DutchNews.nl - Transport smart card machines in trouble

Transport smart card machines in trouble

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Some 50% of the 120 machines to buy new public transport tickets are breaking down on a daily basis, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.

From Thursday, the new smart cards, known as the ov-chipkaart, will be the only valid ticket to travel on the city's metro network. Buses and trams in the capital will continue to use the paper strippenkaart alongside the chip card for a few more months.

But the machines to buy two-hour cards are breaking down continually because the tickets get stuck. 'There are 15 people busy every day repairing broken machines,' one engineer told the paper. 'I am fixing about 20 on a daily basis. I estimate about half the machines stop working every day.'

He says the machines were developed in France and the smart cards in Britain. 'The two systems do not combine well but it was probably the cheaper option,' he said.

In Rotterdam, where the smart card has been in use since January, the public transport company RET has decided to order new machines because of the problems.

Meanwhile, Amsterdam's public transport firm says it has hundreds of people at the ready to help metro users get used to the new system.

A temporary card costs €2.60 and can be used to travel anywhere within an hour. Passengers can also opt for a plastic swipe card which they can load up with cash.

For the official ov-chipkaart website, click here

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Readers' comments

More pain from a badly thought out system which will be forced on us all very soon. In London the identical Oyster Card system is extremely popular. Why? Because (a) it's optional, and (b) it's cheaper than the paper tickets. The OV-ChipKaart is (a) compulsory, and (b) more expensive in the majority of cases. Thanks government!

By simplastic | August 26, 2009 10:13 AM

In a European version of a living hell, the French will be the engineers and the English will be the cooks. How anyone could buy a product made by two wildly differing cultures and expect it to work is beyond my understanding. Chassis by Jaguar; engine by Renault? Nah.

By Michael Dawkes | August 26, 2009 10:52 AM

Concorde stayed in the sky, most of the time, and what about Airbus? There's no excuse, though, for the shambolic introduction of the ov-chipkaart.

By Mudlark | August 26, 2009 6:45 PM

under the strippenkaart system the minium cost of a journey was 97 eurocents. Now it seems the minimum cost has gone up to EUR 2.60

now call me a cynic if you like, but since most working people in the Netherlands seem to have some kind of lease car and a very expensive bike for the small urban trips, this is going to pass them by
without a peep of protest or even a raised eyebrow. The fact that the contract was tendered out to a French company (as must every major government tender in all EU countries) will be the only point
of discussion and yet another narrow-minded debate will ensue, probably winning Wilders a few more votes as yet more cloggy morons believe the bull being spouted.

I know someone who worked on the project. He told me 3 years ago it would be a disaster. And he’s french…… in the meantime, another public contract in the Netherlands comes in woefully over-budget,
hopelessly late and not yet working properly. How anyone can take the public procurement policies of the Netherlands seriously is beyond me. I’m thinking of moving to Germany, it’s that bad here.

By OV user | August 28, 2009 8:28 AM

The OV-ChipKaart was not designed to make public transport more attractive for the customer. It was designed to do away with cash handling & replace still more people's jobs with machines, in order to maximize profits, thus more revenue for the government. (Please correct my comment if you don't agree, thanks...

By stevie | August 29, 2009 6:01 PM

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