Working towards a cashless public transport
Increasing safety is the key driver for introducing cashless public transport in the Netherlands. All Public Transport Operator’s (PTO) in the Netherlands have committed themselves to start initiatives towards achieving this common goal. Additional benefits include less cash-handling, which is always an expensive, often forgotten component of the costs of cash.
The City of Amsterdam is leading the way, enabling the local PTO, to quickly introduce a cashless system for the operator’s vehicles. During a development project of only 4 months, the Cashless Bus proposition was developed, based on the existing Ximedes public transport platform. The solution was deployed earlier this year, and has been rolled out to the busses and recently the first tram line has been added succesfully as well.
The platform so far has processed millions OV (fare) transactions. The Ximedes public transport platform also helps PTO’s to increase the number of distribution points, enabling re-sellers to sell public transport products, based on the Dutch OV chip card scheme. A traveller can top-up his OV card at a local shop, using a tablet based solution, as an alternative to using a ticket vending machine.
