The Dutch version of Oyster (OV-chip) is being pushed harder and
harder with the plan to have it as the only way to pay by 2009. Just
heard it'll work on a 11cent/km basis, obliterating the current zone
scheme which obviously will affect people differently depending on
where they start/finish in the zones (zones being like cellphone ones,
not ringed like London's Westend centric one).

The card to push will be the "autoreload" version where you never need
to add dosh manually to it ever again. Which, as an interviewee said,
makes price rises easier!

Interesting that they charge on distance which is the opposite to the
expanded NR component of Oyster in S. London where zoning will be
used.

My regret is that NL stations will become closed with gated access. I
prefer the honour system (can't trust those Amsterdammers but surely
the rest are honest!).

--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 09:27:43 -0000, Colum Mylod
wrote:

My regret is that NL stations will become closed with gated access. I
prefer the honour system (can't trust those Amsterdammers but surely
the rest are honest!).

Dunno, you've got to keep yer eye on those Limburgers too.
;-D

--
Fig

All the OV chipcard stuff so far has been a big disaster. They're now
replacing the gates in Rotterdam for a SECOND time, and the system
isn't even working yet. The gates are incredibly slow, I wonder why
they don't just use the same type as in London or another system's
that's already proved itself.
Having to touch out in buses and trams seems like a lot of effort and
will probably lead to larger dwell times.
I was hoping this would give you the option to just get on a train,
switch to a metro, and only pay a combined fair for both of them. But
instead it still works with separate journeys for every type of
transport.

Oh well, I know I'm sounding very negative here, but the Dutch haven't
been able to deliver on transport projects (HSL-Zuid, Betuweroute
etc.) lately.

sweek wrote:
The gates are incredibly slow, I wonder why
they don't just use the same type as in London or another system's
that's already proved itself.

Maybe they are--the gates at King's Cross St. Pancras Underground that is.
--
Michael Hoffman

On Feb 1, 1:25 pm, "sweek" wrote:

Having to touch out in buses and trams seems like a lot of effort and
will probably lead to larger dwell times.

Doesn't in Singapore. Indeed, I'd recommend it as a good solution for
a UK ITSO smartcard, because it would allow a smartcard to be
implemented with no fare structure change at all, which would be
rather useful where there are a multitude of private bus companies
with different fare levels.

I was hoping this would give you the option to just get on a train,
switch to a metro, and only pay a combined fair for both of them. But
instead it still works with separate journeys for every type of
transport.

Does it charge two "base tariffs" for two journeys, or is there an
interchange discount? If it charges two "base tariffs" it's far worse
than the Strippenkaart, which allows unlimited free changes of vehicle/
mode.

Oh well, I know I'm sounding very negative here, but the Dutch haven't
been able to deliver on transport projects (HSL-Zuid, Betuweroute
etc.) lately.

And Randstadrail, which has been an unmitigated, British-style
disaster. Given that the classic tram rail and the Alstom LRVs appear
to be totally incompatible (two more derailments on the 3 route last
week, not on steeply-superelevated track unlike previous problems) I
fail to see how it can ever run.

Neil

I think it does charge two base fares, and you can only use a
strippenkaart on trains within Amsterdam. I don't think you're allowed
to in any other city.
And yes, Randstadrail, Utrechtboog, Veolia... I don't know what it is
that's been going so awful lately.

On 1 Feb, 09:27, Colum Mylod wrote:
The Dutch version of Oyster (OV-chip) is being pushed harder and
harder with the plan to have it as the only way to pay by 2009. Just
heard it'll work on a 11cent/km basis, obliterating the current zone
scheme which obviously will affect people differently depending on
where they start/finish in the zones (zones being like cellphone ones,
not ringed like London's Westend centric one).

The card to push will be the "autoreload" version where you never need
to add dosh manually to it ever again. Which, as an interviewee said,
makes price rises easier!

Interesting that they charge on distance which is the opposite to the
expanded NR component of Oyster in S. London where zoning will be
used.

My regret is that NL stations will become closed with gated access. I
prefer the honour system (can't trust those Amsterdammers but surely
the rest are honest!).

All stations? That's quite a commitment. In the UK, gates need to have
human oversight for Heath and Safety rules. This doesn't seem to be
the case in Paris which obviously has a different set of rules. But
gating the whole NL network would be incredibly expensive.

alexterrell wrote:
On 1 Feb, 09:27, Colum Mylod wrote:
[...]
My regret is that NL stations will become closed with gated
access. I prefer the honour system (can't trust those
Amsterdammers but surely the rest are honest!).

All stations? That's quite a commitment. In the UK, gates need to
have human oversight for Heath and Safety rules. This doesn't seem
to be the case in Paris which obviously has a different set of
rules.

If you mean the Métro in Paris, they don't have ticket gates on the
exits, so there is no need to have a human presence to ensure that
people can get out of a station. But you may well be right about health
& safety rules being less stringent in France.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On Feb 1, 10:27 am, Colum Mylod wrote:

My regret is that NL stations will become closed with gated access. I
prefer the honour system (can't trust those Amsterdammers but surely
the rest are honest!).

Most of them are. I haven't ever seen a PF issued during a tram grip
(in Den Haag where the honour system remains in place) that I can
think of.

I have seen one or two invalid tickets presented that appeared to be
down to a genuine mistake (e.g. "timed out" - a Strippenkaart stamp
only lasts an hour or so), but the solution has been for the inspector
to stamp the ticket correctly and leave it at that.

I wonder, by comparison, what fare-dodging rates on the London bendy
buses are.

Neil

On the other hand, I get the feeling about 80% of the people who don't
have an OV-Student card do faredodge.