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I have an anonymous OV-chipkaart (Dutch public transport electronic card). I don't have a Dutch banking card. (In other words, I'm a foreigner who goes to the Netherlands occasionally.) What are my options to recharge the OV-chipkaart, either with cash (ideally banknotes) or with a credit card?

Would getting a nominative card enable me to recharge it through the website without a Dutch banking card?

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4 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Would getting a nominative card enable me to recharge it through the website without a Dutch banking card?

No it wouldn't. Last time I've checked, online payments were done via IDEAL, which only works with Dutch banks. Also it's really crappy solution, where you pay on-line, but then you actually have to find physical terminal to put the credit on the card.

There are many types of chip-card recharging machines, some of them in theory do accept VISA and MasterCard credit cards (although my personal experience trying non-Dutch VISA credit card was negative).

UPDATE: Seems that this has improved lately, in many places foreign cards with EMV chip seem to work in the Netherlands.

Generally speaking whole OV-chipkaart system is total mess. It's also not very clear which products you can put on which type of cards (some allow you to get both GVB and NS credit, some don't).

Safest way is to go to one of GVB's information centers, but unfortunately that means waiting in queue (very long queue in case of the one near Amsterdam Centraal).

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the terminals accept v-pay and maestro. These are debit card version from mastercard and visa. It worked for foreign maestro though – Andra May 2 '12 at 14:59
@Andra: where these chip equipped cards? – vartec May 2 '12 at 19:33
all Dutch Maestro terminals have now been replaced (or should have been) with chip reading terminals. The stripe readers are being phased out, many readers that still feature them will have them disabled. – jwenting May 3 '12 at 9:05
up vote 10 down vote

If only need a "OV-chipkaart" for the train, you don't actually need one. can just order the train tickets online and print it at home on paper.

If you need it for the busses, metro, and tram, you indeed need to charge it. Personally I have a OV-chipkaart which is connected to my train reduction card. For about 50 euros per year, you get 40% discount on all train journey outside peakhours. This reduction card does also contain an OV-chipkaart, which you can upload at trainstations. At the main stations you can charge with major credit cards. You need to look for the yellow/blue automatic vending machines, that contain large touch screens. I am not sure if they accept all OV-chipcards, or only those connected to a NS-reduction card.

According to the OV chipkaart website, they offer online charging. It is a bit of hazzle though. First you need to buy credit online, then you need to find the closest "charging devise" to load your credit to your personal card. Since the english page is only partially translated, here is a dictionary to understand the website.

Profiteer van het gemak van reizen op saldo

Profit from the ease of traveling with credit (Ease? Yeah right)

Aan het begin van uw reis checkt u in, aan het einde checkt u uit

At the beginning of your journey you check in, at the end you check out

De reiskosten worden automatisch berekend en van het saldo van uw OV-chipkaart afgeschreven

The cost of your journey will be charged to your card

Het toegestane saldo op uw OV-chipkaart bedraagt maximaal €150

You can charge up to €150

Bestellen = Order

If you have the time, could you please file a complaint about the lack of a proper translation?

I just checked with a foreign friend. The OV charging machines accept V-pay and maestro.

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up vote 5 down vote

all info should be here: https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/?taal=en but since the company in charge of this system is incapable of getting anything right, I'm not surprised the English translation is lacking.

In short it seems you can recharge it at certain ticket offices. My guess is the ticket offices at the bigger train stations are your best bet.

Other than that, all the options require the use of an ATM card. So if your ATM card is accepted in the Netherlands, you should be able to recharge your card at the OV-Chipcard machines.

Another option is to buy a (precharged) anonymous card.

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3  
There's a recharge point locator‌​, but as far as I can tell (I don't speak Dutch, I can only decipher it or read automated translations), it only has a way to look for places that accept cash (mostly offices of GVB and the like at main NS stations) and a way to look for places that accept Dutch banking cards. I have a credit card that works in ATMs, but not in a lot of Dutch machines such as NS/GVB ticket machines. Nor can I tell if a personal card would broaden my options. – Gilles Jul 15 '11 at 23:36
Well, I'm from the Netherlands so reading the stuff is not the problem. The recharge locater helps you out only if your bankcard is accepted by the machines. A personal (=non anonymous) card allows you to buy a subscription or special product from the various transport companies. But those usually require you to pay by bank transfer. If I where you, I would not bother with the personalised cards. – Jacco Jul 16 '11 at 9:37
I just check the website of GVB (the company that manages the public transport in Amsterdam) and it states that you should be able to pay with a credit card and/or cash at any of recharge points (located in (tobacco) shops or super markets). – Ivo Flipse Oct 26 '11 at 7:35
With the OV-chipcard there tends to be a difference between 'should' and 'will'. Nevertheless, supermarkets and tobacco shops are probably a tourists best bet. – Jacco Oct 26 '11 at 8:00
up vote 0 down vote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OV-chipkaart seems to have a lot of information on the system - there's a Dutch version as well, but I can only read a little Dutch.

It appears the key points for this question are:

Paying for a trip

There are two ways to pay for travel using the the OV-chipkaart:

Travellers can buy a travel product, for example a one-day pass for an entire city or a monthly season ticket for a certain route. When they check out after the trip (see next section), the system will recognise that a certain product has been used and, if necessary, deactivate it.

The other option is to use money from the electronic purse on the OV-chipkaart. At check-in, the system charges a checking-in fee. This in then refunded when the traveller checks out, minus the fare for the trip actually made. If a user fails to check out, the checking-in fee, 10 or 20 euros, which is higher than the fare for most short commuter journeys, is not refunded. If all card readers are out of order, the traveller can claim the checking-in fee back from the travel authority. If a traveller fails to check out too many times the card is blocked and cannot be used again, even if there is a valid product on it.

During a trip, travel staff can check cards using a mobile reader. You must be travelling away from the point where you checked in.

Hope that helps a little! There are more links in the references, but most are in Dutch - but given you go there frequently, I'm hoping you speak a little of it.

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Sorry, but that's not what I asked. The OV-chipkaart acts as an electronic purse; what you're explaining here is how to spend it, but I'm asking how to recharge it. – Gilles Jul 15 '11 at 22:40

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