Now even more problems with Student OV-chipkaart

By Jeroen van der Ham 

This week it was revealed that there are also many problems with the Student OV-chipkaart. On AT5 was visible that students can simply continue to travel for free after their studies. Indeed, it turns out that a student has to "collect a product" from a vending machine himself to have his OV-studentenkaart terminated. The card itself does not show that a student is no longer entitled to the season ticket.

In the clip on AT5 it can be seen that a number of students have already taken advantage of this. Clearly, the fraud detection of Trans Link Systems (the company behind the OV-chipcard) is no match for this either.

We had previously reported on the rapid breakdown of the Student OV-chipkaart. For several months now, Trans Link Systems has been responsible for issuing new cards itself. The forum of Tros Radar reported that this issuing does not always go without problems. According to the procedure, sending a new card takes about two weeks. Costs incurred during those two weeks are refundable (afterwards) via a form from Trans Link Systems. Since many students rely on public transport to get to college, these costs can quickly get out of hand.

The forum also reports that it is unclear which costs are or are not reimbursed: it often depends on how the card broke down or was lost. This does not make things easy for students who are often tight on money anyway.

Incidentally, because of all the problems with the public transport chip card, Trans Link Systems fell this week double in the prizes at the annual Big Brother Awards. The company won both the Audience Award and the prize in the Companies category.