The OV-chipkaart is a contactless smart card and integrated ticketing system used for all public transport in the Netherlands. First introduced in the Rotterdam Metro in April 2005, it has subsequently been rolled out to other areas and travel modes. It fully replaced the national strippenkaart system for buses, trams, and metro trains in 2011, and the paper ticket system for rail travel in July 2014.
OV-chipkaart reader in a bus.
Ticket barriers at Amsterdam Centraal railway station.
As all public transport operators use their own card readers for checking in and out, passenger transferring from one operator to another must first check out with the first operator and then check in with the second operator.
Ticket machine at railway station offering the possibility to obtain a disposable OV-chipkaart, comparable to the traditional paper singles and returns.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is the busiest in the European Union, and the third busiest in the world after Switzerland and Japan.
Double decker (DDZ) train near Gouda, South Holland
The Hoofdgebouw I (Main Building I) complex in Utrecht, former Nederlandse Spoorwegen headquarters and nowadays the office of DB Cargo in the Netherlands
Protests against neoliberal policies in 1983
Current headquarters in Utrecht
