NS to trial free train pass for low-income residents

National rail operator NS will give 1,000 low-income residents in Amersfoort free train travel for six months from July 1, as the first phase of a pilot designed to test permanently reduced-fare travel for low earners.

The Vooruitpas Amersfoort, a joint scheme between NS and the local council, will run until the end of the year. The municipality will contact eligible households directly. If more than 1,000 people sign up, places will be allocated by lottery.

NS said it wanted to use the trial to help design a permanent low-income travel pass in partnership with national, regional or local governments. Results are expected in early 2027.

“Travel is freedom,” NS board member Daan Schut said. People who could not afford to take the train had to weigh up every journey, he said, and many cities and provinces were now looking at how to make public transport cheaper.

Cheaper transport

Cheaper public transport for low earners has been on the political agenda for years.

In February 2023, opposition parties GroenLinks and PvdA – now merged as Progressief Nederland – proposed a €400 million Iedereen instappen (“All aboard”) scheme to cut public transport fares for everyone, funded by higher wealth and business taxes.

Last month, the cabinet began considering a €49 monthly nationwide public transport ticket, modelled on Germany’s Deutschlandticket, as part of its response to the fuel crisis. That scheme would apply to everyone, unlike the Amersfoort pilot, which is targeted and fully free.

Affordability pressure

Family spending institute Nibud found in October 2024 that even households on an average income of €44,000 were cutting back on travel because of higher fares and petrol prices.

A month earlier, government environmental assessment agency PBL warned that low-income groups and people in rural areas were being hit hardest by deteriorating bus and train services.

Fares for other passengers will rise by between 6% and 9% in 2026, the infrastructure ministry told MPs last summer.