MPs call for a halt to phasing out paper public transport tickets

A majority of MPs want the government to halt plans to phase out paper tickets on all public transport because of the new system’s vulnerability to fraud.


Earlier this week it emerged that it is relatively easy to manipulate the amount of digital cash stored on the new public transport smart card, known as the ov-chipkaart.
MPs have given the transport ministry a month to bring out a new report, Nos television reports.
Manageable risk
Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen said during Thursday’s debate that the fraud risk is ‘manageable’ and that it is not necessary to stop the changeover process.
And by the end of the year, a new, safer chip will have been developed to make it more difficult to hack the cards, she said.
The province of Zuid-Holland is supposed to scrap paper tickets from February 3. Rotterdam and Amsterdam metropolitan regions have already done so.
It is not yet clear what the implications of the parliamentary vote are for Zuid-Holland’s plans.

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