Netherland ticketing

Ticketing trends

Advances in ticketing technology are opening up new opportunities for transport operators in the Netherlands

 
Passengers carrying an OV-chipkaart can travel easily anywhere in the Netherlands using any mode of public transport. Since its launch, the contactless OV-chipkaart system has clocked up more than 10 billion transactions – over 2 billion of them in the last year.   
 
Thales designed and supplied the OV-chipkaart solution more than a decade ago, including the central clearing house system. But it doesn’t stop there. Thales continues to work in partnership with Dutch transport operators to help them benefit from the latest advances in fare collection.
 
Among these are EMV, mobile and account-based ticketing – technologies that are dramatically expanding passenger choice and freedom.
 
As well as supporting migration to these technologies, Thales is helping customers to get more out of existing systems with mid-life upgrades, adding new functionalities such as barcode readers to existing ticket gates and ensuring that new hardware is EMV-ready.
 
Thales’ expertise in sensors and software also contributes to smoother journeys. An example of this is the development of 3D scanners that adapt the closing speed of ticket gates to make journeys easier for people with bicycles and pushchairs.  
 
Thales is also developing back-office technology to meet new needs. Virtualisation makes it possible to adapt back-office systems quickly, so operators can fine-tune ticketing products and develop new ones easily. New managed services are also in the pipeline, including Ticketing-as-a-Service. This is based on a per-transaction fee with no capital costs for the operator.