NORTH HOLLAND NORTH
Travelers can now check in and out with a contactless debit or credit card in more public transport regions – and also on their mobile phones. Connexxion is introducing this new way of paying in all its buses in Egmond. With this introduction, over a million residents throughout North Holland can already pay almost barrier-free on the bus. Within a few weeks, checking in and out with your debit or credit card will become possible for residents of North Holland North.
Those who check in and out using a debit or credit card no longer need a separate OV-chip card or separate ticket. Spontaneously catching the bus thus becomes easier and easier. For people who travel occasionally by public transport and for foreign tourists, checking in and out with a debit or credit card is therefore a godsend.
OVpay
Public transit payments are going to change in the next few years. The OV-chipkaart will have a successor and new forms of payment will be introduced. Travelers will soon decide how they want to pay. These new forms of payment are being introduced nationwide by the joint public transport companies under the umbrella name OVpay.
Checking in and out with a debit or credit card is one of those new forms of payment. This is possible in more and more regions. A current overview can be found at www.ovpay.nl. For Connexxion, it complements the already existing options for travel by OV chip card or barcode.
How does it work?
Travel with a debit card works very simply – exactly the same as the OV chip card: a traveler checks in with a contactless debit card, plastic or on a mobile – and starts the journey. When leaving the bus, the traveler checks out using the same debit card. The price for the trip is the same as traveling with an OV chip card without a discount or subscription. At a later stage, it will also be possible to link discount products to a debit or credit card.
The costs of trips made on a day are added together and debited as a single total amount on the following night; that total amount is visible to the traveler on the payment statement of the respective bank or credit card issuer.
A word of caution: use the correct map
The ability to check in and out with a debit or credit card is a bit of a caution for OV-chipkaart users. As with contactless payment at the supermarket, the traveler must hold the correct card in front of the card reader. Now some travelers hold their wallet or phone case with a debit card, credit card and Ov chip card in front of the card reader. With this, travel expenses may not be settled via the OV-chip card, but are deducted from the bank account. Therefore, be sure to debit from your card of choice – debit card, credit card or public transport chip card – and offer it at check-in/check-out.
