Do I have to put money on my card?

The costs of traveling are the regular costs for public transportation. They vary per carrier and per trip/distance.

Yes! With this TripKey card students enjoy 15% discount during off-peak hours and during the weekend from the National Railway (NS) trains. Off-peak hours are:​

1. During the entire weekend; between Friday 6:30 PM and Monday 6:30 AM
2. Monday to Friday; between 9 AM and 4 PM and between 6:30 PM and 6:30 AM

​​The discounts will only be enabled when you have gone through the entire process in the TripKey app AND when you have loaded the digital required products onto your card.

The prices that appear on the screens of the check-out gates may show full price, even when we apply discounts to your trips. Your TripKey app will show you the accurate price for your trip.

The subscription fee is a fee for the advantages you receive. For example, the discount at NS trains, English speaking customer service, the postponed payment of travel costs and credit card as a payment method.

You can see all the transactions that you have made in your TripKey app under “travel history’’. Keep in mind that it may take up to 48 hours before your travel history appears in the app. For each transaction you can also see whether it has been billed and in what bill.
You can check all the bills we have charged in the app under “bills”. For each bill you can see the transactions.

Your TripKey card will be linked to a payment method. This can either be a credit card, or via iDeal (Dutch bank account). By travelling, the costs will automatically be charged from your credit card or bank account.

• During registration, when you add a card to your account, we use a one time € 0,01 payment to verify the payment method of your choice.
• The monthly subscription fee of € 4,50 is charged on the first day of each month.
• Your travel costs are charged at the first day of each month together with the monthly subscription fee costs, or as soon as you reach an amount of €20,-. So your travel costs may even be charged daily, depending on your activity.

This can either be a credit card, or a Dutch bank account via iDeal. If both are possible for you, we advise you to choose iDeal with a Dutch bank account.

We’re so sorry that this happened and we want to resolve this for you as soon as possible. You can now report your TripKey card as lost in our TripKey app:

Mobile app

1. Log into the TripKey app;
2. Choose the option Block Card;
3. Please select ‘I have read the warning and understand the risks’ to complete your request.
4. After your confirmation you will receive an email with further instructions.

If you neglect to report that your card is missing someone might take advantage of it and you will be responsible for those travel expenses.

If you need further assistance, please contact our customer service as soon as possible at +31 88 934 34 43 or servicedesk@TripKey.nl and report that your card is missing, we will block your card within 24 business hours. Our customer service is open from Monday-Friday from 8 AM untill 8 PM.

The cost of your journey will also be displayed upon checking out. But please note: When traveling with NS during NS off-peak hours, the display will initially not show the discount. The actual costs can be found in the app. When you forgot to check-out, it may take longer than 48 hours until your journey is shown in your travel history, see also the following questions.

The public transport provider charges a fixed fee (a boarding fare) when you enter a vehicle; € 20,00 when you travel by train and € 4,00 when you travel by tram, subway or bus. When you check-out the system calculates your actual travel costs and they settle this with your boarding fare. If you forget to check-out, they don’t know how far you traveled and they will charge the full boarding fare. You can see it as a fine for not checking out and it is automatically cashed.

Visit https://www.uitcheckgemist.nl/?locale=en (this stands for missed check-out) and enter your card details. You will now see an overview of trips for which (the) fine(s) can be reclaimed. It may take some time before you can reclaim your money. In most cases you can reclaim your money within 15 days.

Please note: the money will be added to your travel balance. To set an alert for forgotten check-outs, please view “Can I get an alert when I have forgotten to check out?”.

Yes, you can get an email alert! To set this, please visit https://www.uitcheckgemist.nl/?locale=en (this stands for missed check-out), click “Missed check-out alert” and subscribe.

You can change your payment method in the TripKey app. All you need to do is the following:

1. Log into the TripKey app;
2. Choose for the option payment method;
3. Press the button continue. You will now be redirected to our payment service provider Mollie, where you can verify your new payment method.

When you change your payment method in your account, we use a one time €0,01 payment to verify the new payment method.

If you need to cancel your TripKey card and end your membership, all you need to do is the following:

1. Log into the TripKey app;
2. Choose the option Block Card;
3. Please select ‘I have read the warning and understand the risks’ to complete your request.

After your confirmation you will receive an email with further instructions.

If there are any unpaid travel expenses left we will charge these at the next billing moment.

Please note that after you ended your card, you will no longer be able to use your TripKey card. Also, it is not possible to refund any money you loaded onto the card yourself.

If you need further assistance, please contact our customer service at +31 88 934 34 43 or servicedesk@TripKey.nl. Our customer service is open from Monday-Friday from 8 AM until 8 PM.

You will find all the actual information about the COVID-19 regulations in the Netherlands on this Dutch Government website. We recommend you check this website before your visit.

Face masks are mandatory in some designated areas at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, on all public transport and in private commercial transport, such as taxis or passenger vans. Additionally, everyone aged 13 or over is advised to wear a non-medical face mask in indoor public spaces such as shops, museums, town halls, stations, airports, covered car parks and petrol stations, restaurants, bars, cafés, theatres and concert halls, locations where contact-based professions are carried out (both customers and staff should wear a mask). People who refuse to comply could be fined.

Yes, they are open again since June 1st. Make sure you check the website of the museum or attraction you wish to visit for information about opening times and regulations specific to the location. Also, you must reserve your ticket(s) in advance.

There are no restrictions on travel within the Netherlands. However, we recommend avoiding busy places.

Just arrived in the Netherlands and unfamiliar with the Dutch public transport system? No worry, TripKey makes travelling convenient and carefree!

• Carefree travel The TripKey card provides seamless access to public transport in the Netherlands. It takes all the hassle away so that you can jump from train to tram to bus and on a bike, just like the locals do.
• Bike rental and bike storage TripKey also gives you access to the OV-fiets – public transport bicycle and guarded bicycle storage at large NS train stations;.
• Valid nationwide Reach every destination in the Netherlands by train, bus, tram, metro or public transport bicycle (OV-fiets).
• Automatic top up of balance After you collected your TripKey card and completed the registration process in the TripKey App you never have to upload money onto the pass. Therefore you never have to worry about the balance on your card or miss a train because of insufficient balance.
• Best buy Discounts make your student live better! With the TripKey card you receive a 15% discount during weekends and off-peak hours on weekdays at the trains of the Dutch Railways (NS; Nederlandse Spoorwegen).
• Customized application Since you are new in the Netherlands and probably don’t speak Dutch nor have a Dutch bank account, we made a customized application process for international students with international payment methods.
• Service Dedicated Customer Service to answer all your questions

The costs consist of a one-time purchase price, a monthly subscription fee and travel costs.

• Purchase price TripKey card is ordered for a total amount of €15,-.
• Monthly subscription fee In order to receive all benefits there is a monthly subscription fee of € 4,50. Apart from this, we will also charge you for the travel costs. The amount of these charges depend on how much you travel and can be monitored via the travel history in your TripKey app.

Please note: In order to benefit from all the TripKey advantages as mentioned above, please make sure you register and connect a valid payment method (credit card or iDeal) in the TripKey app and load the required digital products onto your TripKey card. All the information will be provided to you once you receive your TripKey card in the Netherlands.

In the TripKey app you can sign up, add an international payment method and register your TripKey pass. After registering you can use several benefits

• Automatic balance top up With the automatic top-up of the travel balance on your card, you will never mis the bus because of insufficient travel balance;
• Overview The TripKey app shows you an overview of all travel data, costs and payments;
• Automatically charged payment All travel costs will be automatically charged afterwards on your account. You never have to upload money onto the card, because all transactions will be charged automatically.
• Discount By registering your card in the TripKey app you can benefit from 15 % discount during off-peak hours on NS trains (Dutch Railways);
• Update in our app you can easily update registration and payment method
• Customer service The TripKey app has a English application process and customer support

We will always help you! Please read our FAQ or if you didn’t find the answer, you can reach us via:

• Email: servicedesk@TripKey.nl
• Phone number: + 31 88 934 34 43

Our customer service is open from Monday-Friday from 8 AM until 8 PM.

You can find the TripKey app in the app-store and android-store. The app is distributed by Mobility Services BV.

Did you download the TripKey app? Great! To register, you can now follow the next steps in the TripKey app:

1. Sign up with your email address.
2. Fill in your verification code. You can find the verification code in your email inbox. Please check your spam box if you didn’t receive the email.
3. Create a password.
4. Agree with the terms of use and privacy policy.
5. Add your name and phone number.
6. Fill in your verification code. The verification code is sent by SMS.
7. Add your payment method and add your TripKey card.

After you connect your payment method in the TripKey app, we will set up the digital products for you. You can pick-up the products 4 hours after registration at an NS ticket machine or an OV-chipkaart service point. You can use the Service Point Finder to find a point near you.

You might wonder what the term ‘required digital products’ means. The digital products you need are subscriptions on your ISIC Mobility card. These subscriptions do not cost you anything.

We call these products ‘required’ digital products with good reason. When you receive your card, there are no products on it yet. If you do not pick these products up, you won’t be able to travel or even get into most stations.

The ‘picking up’ part refers to the process of loading these products onto your card. You have to physically place your card against a chip reader to upload the digital products onto the card.

Once you have registered your card in our app and made a verification payment, we automatically prepare the products for you.

After you have gone through the entire registration proces in the TripKey app, you can pick-up your digital products 4 hours after registration at a NS ticket machine at the NS railway station or an OV-chipkaart service point (www.ov-chipkaart.nl and search for service point finder). When picking up the digital products please follow the steps below.​

When visiting an NS ticket machine

1. Place your Mobility card against the ticket machine
2. Change the language to English
3. Choose to retrieve or pick up your products
4. The machine will show two products to be picked up
5. Choose agree, the machine will prepare them
6. A little patience
7. The machine will request you to place the card against it once more.
8. Your products have been loaded onto your card!

When visiting an OV-chipkaart service point

1. Place your card in the machine
2. Choose ‘Collect purchase order’
3. Wait for the system to check available products:
4. Automatisch opladen “TLS”
   a. Activeer Trein Zakelijk 2e klas
   b. Once the screen shows ‘Retrieval of products has completed’ you are ready to travel.

You never have to, and must not upload money onto the card, because all travel costs will be charged automatically. If you do put money on the card, we are unable to return it.

NO! After you have picked up your orders at an OV-chipkaart service point or an NS ticket machine your TripKey card is ready-to-use. You never have to, and must not upload money onto the card.

Please note: If you do put money on the card you will see it in your account balance and you can use it for traveling, but we are unable to return it.

When you arrive at the train station, hold your TripKey in front of the card reader that you’ll find either at the entrance of the platform or built into the gate that will open after you’ll have scanned your pass. Always check out at the station where you exit.

When you arrive at a metro station, hold your TripKey in front of the card reader that you’ll find either at the entrance of the platform or built into the gate that will open after you’ll have scanned your pass. Always check out at the station where you exit.

Every time you enter a vehicle you must check in and every time you leave a vehicle check out. When your trip includes a change of vehicle (connection) you have to check out the first vehicle and check into the next one. To check in, you hold your pass in front of the card reader. Readers are placed at the entrances and exits of all trams and busses. When you check in, you will hear one beep. When you check out, you will hear two beeps.

Each time you transfer to a different mode of transport (for example from a tram to a bus or a train to the metro), you must always check out the first vehicle and then check in the next one.

You must also check out and check in again if you are transferring from a bus to another bus or from a tram to another tram.

Exception: if you are transferring from one NS train to another NS train or from one metro to another metro, you only need to check out at the end of your journey.

To order the TripKey card please visit https://www.studentmobility.nl/mobility-package/

The TripKey card will be distributed at your university upon arrival or sent directly to your Dutch address. You can choose these options when ordering the TripKey card on the studentmobility website.

You can use your TripKey pass to rent an OV-fiets from nearly 300 locations in the Netherlands. Locations include train stations, bus and metro stops, several town centres and P+R sites. The bicycles are stored in both guarded and unguarded storage areas, or in self-service bicycle lockers or carousels. For more information check our special OV-fiets page.

With the TripKey pass you can make use of all modes of public transport in the Netherlands. This includes the train, tram, subway, bus and ferry. Besides this, you can travel in a typical Dutch way: with the OV-fiets (public transport bicycle).

When you travel by train it is important that you sit in second class. All other modes of public transportation have only one class.