The Netherlands is to be the first country in the world to introduce e-ticketing in public transport on a national scale with one form of payment for travel by bus, tram, rail and metro. Trans Link Systems (TLS), a combination of five large transport operators, Netherlands Railways, Connexxion, the Hague Tramways, Amsterdam Municipal Transport and Rotterdam Electric Tram, proposed the new e-ticketing system. TLS has selected the consortium East-West (Thales, Vialis and Accenture) to introduce the system, using proven technology based on smart cards. E-ticketing will initially be introduced in Rotterdam and the Hoek van Holland, followed by Amsterdam. The scheme is due to be national by 2007. The scheme follows the successful use of the smart card for e-ticketing in Paris and Washington. TLS want to introduce two types of smart cards in the Netherlands: personalised and non-personalised. Loyalty programmes will be implemented in order to persuade customers to pay electronically.
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