How can we help you?

OVpay is for anyone who travels by public transport. Whether you travel to and from work every day, take the grandchildren for a day out every once in a while, or hit the city for shopping and fun every weekend. Bus, tram, metro, trolley bus, water bus, train: OVpay is for all passengers.

OVpay brings you new ways to check in and out in public transport. This way, you can decide for yourself which option fits you the best. You might want to check in and out with your contactless debit or credit card, only to check in and out with your mobile phone the next day. Or you might choose for your trusty OV-chipkaart. It will all be possible in the future!  

Over the next few years, we’ll be gradually introducing these new ways of checking in and checking out.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Why do we need this? The OV-chipkaart system works fine, right?” Well, you’re correct. But the OV-chipkaart has been around for 16 years, and in that time a lot of better, more secure, and more reliable technologies have come along. By adding new ways to pay, we’re looking towards the future. OVpay makes payment as flexible and accessible as possible for everyone. That’s OVpay.

We will be introducing OVpay in stages. We’re working very hard to make sure that everyone can use OVpay wherever they check in and check out in 2023. Yes, that’s still a way off. But to get there, we have to keep things moving. Here’s what we’re doing now:

• checking feasibility
• starting small-scale
• learning from test results
• and keeping you and your fellow passengers involved in the trials we’re conducting.

Only when we’re sure that everything works will we start rolling it out nationally. It has to be good, and it has to be reliable. We have to be absolutely sure that checking in and checking out is as convenient as possible for you as passenger!

Once OVpay is available nationally you will be able to use OVpay wherever you would use your OV-chipkaart now. Whether it is the train, tram, metro, bus, or water bus. Check the page ovpay.nl/locaties for a simple tool to check if it's available in your city.

All public transport companies in the Netherlands are on board with OVpay. That means Arriva, EBS, GVB, HTM, Keolis, NS, Qbuzz, RET and Transdev. OVpay is an initiative of the Cooperative of Public Transport Companies.

All public transport companies in the Netherlands are participating in OVpay. We will only be able to create total travel and payment convenience for everyone and everywhere if we do this together. OVpay also involves working with banking and credit card companies and coordinating with consumer organisations and local and regional authorities.

But the most important party involved in OVpay is you, our passenger! Do you want to be one of the passengers involved? Register as an OVpay Pionier!

Yes, if you want to check in and out with the card of your choise, please take out the card from your wallet or phone case and present the single card to the cardreader. This also concers when you check in and out with the OV-chipkaart.

Please check your bank statement or transaction overview of your credit card. You will find a debit named 'NLOV' with a unique code consisting code of 14 numbers and letters. You can head to our web tool or the OVpay app and fill in this code as well as the amount that was debited. You will be able to see a complete overview of your trips that you made on that day.

Checking in and out with your contactless debit card is as secure as paying at your local supermarket. We are not able to access your bank data, and your bank is not able to look into your travel data.

Your student discount will remain available, even when OVpay will be introducted to the Netherlands. Until this is available on the other check in methods, we recommend you keep using the OV-chipkaart. To make sure you keep traveling with student discount, it is also smart to take your OV-chipkaart out of your wallet or your phone case before you check in with it.

Please contact our customer service. You can reach us on business days from 07.00 until 17.00 via 0900-1433 (usual costs). Please keep the amount debited and the reference ID number (starting with NLOV) at hand, so we can help you right away. Are you calling from abroad? Then call +31108925063.

You can check in and out with:

• contactless debits card from ABN AMRO, ASN bank, bunq, ING, Rabobank, Regiobank, or SNS
• contactless credit cards from Mastercard and Visa (issued by ICS)
• smartphones that are set up with contactless payment with a card from above-mentioned debit and credit cards. Also with Apple Pay and Google Wallet
• a foreign contactless debit or credit cards from Maestro, V pay, Mastercard, or Visa

You won't even need an OV-chipkaart or subscription. No registration is necessary. 

Of course! Travelling by OV-chipkaart will remain an option. However, you should be aware that the underlying system of the card will be changed at some point in the future. This is in order to keep up with the new technology. Until then, you can keep using the OV-chipkaart you know and love, and check in and check out with the same secure system you are used to.

Your credit card is checked before you are able to successfully check in and out with your credit card. This will lead to a transaction of € 0,- on your statement. This does not affect the travel costs.

Please head to ovpay.nl/reisoverzicht with your reference number that has 18 numbers and letters and deducted amount written down. After filling in these trip details, they will automatically offer you the opportunity to change your check in or check out. A day after you've travelled you can find your reference number in your debit description.

It is currently not possible to make a full overview of all your recent trips with OVpay. We're working hard to make this available for you as soon as possible.

For now, please use ovpay.nl/reisoverzicht to see your day trips.

You will get your money refunded in one of the following ways after editting your check-in or out successfully:

• The refund to be received will settle a future debit;
• If you aren't going to be traveling for a while, we will refund the money to your bank account.

If it says 'name unknown' on your travel history, then we're unsure what we have to fill in. Please contact our customer service if you would like more information about this. You can reach us via 0900-1433.

If you're unable to call a 0900-number. Please ring +31108925063.

After successfully editting the check in or out, it is possible to get a refund or have to pay an outstanding amount.

What if I'm owed a refund?

The allowed refund will be settled with one of your future debits.

If you aren't going to be traveling for a while, the money will be refunded to your bank account.

What if I still have to pay?

We'll debit the money from your bank account. This might be added to a future debit.

If you are being checked by a controller, briefly hold your debit card on the device. This will only show your last few check ins. Your bank details will not be visible. 

Right now, a selected group of people is testing the beta version of the app. Do you want to stay updated on the latest developments or be a part of the test group, check our website. 

At this moment, the app can be downloaded by a limited group of travelers using a contactless debit card or credit card. Do you check in and out with a contactless debit or credit card in public transport? Do you want to view your travel details? Then you can start using the beta OVpay app. We appreciate feedback on the app so we can develop the beta OVpay app more before going live.

You can download the beta OVpay app via the website ovpay.nl/app. You download the app in the test environment of Google Play (Android) or the App Store (Apple). We often increase the number of allowed users. Are you unable to download the beta OVpay app right now? Please keep an eye out on our website to see when we allow new users.

Yes. In order to add your debit card or credit card to the beta OVpay app, you will need a My OVpay account. This way you can get insight into the costs of your made trips. You can create an account after you have downloaded the app. We only need an email address and password. You do not need the app to check in and out with your contactless debit card or credit card.

You can use the app once you have a transaction from checking in and out with your contactless card, you can use the app. You can also use the app when you check in and out using your mobile phone or smartwatch to which your debit card or credit card is linked. An overview of where to use OVpay is visible on ovpay.nl/locations.

You can add the following payment options to the beta OVpay app:

• A contactless debit card from ABN AMRO, ASN Bank, bunq, ING, Rabobank, RegioBank or SNS
• A contactless credit card from Mastercard or Visa (published by ICS)
• A contactless debit card or credit card from Maestro, V PAY, Mastercard or Visa
• A mobile phone or smartwatch linked to your bank account

You currently cannot pay the outstanding amount via the app.You cannot check in or out with your card until this outstanding amount is paid.
There are two solutions to this issue:

1. We attempt to debit the outstanding amount from your bank account up to three times. 
2. Would you like to resolve this immediately? Make sure you have enough money on your bank account and put your debit card against the check in pole once more. The debit will be activated again and will be debited in the case of enough balance on your account. Once this succeeded, you will be able to check in with your debit card after a maximum of 15 minutes.

The debit often happens the day after your trip. Were you unable to find a transaction? This can have multiple explanations:

• Insufficient balance. You may have had an insufficient balance at the time we attempted to debit the costs of your trip. We will attempt to debit the outstanding balance within a few days. Make sure to check your payment overview once in a while for a transaction with ‘NLOV’ in the description.
• Contactless payments are turned off on your card. If you turned off contactless payments or had it turned off during your check in and check out, some issues might occur with the debit. If you haven’t had the outstanding amount debited within a few days, you will be unable to check in or out with this card. Would you like to check in again? Please make sure to check in with a different debit card that has contactless payments turned on. You can also use your OV-chipkaart or buy a ticket.

No, these are mobile payment services that are separate from the OVpay app.

You can use the beta Ovpay app if you have a device with Android 8.1 or higher, or iOS 12 or higher.

Once you have downloaded the beta OVpay app, you can keep using it until you decide to delete the app yourself. Keep updating your app to make sure it stays functional and you can use the newest developments. The beta version will be changed into a normal app once the development of the app has finished.

You can share it with us! We are testing a lot of things to learn what does and does not work. 

You have the opportunity to think with us in developing OVpay by becoming an OVpay Pionier. You can decide how often your participate and all help is appreciated! Read more about the OVpay Pioniers here.

GVB is currently testing checking in and out with a contactless debit or credit card. If you traveled by the metro or bus in Amsterdam by GVB between the 20th and 29th of June or the 6th and 15th of July, there is a small chance that a certain amount of money was debited from your account by NLOV. This shouldn't have happened and we really want to resolve this issue. We're currently working on a solution, but if you would rather have this amount back immediately, please contact us. You can do so by calling our customer service via 0900-1433 (usual expenses). We are reachable on regular work days from 7.00 till 17.00.  

Please contact our press officer Gerbrant Corbee via +316 – 15 51 19 33 of via e-mail: [email protected].

Objections to debit or credit card refusals can be addressed to the carrier you travelled with. More information about this can be found in the general terms and conditions of OVpay, article 11. These terms and conditions can be found at www.ovpay.nl/voorwaarden.