In The Netherlands, public transport plays an important role to cater for the mobility needs of the travelling public both in urban areas and in rural districts. After the introduction of the strip ticket (strippenkaart) system in January 1980, Dutch people enjoy the benefit of having a fully integrated national fares and ticketing system for bus, tram and metro and small sections of the railway system. The basic structure is zonal fares and the whole country is divided into fare zones of roughly the same size. It is the number of zone(s) travelled plus one base strip which determines the fares, irrespective of which operator provides the service or which mode is chosen for the journey. The unique national fares and ticketing system in the Netherlands provides ease and convenience for the passengers. However, there is a problem with the division of the farebox revenue between the different interested parties. Transport Ministry has comprehensive information on the number and type of ticket sold. However, there is an absence of data on patronage (e.g. where, when and with what mode was the trip made). To expedite the process, the WROOV-Plus system has been devised and the Ministry is responsible for the apportionment of fare revenues received from ticket sales nationwide. Extensive passenger surveys are being undertaken once every 3 years to collect representative data to determine riderships and to calculate the dividing keys to reimburse the 35 PTAs. Chipcards, sometimes known as Smartcards, are cards possessing an integrated chip with memory or even a microprocessor which is capable to store, process and to communicate the data via an electronic network to a computer. The chipcards in comparison with the ordinary tickets with magnetic strip(s) offer extra security from fraud, higher capacity for better storage of information and greater capability for more complex tasks e.g. do calculations, update records, control validity and prepare accounts for billing. The primary goals of the Dutch Chipcard project are to serve as a means to liberalise the provision of public transport services, to facilitate competitive tendering and to make greater fare differentiation possible. The short term objectives are to formulate an implementation strategy and to develop an action plan on how best to take advantage of the benefits offered by recent technological developments in the field of electronic ticketing systems.
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