility beyond just providing the system. They must make the entire system easy-to-understand, easy-to-use, affordable and safe.

In particular, I think the GVB and the Dutch government need to acknowledge the hacking problems with the new payment system, DO something about them and tell the public what they’re doing. I think they also need to clearly explain and justify the costs they expect us to pay in the new system. I want to know why it costs what it costs. I don’t want sales or gimmicks. Initially charging €7.50 per card and then dumping the price down to €1.50 doesn’t make me think I’m getting a great deal; it makes me think they were overcharging people with the original price. Set fair prices, explain them and stick with them.

I know this may sound like a simplistic solution to a complex problem, but I think it can and should be that simple. By keeping the public transportation system transparent, safe and affordable, the Dutch government, the GVB and all the other public transportation companies across the Netherlands can fix these issues and give Dutch travelers back the confidence they want and need to make the entire system successful.

If you’re interested in reading more about these issues, you can check out these articles: Transportation Smart Card Implemented Despite Problems, published by the NRC Handelsblad, and New Electronic Ticket Easily Hacked, published by Expatica. For more information about public transportation in Amsterdam and the new OV-chipkaart, please visit the GVB’s website.

© Kathy Keating and “Life in Amsterdam”, 2009.