Recommendations for Purchasing Train and Bus Tickets | Amsterdam and other cities

Thank you so much for this advice, I appreciate it!!

@Derek (or others who might have experience): is there a benefit to using the OV card vs. just tapping in & out with a credit card? I was planning to just use my cc card, but if the OV card saves me money, I'd definitely prefer that :)

The OV chipcard, which costs €7,50 to buy, has become obsolete ever since OV Pay was introduced. Please don’t buy it. The anonymous OV Chipcard now only has disadvantages.

OV Pay allows you to simply use your debit or credit card to check in and out in all forms of public transport throughout the entire country. See here for more information https://www.ovpay.nl/en

@Dutch Traveler - thanks for clarifying & for the helpful link!

Thank you Dutch Traveler for this information, I really appreciate it.

The Dutch Traveler knows best. You’ve likely already thought through these things but Other Things to consider -

Travel party size (we had 6 - 4 kids - and used the family pass from the GVB website and one person tapped)?

How much public transport will you use? Our hotel was near the Maritime museum and we did some side trips and visited different areas of the city so we used trains, trams, metro and buses, too.

One person per card for tapping.

Dutch_Traveler is absolutely right! OV Pay has made use of public transport extremely easy!

Do be aware though that not all credit cards are accepted (https://www.ovpay.nl/en/frequently-asked-questions#what-payment-methods-can-i-use-to-check-in-and-out):

"You can check in and out using the following cards:

A debit card from ABN AMRO, ASN Bank, bunq, ING, Knab, Rabobank, Regiobank or SNS.
A credit card from Mastercard or Visa (issued by ICS).
A debit or credit card from Maestro, V PAY, Mastercard or Visa.
A debit card on your phone that's linked to your bank account."

Your American Express would not work. No issues with Mastercard or Visa.

Apply Pay worked as well.

Apple Pay and Google Pay work too, because it’s basically a payment with a debit or credit card, but without actually presenting the physical card to the machine.
Apple and Google Pay will therefore only work if the debit or credit card that’s linked to the wallet is a card that’s accepted by OV Pay. So if you’ve linked an Amex card to your Apple wallet, you can’t use your IPhone or Apple Watch to pay for the busses, trams etc.

Please clarify, you need 2 different credit cards if husband and wife are traveling in order to tap in/out? Not a huge issue as we always have a second for backup purposes but I just want to make sure. Thanks!

Looking at Dutch-language websites, one person per card (otherwise, you would immediately check out again).

The only other thing I would suggest, is to download the Dutch train app, NS trains. Most of the trips suggested are short, but you do get a better sense of the cost ahead of time, and can see the different costs for different trains/times, if that applies, by using the app. Purchasing the tickets via the app is quick and easy. Of course the tap option is handy, and if you have a rough understanding of what the cost may be, using contactless is easier.

One thing I am a bit uncertain about, is that if you use an Intercity Direct train, there is a supplement to pay, it appears that is done separately from the tap in and tap out, possibly at the platform as a separate "tap"?

The one card per person is quite clearly explained on the English version of the official OV Pay website that I already placed a link to, but will do here again https://www.ovpay.nl/en

You buy the supplement for the IC Direct between Amsterdam and Rotterdam at a special red pole located on the platform. You can use the same card that you used to check in at the entrance to the station.

Thanks Paul...great idea!

Thank you Dutch Traveler for all your help and links.

We have purchase train tickets at a station, easy enough if you can pronounce the the place your going to to ppl working there,
or by ticket machine.
you can also buy online at https://www.ns.nl/en/ usually 3 months in advance, saves you a bit of $.
We found that buying all in one travel cards, is much more expensive.
So like I said we buy train tickets, and we also buy online,, GVB 24/48/ 72 hrs passes, good for all Ams GVB bus, metros and Trams.
You can buy them here,,
https://www.public-transport-holland.com/product/amsterdam-day-ticket/
Good thing about buy them here is that you can easily order them and then pick them up at
Schiphol airport at the:
Service Point (McFlek) PostNL Schiphol Plaza – Arrival Hall No 4, across the HEMA shop,
this can be done during check out.
If your planning on seeing the Rijksmuseum.do yourself a favor and buy tickets online, there is no ticket sales at the Museum.
same for the Royal Palace

Thank you crimsonjohn001,
I appreciate this information about trains, trams, buses and the museums. Thankfully, I have my Anne Frank tickets!
Many thanks. Judi

Hi,
I looked over all the helpful replies to an issue that never occurred to me would be a problem. Last time we were in Amsterdam, we bought, with cash, our passes.I appreciate the responses especially that of Dutch Traveller, but I am confused as to why the non-personalised card has disadvantages. Many people, myself included, are unhappy with the surveillance state, do not want to use a debit or credit card, and would prefer to buy a time or ride-limited generic pass.

. The I Amsterdam site has this info and it's dismaying if it's incorrect because I assume many visitors rely on it. If this type of card is not equal to the other, that should be explained, I think.
"Amsterdam and throughout the Netherlands, the public transport chip card (OV-Chipkaart) is a rechargeable card used for travel on trams, buses, metros and trains. Residents typically own a personalised card that can be loaded up with credit.

However, it is also possible to purchase a non-personalised card that can be reused and recharged with credit at any time.

Non-personalised cards: Available at GVB ticket machines, GVB Tickets & Info offices, and select newsstands and supermarkets."

Thanks in advance.

“ I am confused as to why the non-personalised card has disadvantages”

Well, ever since the introduction of OV-Pay, the non-personal or anonymous OV-chipcard has 2 major disadvantages;
1) it costs €7,50 to buy.
2) You need to load money on it before you can use it and you need a minimum balance of at least €10 on it, or else you can’t check in. If there’s money left on the card after your trip, you need to go to a staffed ticket desk to get a refund. The €7,50 you paid for the card will not be refunded!

For safety reasons, bus and tram drivers stopped accepting cash many years ago. There are machines that accept cash to load money on a OV-chipcard, but these machines only accept coins no bills.

Many people, myself included, are unhappy with the surveillance state

You do know that, even with an anonymous card your travel history is still being held for, if memory serves me right, 18 months? So there is still "surveillance" on you Presumably the security services/police could still access that if they matched a card to you.

I personally like the GVB day or multi day tickets if just in Amsterdam, which are essentially untraceable. Or the Amsterdam regional day and multi day tickets if travelling more widely in the area. Certainly less traceable than buying the same ticket using OV pay.

The big disbenefit of OV Chipkaart is that you have to always maintain a 20 Euro balance if travelling by train, or 4 Euro by any other mode, as the system deducts that as a deposit each time you swipe in. If you forget to swipe out but your fare was less than 20 Euro then tough, that is the fare taken- as a kind of penalty fare. If you do swipe out the balance is returned straight away to your card.
That is unlike Oyster (in London), or many other stored value cards round the world, where you can run the balance down to zero- as other operators are more trusting of you. On Oyster you can end a journey with a negative balance if you need to- start a £2 journey with £1 on the card.

So, if like me, you try to keep a fairly low balance on the Chipkaart then you are fairly frequently topping up.

It would be interesting to know if you still get a reduced return fare under the new system if you swipe out then back in to the same station for the return leg within a certain period of time (I forget what).

Also, intrinsically, I feel financially more secure if the system makes an error, in that I can challenge the OV card system. If I am using a credit/debit card then ultimately the money has gone from my account- which I may only be able to recover through chargeback. Even then chargeback is not automatic, if the retailer challenges the chargeback. Been there, done that, on much bigger sums than on NS where chargeback becomes a months long slanging match.

My view is that the chipkaart is valid for 5 or 6 years- at the end of that time outstanding money is easily refundable. Mine ran out of time during Covid but I for one intend to buy a new chipkaart next time I am in the Netherlands.

“ It would be interesting to know if you still get a reduced return fare under the new system if you swipe out then back in to the same station for the return leg within a certain period of time (I forget what).”

I think you may be confused with another country. In the Netherlands there is no reduced return fare. The price of a return train ticket is the same as 2 singles. Or if you tap your OV-chipcard or credit card; the outbound journey will cost the same as the return journey. Regardless of how quickly you return.

Or are you thinking of canceling a check in? If you tap in at a certain train station and tap out again at that exact same train station within 60 minutes, your check in is cancelled and you aren’t charged anything.

I am sorry I am not confused.

I have actually done that with the Chipkaart a number of times, the last time in January 2020. I always check my balance on the reader at each check in or check out and research my fares beforehand on the NS or 9292 websites (so have no shocks) and was surprised the first time or two (2016 or 2017) at being basically charged less for the journey back than the journey out.

Back then that was a benefit of Chipkaart over paper tickets.

It was on 6 January 2020. I remember it quite vividly as a very grey, cold winters day as I was on a cruise to far warmer climes. That was my last cold day on land before returning off the cruise just as the world closed down at the start of March. The AMS call was a normal call to pick up continental passengers. The call was also extended by several hours as we had been late out of Tilbury then further delayed at the lock at Ijmuiden, then had bunkers and stores to take on at AMS so needed the full scheduled 5 to 6 hour call. Ultimately the Amsterdam passengers were transferred to another cruise ship by tenders in mid Ocean for their return, when all world ports closed.

So unless the system has changed since 2020. The reduction used to be buried deep in the OV Chipkaart website. And I got my refund of unspent cash by writing off for it, then bank transfer, in late 2022.- handled within days.
So maybe that has also changed.

Thank you for taking time to answer my question and respond to my concerns. I appreciate your kindness.

Before the introduction of the OV chipcard, it was indeed cheaper to buy a return instead of 2 singles. Ever since the introduction of the OVchipkaart in 2009 this has changed and the price of a return is now the same as 2 singles. There was quite a lot of fuss when the train company changed this, so I’m very sure about this.
See for instance this announcement on a website dedicated to train travel https://www.treinreiziger.nl/ov-chipkaart-bij-ns/amp/

Could it be that this happened while you travelled on a bus or tram? Fares are calculated based on distance travelled and in Amsterdam and other cities with 1-way streets it can happen that the bus follows a different route on the outbound journey compared to the inbound journey. In that case the distance travelled is different and therefore also the fare.

We have to agree to differ on this. It's only ever happened to me on the train- the first time I believe was AMS to Zaandvoort aan Zee and back, on a cruise call where I was trying to fit too much in so had less time than I would have liked/had planned at Zaandvoort.

I suspect I had become engrossed in the city centre free GVB ferries- probably one of my dock to dock walks where I had been distracted on the walk.

I have only used buses as part of a circular trip- like the next ones I have planned using the lesser known cross Nord Zee Kanal GVB ferries- basically the Ijmuiden bus part way (either from the PTA or the DFDS terminal), GVB ferry, then bus to Beverwijk or Zaandam then train back to AMS C or Ijmuiden. On a tram I have only ever been on the likes of a RET or GVB day ticket.
For all I know the system has changed again, maybe OV pay put an end to that, but it certainly happened.

Or circular trips like Hook of Holland port to Den Haag by bus, then back by train and tram.

“ We have to agree to differ on this. It's only ever happened to me on the train- the first time I believe was AMS to Zaandvoort aan Zee and back, on a cruise call where I was trying to fit too much in so had less time than I would have liked/had planned at Zaandvoort.”

Aha, you spending a very short time in Zandvoort clears it up. Train trips are priced as follows; a fixed start fare + a fare per kilometer. If you check in again within 35 minutes after checking out, the system sees this as 1 continuous journey. This means you won’t be charged the “start fee”, only the fare per kilometer. It doesn’t matter in which direction you continue your journey for the start fee to not be charged. In this case you travelled back to Amsterdam, but should you have decided to continue on in another direction, you would also not have been charged this “start fee”.

English isn’t my first language, so let me explain this with an example so it will hopefully be clear. The train from Amsterdam to Zandvoort also calls at Haarlem. Should you decide to get off the train in Haarlem and explore that city for a couple of hours, you will be charged € 4,90 for the Amsterdam-Haarlem leg of the trip. After exploring Haarlem for a couple of hours, you return to the train station to go to Zandvoort. The Haarlem-Zandvoort train fare is €2,60. So these 2 train trips have cost you € 7,50
When you return, you don’t stop in Haarlem but you go straight back to Amsterdam. You will now be charged only €6,50, for the exact same amount of km’s on the train.
The difference is that on your way out, according to the fare system, you made 2 separate trips, so you were charged the start fare twice. On your way back, you only made 1 trip, so they charged you the start fare only once.

Bottomline; you won’t be charged the start fare if you check in again within 35 minutes after checking out. You can then return to your original destination or continue on.