Netherlands Sees Some Growth in Open-Loop Adoption; Reiterates End Date for Aging Closed-Loop Card
Dutch public transport riders tapped with their debit cards for a growing number of transactions this spring, and ticketing officials kept the March 2027 stop date to finally retire the country’s 20-year-old closed-loop OV-chip card, Mobility Payments has learned.
Open-loop payments, while failing to increase in May of this year, did substantially grow from March through April, as well as overall for the three-month period ending in May (see chart and table on this page).
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Also in this article: White-Label Technology Gets Slight Boost from Dutch Project; New Zealand Rollout Delayed Again; Agency Said to be Unhappy with Cubic’s Progress. Please write to contact@mobility-payments.com with tips.
Despite Nationwide Open-Loop Rollout, Netherlands Predicts Closed-Loop Card will Remain Most-Used Payments Method
Dutch transport operators and their national ticketing agency have disclosed updated details for rolling out a new white-label closed-loop card, while adding two months to the date when they plan to finally retire the country’s 20-year-old, Mifare-based closed-loop card, Mobility Payments has learned.
The group of nine transport operators and ticketing agency Translink Systems, which is overseeing the world’s first truly nationwide rollout of open-loop payments, is also projecting that closed-loop will remain the dominant fare payments method in the country.
Dutch Transport Agencies Set New Date for Turning Off 20-year-Old Closed-Loop Card Program–in Two Years; Will They Make It?
Transport agencies in the Netherlands, the first country of any size to accept open-loop fare payments nationally, are having a more difficult time with a complementary piece of their new system–shutting down their 20-year-old closed-loop OV-chipcard.
The group of Dutch transport agencies coordinating both the open- and closed-loop rollouts recently said it expects to finish the migration of a new “OV-pas” closed-loop card by the end of 2026. That means all bus, tram, metro and ferry operators in the country would stop accepting the aging but still popular OV-chipcard (OV-chipkaart in Dutch) by Jan. 1, 2027.
Netherlands Plans to Expand Open Loop to More Discount Products–as Growth in Adoption Continues to Slow
Public transport operators in the Netherlands plan to expand the discount products that customers receive when they tap their debit cards–with the goal of offering the same discounts as riders now get with the country’s much-used national closed-loop card.
This expansion has long been planned but is occurring as Dutch transport agencies see a continued slowing of growth of open-loop adoption nationwide. (See chart and table below.)
Death of Dutch Prepaid Bank Card Deal Shows Concept is Difficult Proposition for Agencies
The recent break between Dutch transport-ticketing agency Translink Systems and Netherlands-based neobank bunq is another setback for the idea of using prepaid bank cards in place of closed-loop fare cards for agencies already offering open-loop payments.
Bunq faced a lot of restrictions in how it could profit from issuing the card, such as a ban on using
Updated: Netherlands Stands by Plan to Retire Much-Used Closed-Loop Card by End of 2025
Dutch transport officials are still on track to fully retire the country’s nationwide closed-loop card program, OV-chipkaart, by the end of next year, the program director for the year-old open-loop OVpay system told Mobility Payments.
OVpay, the first major nationwide open-loop system globally, will likely only account for 25% to 30% of
Growth of Open-Loop Payments Plateaus in Netherlands, but Dutch Operators Plan to Broaden Reach of Technology
Dutch transport officials are reporting that growth of open-loop payments as part of the nationwide OVpay service has leveled off during the first three months of this year after climbing in 2023.
Growth may begin to accelerate again later this year, however, when OVpay project backers seek to enable more riders to use their debit cards to receive senior and other concessions and also monthly and
Transit Operator in No. 2 Dutch City Launches Open Loop; Last Major Provider to Join Nationwide Service
RET, a bus, tram and metro operator serving the second-largest city in the Netherlands, Rotterdam, today announced it was beginning to accept open-loop payments. It’s the last major public transit company to join in the country’s nationwide open-loop service.
Dutch Transit Agencies Plan to Move Forward Linking Concessions to Open-Loop Payments
Transit agencies in the Netherlands have released more details about their plans to support concessionary fares and other popular discounts with open-loop payments, Mobility Payments has learned.