Ov-chipkaart Balance
Ilona Brownson
If you always want enough balance on your OV-chipkaart, you can request 'Automatic top-up' via www.ov-chipkaart.nl. After that, you only need to activate 'Automatic top-up' at a ticket machine at an NS station or the charging point at shops such as AH-to-Go and Kiosk.
It's now even easier to top up and pick up your balance with Check in & Pick up. At NS, you no longer have to first check in at an NS ticket machine to pick up your balance, even if you are entitled to a refund of your balance. When checking in at a gate or post, you can automatically load the balance onto your OV-chipkaart. This saves you an extra stop at the ticket machine and prevents you from forgetting to top up or pick up your balance. Great, right?
We, my wife and two teenage granddaughters and myself, will be staying in Amsterdam for 10 days this summer. We will spend probably about half of the time in the city and the other half taking day trips by train, or bus, to other places in the country. Always coming back to spend the night. My question is that I have been trying to find out as much as possible about the tripkey and OV card. Rick Steves doesn't mention the tripkey in the book. Can anyone who is familiar with both give me some advice on which might be better for us. The tripkey sounds great because it can be used in the city for buses etc as well as for buses and trains outside the city to travel to other towns. It is linked to the credit card and I am not sure if there is a fee for use each time it is used, besides the charge for the trip, and does my credit card charge me for a transaction each time it is used, there are four of us and will each have our own card. The OV card seems simple enough but you have to be sure to get one that is also useful for trains outside Amsterdam, keep it loaded up, etc. If we do use the OV cards, how much should we keep loaded up on them at any one time. I know, I have said a lot, but hope it all makes sense. I would appreciate any help on this issue.
John - we used the OV-chipkaart this winter for a lengthy stay in Netherlands. As Amsterdam is very walkable we knew we would only have one or two tram rides in town. I used the nsnl.com site to research round trip ticket prices to cities I knew we would visit to get a total of how much money I would need to load on the card. I bought our cards at the NS desk at Schiphol and loaded it all at once because I knew for sure we would travel and use up most of that amount. You don't want to have more than 30euro balance on the card when you cash it in at the end of your trip, yet you need a balance of at least 20E to ride the train each time you check in, or 4E to ride the tram. The OV-chipkaart works on all trams and trains in nl.
Tripkey looks like a very useful method of paying for your transportation. I did look at their page and there is a little notice that rent is only charged on days of use but nowhere does it say how much that fee is. I would want to know that. Someone on here who has used it might be able to tell you that or you could contact Tripkey yourself. What I don't like about Tripkey (for me) is the inconvenience of having to go to the DoubleTree or other hotel to pick up and drop off the card since our next trip does not include Schiphol.
Thank you so much to all three of you for your replies. Yesterday, I went to tripadvisor site and read a long extended thread of back and forth concerning tripkey. From the sounds of it, and given the advice now of someone who has actually used it, I am leaning very much towards getting us tripkeys. It sounds very convenient. I can register for them here at home, pick them up at the airport when we arrive, use them for all public transit, never have to worry about balances etc., and then just return them back at Hertz at the airport when we depart. What really had me concerned was paying transaction fees to my credit card company each time we boarded a bus or train. Since it sounds like they only charge the card after we turn it in, then there should only be one transaction fee with the credit card company. It almost sounds too good to be true! We aren't leaving until early June, I think that I will wait to register for the tripkeys until just before leaving for the trip, just in case any additional information comes forth that might sway my decision. Thanks again for all your advice.
After reading their site I still don't know if they have child's rates . I was informed on this forum that a child's ticket only costs 3.50 euro , cheap enough , however you have to buy that ticket every time you take the train .
I used Tripkey last year. Each person traveling needs his or her own card. By the way, I got stopped by the Transit Control officers in The Hague and worried that the Tripkey card might not pass inspection--but it did just fine.
I've made the decision to go with anonymous OV-chipkaarts rather than tripkey on my next trip. I read with interest the threads on TA, and when I emailed tripkey about collecting the card at a VVV (TI) in Utrecht listed on their website they told me that the VVV no longer supply them and that I needed to go to the Hertz at Schiphol. That's disappointing, and they say they are updating their website.
They seem to me to be a nice startup, with plenty of startup problems and growth issues. They strike me as quite amateur. I would think that they may be a good idea for North Americans who arrive at Schiphol and return from there but of dubious help to others. I hope that they pick up their game and take this really good idea professional.
I'm also cautious because at the end of use they are returned to the issuing location or through the mail while still active. If they were misused during that phase you could be liable to pay for a lot of travel you didn't use.
The OV-chipkaart is a contactless smart card system used for all public transport in the Netherlands. The OV-chipkaart is available in a disposable, single-use form (for occasional passengers, such as tourists) and reusable versions (for frequent travellers, either in anonymous or personalised forms) with a stored balance.
For many years, an OV-chipkaart provided the only way to pay transportation fees in the country. However, as of June 2023, fees may be paid by using a contactless credit or debit card. Many travellers find their credit or debit card easier than buying and keeping track of an OV-chipkaart, as they do not have to obtain, maintain, and monitor the balance on the contactless card. User procedures (tapping in and out) on both kinds of cards are the same. See the section on other payment methods at the end of the article for more information.
The disposable card (wegwerpkaart) is for one-time or short-period usage. The card is in many ways like a paper ticket. Credit cannot be written to the card. The card is only valid from the origin to destination written on the card in the case of a one-time usage (though getting off and back on at intermediate stations is permitted), or is valid on the entire network for a single time period (day passes, etc.). Unlike for anonymous or personal cards, passengers cannot load a balance on the card once purchased.
The primary operator of the metro / tram / bus system in Amsterdam (operator: GVB), Rotterdam (RET) and The Hague (HTM[dead link]) each offer their own disposable cards. The products vary by operator with different conditions but are all priced by time period (hours or days) rather than by distance. The first tap on an OV-chipkaart reader would start the clock towards the ticket's expiry. These products are valid only for one transit system; they cannot be used for NS, Conexxion, Arriva, etc. Unless you plan to use public transit intensively for the period purchased, these disposable cards tend to be more expensive than paying by distance using an anonymous or personal OV-chipkaart (see next subsection).
The pros and cons of an anonymous card depend on how you plan to use it. If multiple people are going to be using it, it is definitely an upgrade over the personal card. But do not try to travel with multiple persons on a single card at the same time, as this will result in a fine should you be caught. The downside here is that if you happen to lose the card, it can be used by anyone that happens to find it. Another downside of the anonymous card is that you need a minimum balance on your card to check in, which may vary by transit operator or route. However, the difference between the minimum amount and the actual fare is refunded to you upon properly checking out.
Personal cards can only be obtained by filling in the online form. A digital photo, permanent address and valid IBAN bank account number must be provided when applying, though residents of the Benelux and Germany may apply using PayPal. Automatisch opladen is, however, not available when using PayPal.Residents of other countries which have a valid IBAN bank account number can apply through the general contact form.Allow enough time for your application to be processed and the card to be sent to your (home) address.
Whilst the OV-Chipkaart can be used for most railway operators and local public transport operators in the country, they may not be used to pay for fares on services by the following operators:
Anonymous cards and appropriate disposable cards are obtainable at ticket machines on train stations and the Amsterdam (GVB) and Rotterdam (RET) metro. Many supermarkets, tobacco shops and Bruna bookstores also sell anonymous cards. At Schiphol Airport, there are vending machines in the baggage claim area and the airport's train station. To view locations near you, use the service finder on the OV-Chipkaart website. At most places where cards can be bought, payment can be made by credit card with a PIN code. Bus and tram stops usually don't have any means to buy cards or load credit.
The OV-chipkaart is capable of carrying various non-pay-as-you-go products (e.g. one-day ticket). Depending on the operator, these may need to be purchased separately, i.e. funds from the loaded credit may not be applied towards the purchase of such products. You will need to hold the card against the ticket machine reader, use the ticket machines to select the product you wish to purchase, and pay for the product using a separate payment method. If you purchase certain products online, you will need to use a designated ticket machine to ensure that those products are loaded on to your OV-chipkaart. Take note that some products (e.g. period-based subscriptions, discount schemes) are available only to personal OV-chipkaart holders so check the website of the transport operator before purchasing the products to determine what types of OV-chipkaarts are eligible.
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