To get to Schipol Airport from Haarlem, I'll need to take the 300 bus.
But, can you buy a physical ticket for two people from the bus driver with a credit card?
Normally, it seems like you'd swipe your credit card when you enter and leave the 300 bus. But, I would be sharing a credit card with another passenger, and it doesn't like I can do that if there's more than 1 passenger.
Can you use two different credit cards?
You can still procure tickets with the bus driver: https://www.connexxion.nl/en/tickets/individual-tickets/paper-ticket.
No, I only brought one credit card.
And, does anybody know the cost of the bus vs the taxi?
It looks like the cost of the bus will be $6 a person.
But, I'm getting different estimates for the taxi cost depending on the website.
Rome2Rio estimates the taxi cost will be $55-70.
But, taxifarefinder estimates the taxi cost will be $43.
I don't which website to trust for the taxi estimate.
believe nothing quoted by Rome 2 Rio - some of what it spouts is ridiculous and said with a straight face. Check and check everything.
Assuming you are traveling from Haarlem, most local taxi companies would charge you a flat fee of 45 for getting to the airport. Do confirm the flat fee upon booking. The bus would be indeed around 5.50 euro per person. Uber and Bolt could differ based on the time of day and how busy the traffic is.
Something to consider though is that during rush hour, traffic can be horrific. The stretch of motorway between Haarlem and Schiphol is notorious for its traffic jams. The bus has its own bus lane for almost the entire trip to Schiphol (and follows a different route than a taxi would take) so is almost not prone to rush hour traffic. Sure, it may be quite packed with people going to work or school, but if you get on at the first or second stop in Haarlem, it isn't that full yet.
I'm looking at that connexxion website, and it says, "Many tickets can be bought from the bus driver with your debit or credit card."
That's just giving me pause because does that means there are certain tickets that you can't buy from the bus driver?
My bus will be so early in the morning that if something goes wrong, then nothing else will be open to buy that ticket.
Just to be safe, I'm wondering if I should buy some physical tickets from a point of sale beforehand.
But, then it says,'paper ticket at a point of sale, you will receive a cardboard ticket with a chip in it. A ticket is then placed on this chip. You can check in and out on the bus using the cardboard card.'
That sounds pretty complicated. And, will that cardboard ticket also cost $6 too?
There is a variety of tickets available (https://www.connexxion.nl/en/our-routes/travel-areas/haarlem-ijmond/travel-information/tickets-haarlem-ijmond), some of which cannot be purchased from the bus driver. The one-way ticket from Haarlem to Schiphol is for sale with the bus driver (and I have seen many procure it when I was myself travelling on the bus).
Actually, I think, the ticket from bus driver would be exactly the same as the one you would procure at a service point. What I have observed is that the bus driver will give you the ticket, you check in to start the journey (validate your trip) by holding it against a reader inside the bus next to the entrance door and check out upon exiting the bus (although if you forget checking out, it doesn't really matter for you as you won't be taking another bus ride once you get off the bus). It is not really complicated, you just tap it against the reader.
If it eases your mind, indeed just buy a paper ticket beforehand. I totally get that. Unfortunately, it doesn't look there are that many service points in Haarlem left according to their web site: https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/en/service-points-finder?latitude=52.3873878&longitude=4.6462194&servicetype=21&query=Haarlem. Cigo Hug (Amsterdamstraat 43, 2032PN Haarlem) seems to be the closest to the city centre. If you are planning to travel to Amsterdam, you can buy a disposable card at GVB Tickets & Informatie Amsterdam Centraal Station (Stationsplein 15, 1012AB Amsterdam) just in front of the train station.
We just used the 300 bus yesterday from Haarlem to the AMS airport. The bus runs every ten minutes, and the cost on my credit card, via tapping, was 5.47 euros. But yes, you can't tap pay for two folks on one credit card. The bus was empty Sunday morning, the driver was very nice.
Perhaps you can ask any 300 bus driver your question in advance, as there's always a bus outside the Haarlem train station waiting, it seemed.
Hope it all works out for you.
