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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?
You can now recharge your OV Chipkaart using VISA, Mastercard or American Express creditcards at almost any NS Ticket machine, and with no extra charge! There was a charge in the past of 0,50 euro but that has been dropped.
Source: I'm Dutch, also here (English): https://www.ns.nl/en/customer-service/payment/problems-when-paying-online.html
If only need a "OV-chipkaart" for the train, you don't actually need one. You can just order the train tickets online and print at home on paper.
If you need it for the buses, 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 peak hours. This reduction card does also contain an OV-chipkaart, which you can upload at train stations. 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-chipkaarts, or only those connected to a NS-reduction card.
According to the OV chipkaart website, they offer online charging. It is a bit of hassle though. First you need to buy credit online, then you need to find the closest "charging device" 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.
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).
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.
Yes, you absolutely can. I have done this many times. Just find one of those yellow machines and you can recharge the card there with your debit or credit card. There is a €0.50 surcharge for using a credit card though.
You can find these at the train stations, the one I specifically used was at Amsterdam Central.
All my card are EMV enabled and require a PIN, and using a non-EMV card is a hit-and-miss affair.
I have also used my card to add balance to the OV card at the ticket counter without issue, where they will also happily accept cash. There is a €0.50 surcharge if you pay at the ticket counter, whether by card or cash.
Recharging OV-chipkaart with credit cards is possible only at several major stations - Amsterdam Centraal, Schiphol, Rotterdam Centraal, Utrecht Centraal and likely Eindhoven Centraal (not sure for the latter). All the rest of the vending machines accept only debit cards, but not all types - i.e. Maestro is welcome but my MasterCard is rejected. As this is the only debit card type my bank issues, my only alternative is to go to a ticket counter and pay cash. It seems OK, BUT there are ticket desks only at bigger stations and most of them work from 7:00 till 19:00. At small unattended stations as well as anywhere else in NL there is no other way to recharge your OV-chipkaart (unless you have Dutch bank account, I still haven't got one). Living in Vlissingen I face this problem every time I need to load my chipkaart. I need to go to Roosendaal, the nearest station with tickets counter, 75 km away. As railways employee I travel by train for free, but I waste at least 2:30 h forwards-backwards.
At NS stations, you can also charge by coins.
The machines only accept maestro and the website only accepts Dutch banks. I've bought a card no problem but being able to top it up is another matter!
