NS is going to extend and expand the test phase of the registration system with which travelers can register their journey in advance. The first test phase ended last Sunday. The carrier now wants to investigate, among other things, whether bicycles can be taken along again and whether students can travel longer.
About five thousand travelers took part in the first test, who together made almost 150,000 trips, the NS writes in a press release. With this first phase, the transport company wanted to focus on ease of use and the refinement of the technology. The results of this phase were ‘mostly positive’.
This first phase ran from 10 May to last Sunday 14 June. Because of the positive results, the NS now says it will continue with the registration system and will investigate whether the system can be expanded. For example, the railway company wants to investigate whether bicycles can be taken on the train again, provided they are registered in advance. In addition, the company wants to test whether the registration service can contribute to increasing the travel and lecture times of students. For these expansions, the company will enter into discussions with passenger organisations, authorities and carriers.
The travel registration is a web page where travelers selected by NS can register their journey. While registering a trip, participants receive an insight into the crowds of trains in advance. These participants are not obliged to register their trip. Participants who do, can travel 1st class during the pilot without additional payment. An NS account and an OV chip card are required to register a journey. NS uses the OV chip card data to check whether participants actually make the registered journeys. Participants who register and actually make a trip at least eight times will receive ten day tickets or Spdeelwinkel credit.
With the registration system, the NS wants to encourage travelers to use the trains in a spreading manner, because capacity is very limited due to the corona virus. Of the 5,000 travelers, 47 percent said they would be willing to travel at a different time if that resulted in a quieter train. In combination with other measures, this should be sufficient in practice to prevent peak traffic, the transport company writes.