Rotterdam, Netherlands: Pay metro ticket according to your nationality

Mkis Member

1POSTS

6 years ago

Hello all,
I got to know all this recently as a close relative is a fresh full time student in Holland. It seems that non Dutch students have to pay for the tickets public transport where as the Dutch ones move free of charge … The natural implication is that students don't have the same rights in Holland depending on their nationality.

Also in several local retail services (i.e. https://swapfiets.nl/en) request credit cards issued ONLY from Dutch banks…never seen this before in Europe or elsewhere in the world!!

To me all this it does not look at all aligned to the spirit of EU…or am I wrong?

best

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Cynic UK/Netherlands Expert

8114POSTS

6 years ago

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

The public transport thing requires a BSN number, so they have to be registered with the Gemeente; has your relative registered yet. If they are registered, then tell them to follow this link. It's not absolutely free, some days/periods they get a discount. There is no discrimination for this product, all students are entitled.

In addition to this, there is an EU travel scheme which is restricted to EU citizens only, but that's not a Dutch government rule, it's an EU wide rule from the EU.

The Dutch have always been weird about credit cards; they have their own national bank cards. Yes, it's frustrating for those of us who are used to a more flexible scheme, but it's one of the things you have to accept in the Netherlands.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

2 members reacted to this post

Ramses K. Serial expat

358POSTS

6 years ago

No we don't like credit cards, because of the high rates and we don't like having debts. Why a credit card if you can use your debit card everywhere? We like to save up our money for big expenses, it is typically Dutch to do so.

People who travel frequently have credit cards, but usually when they get back in Holland they pay the debt and don't use them in daily life.

It's just who we are as people you have to deal with it we are not going to change

1 member reacted to this post

Cynic UK/Netherlands Expert

8114POSTS

6 years ago

Ramses K. wrote:
No we don't like credit cards, because of the high rates and we don't like having debts. Why a credit card if you can use your debit card everywhere? We like to save up our money for big expenses, it is typically Dutch to do so.

People who travel frequently have credit cards, but usually when they get back in Holland they pay the debt and don't use them in daily life.

It's just who we are as people you have to deal with it we are not going to change

You know, if somebody asked me to describe a Dutch person by his traits, this would be one of them; my wife would say exactly the same.

SimCityAT Expert

13785POSTS

6 years ago

Austria is the same with Credit Cards, But each month the money is taken off your bank account if or not you have money in the account.
The general use of a CC is if you go on holiday, or do online shopping.

Ramses K. Serial expat

358POSTS

6 years ago

For online shopping I use Ideal or in rare cases PayPal. For example Amazon.de is getting more populair in The Netherlands since they added Ideal

Credit cards will never get populair in The Netherlands. If you want a credit card you have to go to your bank and the conditions for getting one depends on your salary.
We don't want people in financinal problems and are very strict about it.

Getting a mortgage in The Netherlands is also very tough and you must have some savings to buy a property.

We are very cautious people