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Changes to calculating rates when transferring

At some stations, you must pass through the gates when you transfer between trains. This means that you must check out and in again during your journey. Until 30 August 2016, this resulted in you paying a different rate after your transfer than you did for the first leg of the journey. In order to prevent this from occurring, the method for calculating the rate has been corrected by NS.


Please note! When you check out and in to transfer to or from another carrier, it is redetermined whether you will travel for free, with a discount, or at full price.

In summary

When is this important?

  • You have a season ticket and are travelling for a discount or for free.
  • You check in before peak times.
  • You pass through the gates during peak hours, for example when transferring from one NS train to another.

What was the old situation?

  • If you check in before peak hours, you can travel with a discount, even if the journey continues during peak hours.
  • However, when you passed through the check-in gates, you had to check out and back in again. From that moment, you were charged the peak rate.
  • At several stations, travellers have to pass through the gates to transfer between trains. This meant that they lost the off-peak discount, even though they were continuing along the same journey.

Why the changes?

  • The old situation was detrimental for travellers who had to transfer at one of these stations, and for all travellers who had to pass through the gates briefly, such as to purchase something at the shops outside the gates. This made their journey more expensive than it should have been, which was not the intention.
  • We therefore offered a temporary solution: travellers could request a refund for the difference between the discount rate and the full rate at the ticket machine. But this was a complicated process.

The solution: from trip to journey

As of 1 September 2016, we have adjusted the travel principle. This means that at the moment you check in for the first time, you determine whether you travel with a discount or not. So the price of your journey is no longer dependent on whether or not you have to pass through the gates during a transfer. NS considers it to be a transfer when you check out and in within 35 minutes.

Please note! This only applies to journeys made with NS. If you start your journey with another carrier and then transfer to NS, or start your journey with NS and transfer to another carrier, then it is redetermined whether you will travel for free, with a discount, or at full price based on the time of transfer.

What is the benefit?

  • You can now exit the station briefly, for example if the toilets are located outside of the gates, or to quickly purchase something in one of the shops. You can then continue your journey with the same discount that you were entitled to at the start of your journey.
  • If you pass through the gates to transfer between trains, you can also continue your journey with the same discount.

Are there any disadvantages?

A small group of travellers chose to leave the train after the peak hours to check out and then check in again, allowing them to continue their journey with a discount. This is no longer possible, because the price of the journey is determined from the moment of the first check-in.

There are a number of solutions to this situation;

What can you do to continue your journey for a discount rate after the peak hours?

For the leg of your journey made during peak hours, you can:

  • Purchase an e-ticket (without a discount)
  • Purchase a single-use chipkaart ( + € 1 supplement) at an NS Ticket Machine
  • Check in with another OV-chipkaart without a season ticket

After the peak hours, you can leave the train and check in using the OV-chipkaart that has your season ticket allowing you to travel on to your destination with a discount. If you use option 3, you must check out with the OV-chipkaart you used for the first leg of your journey, then check in with the OV-chipkaart that has your season ticket discount.

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