Update 21 December 2021: The organization of OVpay has announced that in the summer of 2022 it should be possible throughout the Netherlands to pay for public transport with your bank card. In Amsterdam this should be available at the beginning of 2022. At the moment it is not yet possible to add a subscription such as a student travel product or route card. Bas van Weele, program director OV Betalen, indicates that the banking sector should cooperate to make this possible. He tells this in an interview with OVPro.
You can read our article of 10 March 2021 below.
The promise that paying for public transport in the Netherlands will be overhauled has been around for years. A few years ago, the NS already did a trial for travel via your debit card on a route. The next phase has started today under the name OVpay. OVpay is the initiative for more choice to pay for public transport. In addition to your debit card and credit card, it also works with your iPhone or Apple Watch thanks to Apple Pay. Apple Pay in public transport is therefore getting closer and closer and is already possible in Lelystad on Arriva buses.
OVpay: pay for public transport with debit card or iPhone
Transport company Arriva now has the scoop, in the city buses of Lelystad. There you can now check in and out with your iPhone or Apple Watch via Apple Pay, at gates that can be recognized by the OVpay logo.
Check in and check out as with a regular Apple Pay payment. Just make sure you use the same card when checking out as you did when checking in. The cards of ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank are suitable. The cards of the banks of de Volksbank (SNS, ASN and RegioBank) are also suitable, but they do not work with Apple Pay. The status of Apple Pay at de Volksbank is also still unclear.
More than a year ago, a spokesperson for Coöperatie Public Transport Companies already informed iCulture that between 2020 and 2023 tests will be done with different ways of paying in public transport, including via your iPhone and Apple Watch. In 2023, the current technology of the OV-Chipkaart will be switched off, after which a switch will be made to a cloud system. Ultimately, the OV-Chipkaart will also be available on your mobile.
To make it possible to travel with your debit card and credit card (and therefore via your iPhone or Apple Watch with Apple Pay), many access gates and scanners have to be renewed. In December 2020, the GVB in Amsterdam has already ordered 4,000 new card readers and HTM in The Hague area also started replacing the OV chip card readers in buses and trams with new versions that are suitable for debit cards and mobile phones.
No plans yet for express transit
Recently, iCulture has been in contact with the GVB and HTM about the rollout of debit card payments. It may take a while before you can use it with those transport companies. GVB says they won't start testing until 2022. At HTM, the function to pay with your debit card is still disabled at the new gates.
We also asked if the carriers plan to support express transit. That's a feature of the iPhone that allows you to check in and out using your iPhone without authentication. In the test, you still use Touch ID or Face ID when scanning, or you press the side button of the Apple Watch twice. The GVB tells iCulture that it will be possible to support express transit in the future.
It is important to note that not all passes are currently suitable for express transit. For example, you can use the credit card, but most regular debit cards do not work for this function.