[856] The OV-Fiets shared bicycle system in the Netherlands will no longer have keys. This simplifies the rental procedure. More information in the blog post: bicycledutch.w...
For people wondering about access for people coming to NL: "There is a loophole by getting a so-called Utrecht Region Pass. This is an electronic Tourist Card that works like an OV-chip card but now with a connection to a credit card. With this card you have access to museums and other tourist destinations in the wider Utrecht region, but also to all public transport and to the OV-fiets system in the entire country. The Utrecht Region Pass system involves picking up and returning a chip card from a location in the Utrecht region. You rent that card and you would have to order it in advance. So if you - as a tourist - would like to use public transport and rent OV-bikes like any Dutch person, it can be done, but it’s not the easiest thing to organise."
The OV-chip is also going to be replaced on the coming year with a more flexible system that can use debit cards and mobile phones. Hopefully a similar approach will also work. The question is, do we still need an OV-fiets registration to be able to use this new bikes? As far as I know a simple OV card is not enough to use OV-fiets, we need a (free) subscription.
I know we focus on bikes here but even that bus terminal layout at 0:21 is so clear and usable. For some reason buses here in the US are so bad at rider friendly design, stops and terminals. Love how obvious it is to find and board the bus I want
@@Simon-nx1sc So hardly any then. Belgian cities are almost all ancient ; ) No kidding, I like the bus company in Flanders, De Lijn. But I don’t like the NMBS or the stations so much. The rolling stock isn’t that new and well maintained. And most stations look run down and lack services, shops, or even shelter. But I must say, I use it occasionally, not structurally. So I could have had bad luck with the trains and stations. But the busses and the coastal tram are good. And the trains drive on the left side instead of the right side, you’ll have to correct that mistake (together with France) so that the Thalys can drive on the right side.
@@RealConstructor Why would we change the side? It is good how it is now. It is your own problem that you don't like, does rolling stock need to be new? No. Where did you see a station without shelter?
Very nice. In the U.K. we’re still not integrating all public transport onto a smart card. In London, the Oyster card is good but it doesn’t integrate with the bike share system even if it does work for everything else. Everywhere else, we’re still only just starting with smartcards for pay as you go train travel. Personally, I would make Oyster nationwide and renationalise all public transport. That way you could speed everything up.
Bikeshare systems need a form of collateral in case the user doesn't return the bike, causes damage to the bike, etc. This is why OV Fiets is only available with a registered OV Chipkaart (which has to be connected to a Dutch bank account). So they can come after you if you steal the bike. In many North American systems, credit cards are required so the operator can place a "hold" on the value of the bike, which gets removed once the bike is returned. In Ontario a bikeshare operator I worked for actually went as far as to ensure that the card readers were compatible with the provicial public transport fare card (Presto), but in the end the idea of using Presto as a payment method was abandoned due to this issue, as well as the challenge of consolidating payment systems.
Renationalising public transport seems like a good idea here in NL too.... it's messy and not necessarily cheaper to award contract to different parties every several years or so
I don't think re-nationalising public transport would work in the long run plus we already have an integrated smartcard system in the UK but is operator dependent, for Stagecoach services there is the "Stagecoach Smartcard" for use on non-TfL services, for Arriva there are M-Tickets for non-TfL services, for Go-Ahead group services e.g. Metrobus, Surrey there is the "Key Smartcard" which also works on all services in Brighton except Stagecoach services, not sure what the FirstGroup uses on buses but meh. Also all the smartcards in the UK excl. the London Oyster Card use the ITSO standard meaning that in theory a Stagecoach Smartcard should work on a Southern Vectis bus on the Isle of Wright but in real life they don't due to other factors I won't get into here; Saying all this means that you also don't need a smartcard outside of London since nearly every operator bus services on non-TfL services use a Ticketer brand ticket machine which allows for contactless card payment while at Southern Railway stations, if theres a ticket machine, you can pay by card at the ITSO card reader where you'd normally scan your Key Smartcard (or at least I'd think that would be the case) while in Manchester and Birmingham, they have their own ticketing system set by the local authority rather than the public transport operator. But yes a nationwide smartcard system would be nice, I think better modelled on the Hong Kong Octopus Card or extend the Oyster Card nationwide and remove the fare zones although unnecessary if you can just scan a debit or credit card or pay with cash outside of London. I have also used the term "non-TfL" a lot here and thats because London's public transport network works differently to the rest of the UK and cash fares on buses have been banned since 2014 and TfL regulates London's public transport to death...
@@wclifton968gameplaystutorials "I don't think re-nationalising public transport would work in the long" okay but why? Also the integrated smart card system you described is not integrated. It's segregated. Each operator has their own smart card. That is the antithesis of being integrated. If it takes several paragraphs to describe how to navigate your integrated smart card system, it's not integrated.
Oh My God! You are a life saver Thank You soooo much for doing this video in English. As a support to your channel I habe subscribed and liked the video.
Had wel gehoord dat dat sleutelvrije systeem er zou komen maar niet gelezen dat het al ingevoerd is. Nu weet ik meteen hoe het functioneert en moet ik de bordjes niet eens meer lezen :-) Bedankt!
It would be a good idea to somehow allow foreigners without a dutch bank account to use the OV-fiets. Is there a particular reason that the OV-fiets system is only available for Dutch residents?
It has to do with the payment system. You have to link your bank account to authorise automatic money transfers, and I think that can only be made to work for non-international transactions
"There is a loophole by getting a so-called Utrecht Region Pass. This is an electronic Tourist Card that works like an OV-chip card but now with a connection to a credit card. With this card you have access to museums and other tourist destinations in the wider Utrecht region, but also to all public transport and to the OV-fiets system in the entire country. The Utrecht Region Pass system involves picking up and returning a chip card from a location in the Utrecht region. You rent that card and you would have to order it in advance. So if you - as a tourist - would like to use public transport and rent OV-bikes like any Dutch person, it can be done, but it’s not the easiest thing to organise."
The system is designed for commuters and not for providing 24/7 mobility to all. It's now also available to all Dutch train travellers, but also providing this service to tourists (or asylum seekers) is just one step too far. And there's the established network of small businesses around the country where you can rent bicycles. Of course not ideal if want to rent a bicycle outside office hours, but tourists are an afterthought in that regard.
If you've ridden your rented OV bike to the shops and locked it, could another shopper with an OV card unlock it and ride it away? Say, a shopper who arrived on foot but didn't want to walk back? That could be awkward. Or does it stay locked to your OV card until you return it to a station?
No, the OV fiets is always bound to 1 person, in this case 1 card. On older models it's locked to 1 key. The Netherlands had very specific laws concerning bike sharing to avoid illegally parked bikes.
Only 3.95 for 24 hours? That's jolly good value for money. Here in the UK they've just launched a West MIdlands cycle hire scheme but that costs £1 to unlock the bike and 5p for every minute of use. So half an hour rental is £2.50. You also need a special app on your phone rather than just touch-n-go with a credit, debit or travel card.
It is really great value for money, indeed :-) It is also much cheaper than most regular bike rentals were before they arrived - I imagine they put quite a few out of business. 😅
Eh, this is unnecessary in my opinion. I like how fast and easy it is to just use a key, but now I have to take my OV chipkaart out of my wallet make sure I wave it at just the right spot, wait for the thing to react and finally unlock the lock, then when locking I have to press a button and then I can slide the lock. Also I imagine this needs a little bit of power to run, so that means having to spend a tiny bit on electricity or batteries. I like innovation but this just seems like adding tech for the purpose of adding tech and doesn't really add much practically.
@@Vulpiq The initial and final process might have been a bit more cumbersome, but in between that it was a lot simpler. I wouldn't mind if you had to scan your card on the rack or even on the bike when taking and returning the bike, but I just think it's a little bit of unnecessary hassle in between those times.
Not in smaller stations. There are smaller stations which have unmanned systems in which you have to walk through an entry gate that only opens with OV Chipkaart.
I’ve just got familiar with this rental system during my usage experience. But I’m still wondering that do I have to return the bike to where I rent it? Or I can simply return it to wherever there is an OV-fiets sign?
Ok, I've send them a message to ask the question since the info isn't available on the site. It's a very relevant question though because it's possible to rent the bike for up to a week or so, if not longer. Pretty sure the lock is only active during activation with the phone and/or card so it should work a while, but it's stil inconvenient when the battery runs empty and you can't get back to the station.
Well, as a rural Dutch i dont have a personal OV chipkaart, only a company one. I am looking forward to 2023, where the OV chipkaart is planned to be replaced by your bank card or other contactless payment system like your phone. So then you can open a bike my thevtap of a phone!
I can tell you, living in this city, on pre-pandemic days it would be hard to find a bike after rush hour. I can't even imagine how it is in cities like Utrecht or Amsterdam.
It’s only for people with a Dutch bank account. That’s because the OV Card only is used as a ID card and it does not contain any balance to rent a bike. So this is why you can’t use an anonymous OV Chipcard.
Hey. A British national resident in the Netherlands here. You cannot use an anonymous OV-chipkaart unfortunately because you need to have a (free) monthly subscription on your personal chipkaart to use the system. This is because you get charged for it after at the end of the month. It’s a shame tbh. I think they should allow you to pay on the spot when you are renting and/or returning the bike so that people like you can also make use of this amazing bike rental system. Perhaps they should adapt this new method of renting bikes (as shown in this video) to allow you to pay with a contactless debit card. They should also accept Visa/MasterCard payments, as most places in the country only accept Maestro cards.
@@johanvanrooijNL Pity. Such a card will have a balance but maybe insufficient to cover loss/damage. Why can't I use a credit card? After all, such can be used to pay for fares in Greater London (and is considered preferable to Oyster, e.g. there are routes which accept contactless credit card but not Oyster).
@@arshadedlu3416 MasterCard or Visa aren't accepted because they use a different system of registration from Maestro. Even though they are nearly the same logo, it is two different technologies. I know, it is stupid, but the two systems just dont work together.
"There is a loophole by getting a so-called Utrecht Region Pass. This is an electronic Tourist Card that works like an OV-chip card but now with a connection to a credit card. With this card you have access to museums and other tourist destinations in the wider Utrecht region, but also to all public transport and to the OV-fiets system in the entire country. The Utrecht Region Pass system involves picking up and returning a chip card from a location in the Utrecht region. You rent that card and you would have to order it in advance. So if you - as a tourist - would like to use public transport and rent OV-bikes like any Dutch person, it can be done, but it’s not the easiest thing to organise."
I believe in many countries the law is to have two independently working brakes on the bike. So you could have a coaster brake and a front- or rear-wheel brake if you want to. Actually it's really unfortunate that coaster brakes aren't really a thing outside the Netherlands (except for children's bikes) as it's a really straightforward and safe way to brake.
@@clemensmuller2543 That's one problem we don't have in the Netherlands 🙃 But I agree that on steep hills they wouldn't feel safe. And they might not be it either, but I haven't looked into that.
Hey guys from Melbourne, Australia. A small group of my locals are trying to get our council to grant funding to a bike path on a street strip and we could really use some support from any other bike enthusiasts. Check out our Glen Eira Bicycle Users Group, Facebook Translate will work well if needed.
Not so much, as you need that card for train travel anyway. These bikes are an extension of that train travel, so almost everybody who may want to rent a bicycle does already have such a card.
"There is a loophole by getting a so-called Utrecht Region Pass. This is an electronic Tourist Card that works like an OV-chip card but now with a connection to a credit card. With this card you have access to museums and other tourist destinations in the wider Utrecht region, but also to all public transport and to the OV-fiets system in the entire country. The Utrecht Region Pass system involves picking up and returning a chip card from a location in the Utrecht region. You rent that card and you would have to order it in advance. So if you - as a tourist - would like to use public transport and rent OV-bikes like any Dutch person, it can be done, but it’s not the easiest thing to organise."
This thing is in Dutch but the essentials should be easy to interpret: www.ns.nl/binaries/_ht_1607679851740/content/assets/ns-nl/tarieven/ov-fiets-tarieven-particulier-2021.pdf The summary is roughly as follows: 3.95 per 24 hour period (up to 72 hours after that they bump the price up to 5 euro per per 24 hour period). If you return the bike at a different location that costs 10 euro, the thing also lists a 50 euro pickup on demand fee but that's something I've never used myself. Oh and it mentions they charge 350 euro if you don't return it within 21 days which the * reference at the bottom claims to be the replacement value. The final section is more related to losing keys, theft and damage from inproper use. I also learned something here today, only used them on the mobility card of my employer after getting to the destination city by train so far. Depending on what I want to do that day in a city this might actually be a better option than the bus, both with cost and planning flexibility. One more thing that might be useful to know is that in those guarded bicycle parking locations near stations you can usually park your own bicycle for free up to a day (does require an OV chipkaart so maybe not ideal for tourists).
Much better than the regular locks, where the keys would jam often. However it would be better to be able to do it with an app like the bikes of go about or electronic scooters like lime
@@Snowshowslow its still a physical lock which is the important part since those never fail. The card system works exactly like checking in for the bus or train and those never fail aswell. So this isnt a concern
@@seb9940 What do you mean those never fail? I have absolutely had and seen card errors with the OV-chipkaart. It's not an everyday occurrence, of course, but it does happen.
@Robert Even if that's true, which I am not at all convinced it is, that's still an issue. If customers have to behave very carefully under the new system and can just act normally under the old system, how is the new one an improvement?
But I don't think it happens a lot. I believe they are all GPS chipped and they are also instantly recognisable so there is no second-hand market for it as it is clear they are stolen. I have never heard of someone having their OV-fiets stolen in all the years we have used them.
@@Snowshowslow Yeah, it's also why they are all painted the way they are so it's super obvious that it's OV Fiets. While stealing to keep wouldn't really be feasible I could still see someone stealing one downtown and then biking home and dumping it somewhere before you get home, but then again, everyone has a bike so the chances of that are opportunities for that situation to happen is small to begin with.
Best tutorial of how it works. The NS explanation is just weird. BTW, do you still need to have the subscription added to your card, or is that automatic?
On Not Just Bike I've complained that we don't have a NS-Station. So not OV-Fiets here. Goes, Middelburg, Vlissingen. But nowhere in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. 105 000 people live on my pseudo-island. That's more than all Waddeneilanden combined. Incidently there is an NS-Station in Terneuzen. NS Cargo... See, once there used to ran a train from Gent to Terneuzen and from Terneuzen to Mechelen). I guess we did get the car revolution, but not so much the "cars are not the way of the future!"-revolution here after that. Sigh!
What happens if you forget to lock the bike? What happens if someone stole the bike? Will you get charged for the cost of the bike while the thief gets away with it?
The same thing that would happen if your ov bike didn't have the electronic lock and it was stolen, you will have to pay a penalty of 70 Euros if you reported it to the police or 350 if you did not report it to the police.
Finally! Until now I have found OV Fiets to be less convenient to use than bikeshare systems I've used in Canada (which pretty much always use a card). Finally the Netherlands has eliminated the last case where Dutch cycling infrastructure was less than world-class.
