Pros and Cons of Dutch Public Transport (from an American)

What is public transport like in the Netherlands? How much does it cost? Reliable? And how does it compare to other countries?
Join me as I travel 12 hours on public transport in the Netherlands. I will share my thoughts on public transport (as an American) including an analysis of costs, "efficiency", reliability, tips, and more!
(⛴ I missed the ferry-it's free-and I take it all the time in Amsterdam!)
⏰ CHAPTERS:
00:00 🏁 Intro
01:58 🚊 12 hours on Dutch public transport
06:54 🚦 Pros & cons
13:57 💡 Public transport tips
15:09 🎬 End
📽 OTHER VIDEOS:
• Why are so many people...
• Why you SHOULD NOT liv...
• Why are the Dutch so d...
• Apartment Tour: 400-ye...
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😁 WHO AM I?
I'm David, a Californian living in Amsterdam. I make videos about life in the Netherlands, hiking/traveling, and the Camino de Santiago.
🔸 If you live in the Netherlands and have a story to share:
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[@hidavidwen]

🚊What are your thoughts on Dutch public transport? Tips? ℹ SOURCES: Compare the Market Public Transport Study - bit.ly/462zfAv 2022 NS Annual Report - bit.ly/3RgzcwB ProRail Train Punctuality - bit.ly/3sPpOGj CROW Research on Dutch Public Transport (2020) - bit.ly/3PxMZOc (⛴ I missed the ferry...but I was exhausted that day-it’s FREE and I take it all the time in Amsterdam!) 🙏 If there’s anything I missed, please call me out. I’d appreciate it. Thanks

[@sentokigames151]

one word...very bad to almost terrible. I used to like to travel by public transport. Now I really dislike it.

[@hidavidwen]

@@sentokigames151 Thanks for sharing. What changed??

[@Treinbouwer]

Duur, druk en het reizen duurt lang. Het is dat ik studenten OV heb, anders was ik zeker zo snel mogelijk voor de auto gegaan. Naar de uni is ruim anderhalf uur met de trein en maar een half uur in de auto. Ik moet ook nogeens hele stukken staan, ook om een uur of twaalf, omdat er veel te weinig treinen rijden. Het OV werkt alleen goed in de grote steden, daarom denken onze politici die vooral daar wonen dat iedereen wel met het OV kan ipv met de auto. Had die parlementariër in een boerengat gewoond, zoals veel klasgenoten van me, dan hadden ze dat nooit beweerd. (Dan hebben we het nog niet over capaciteit gehad.)

[@baritonetenor]

@@Treinbouwer je weet dat dit gewoon een issue is van te weinig investering in het ov? niet een probleem wat inherent is aan het ov. dit komt door politieke onwil en het is juist de bedoeling van bepaalde politici dat we met z'n alle de auto in duiken.

[@kevinpeperkamp4362]

Got a question ? Did you also checked how often a train goes in comparison with other countries cause if you have way more trains then the other the reliability number is of course a bit wrong to look at.

[@JTNB073]

As a Dutchie the price of public transport is one of my main concerns and will heavily weigh in on my vote on November 22nd.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Voting is important!

[@cebruthius]

Echt, ik wil de eerste gast die met dat "Dutchie" is begonnen eens met de vlakke hand geven

[@JTNB073]

@@cebruthius Maat, ga een dutje doen.. het is laat. Je zult je morgen beter voelen, beloofd!😘

[@cebruthius]

@@JTNB073 Wie zegt dat ik in Nederland ben op het moment?

[@JTNB073]

@@cebruthius Okee, Mr. Worldwide

[@bigf5627]

As a dutchman: driving a car is also very expensive here (compared to other EU countries), it looks like public transportation must be equally expensive to prevent too many car drivers from switching to public transport, simply because they can’t handle capacity. Supply and demand I guess (and to keep the cash-cow alive) Despite the perception of a well oiled system, there is a lot of deferred maintenance, especially in rural areas where public transportation is scarce , unreliable (often outsourced to subcontractors like local taxi companies) or virtually absent.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing, you have a point. Others have also mentioned in the rural areas...public transport is really bad and not reliable (so they drive instead)-which I understand as well

[@genustinca5565]

I used to take the train a lot. I even did away with my care for about 5 years. But train travel has become so expensive and public transport outside the bigger cities so scant, that I've bought a car again. I actually did a calculation recently and discovered that - even with the current high petrol prices - my car travel was bout 40% (!) cheaper than the train.

[@mitchystuff]

driving is actually cheaper than the public transit. I calculated it the other day and mostly, you can actually drive to and back from the same money if you know where to get your fuel.

[@dbeerewout]

Ehm, that's simply not true, because with a Car ya need Insurance, Maintenance, APK, and what most people tend to forget in a car is value write off over coming years and then fuel

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Most businesses also reimburse public transport costs for the full 100%, and that is subsidized by the government, so for most people the only time they have to pay for their travel costs is on the weekends. There's also a subscription that gives you 40% off outside of rush hour (and 20% off during rush hour) which costs 25 euro per month, you'll easily make that money back in a few trips. Instead of paying 9 euro to go from Amsterdam to Amersfoort on Sunday you would only pay 5 euro. And yeah owning a car costs at least 500 a month if you count the lease, insurance, gasoline, etc. Gas still costs almost 2 euro per liter (thats about 10 US Dollars per gallon for you Californians)

[@OprechtLetterlijkBizar]

As a Dutch person living in Switzerland (earning a Swiss salary) I can attest to how expensive the Dutch trains really are. It’s insane really. There’s one other aspect you didn’t cover in your video about the Dutch trains though, and that’s how dirty and smelly they can be, especially compared to the Swiss trains that are basically always clean (and quiet as people behave much better here). Swiss trains are also more comfortable and luxurious than Dutch trains. Swiss trains usually have catering inside/a restaurant carriage and some are even equipped with a Starbucks. In Netherlands there’s even some trains without a toilet. Lastly, Dutch trains are often overcrowded and people cannot even find seating. That never happened to me in Swiss trains, here we never have to stand or sit on a staircase… Taking all of that into consideration, it does not make sense that Dutch trains are so enormously expensive and WILL only get even more expensive in the next few months. But it’s not in the nature of Dutch people to organize themselves and protest against it.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Especially your perspective as a Dutchie living in Switzerland. Haha interesting how you think the Dutch trains are dirty (well I can imagine compared to Swiss trains). Coming from the US and haven taken trains/public transport growing up there...Dutch trains are definitely not "dirty" by that comparison. But everything is relative, right? Oh yeah...it's crazy to think that Dutch trains will get even more expensive than they already are now...

[@wimschiphorst8541]

It is a (very)small country. So before you know it. You arrive at your destination. So why need a restaurant etc in a train. The international trains have a coupe where you can drink and eat

[@Jaimedevos]

Unfair comparison. Compare train network density, commuter numbers etc. The Dutch train network is far denser and far more intensively used than the Swiss one.

[@Ralph_NL]

. @Jaimedevos I don't think you are right, the Swiss rail network is the busiest in Europe, we are 2nd. Japan is the busiest in the world, we are 3rd.

[@metalvideos1961]

why the fuk do we want to have a starbucks in our train lol. or food for that matter. just pointless things that we dont need.

[@Sver2]

It's too bad the reliability percentages don't take into account how often the trains run. If your train gets cancelled in the UK you will most likely be stuck waiting for atleast another hour or 2. Because trains run every 15-30 minutes in the Netherlands, (every hour in very rare occasions) it's not that big of a deal if a train gets cancelled. You can just take the next train only a few minutes later.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah...Dutch have the busiest rail system in Europe...and I do like the high frequency of trains (compared to other places).

[@MonXLR]

but still if you're expected to be somewhere at 8 and the train is supposed to be there 7:15 and it doesn't, youre half an hour later. you aint gonna be happy if you miss the train

[@Isdezenaambezet]

I was stuck in london for 2hrs because a train got cancelled. I was hung over and it was 36 degrees. If i were home it would have been a half hour delay max.

[@Sver2]

@@qdpqbp which train line? Literally every single one haha

[@Sver2]

@@qdpqbp oh alright its 15-30 mins, just bad wording I guess my bad

[@osieoscar1]

I'm Dutch myself and never knew our country was THAT expensive compared to other EU countries. But getting a subscription from NS is very helpful and saves money! I personally see friends and family on the weekends and have a subscription for 35€ which lets me travel unlimited in the weekends. If I would go from the north of the Netherlands to Amsterdam and back, it could cost me almost 60€ for a retour ticket. So if I would travel only once a month, I would already save money with the subscription. And to add. You can get a specific subscription for your commute if you need to travel between Utrecht and Amsterdam, for example. A fixed rate per month lets you travel unlimited on that commute.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Yeah...it is quite expensive (if you take a look around and compare)-which is surprising given how small the country (well, relative to other places). For many who commute between Rotterdam and Amsterdam (for work)...40€ roundtrip...so even if you go 3 days a week...you're better off buying the 354€ monthly unlimited pass.

[@sentokigames151]

You must be still young. It's around 5x more expensive compared to 1990...if not more. Euro didn't help...

[@HeikoEbeling]

@@hidavidwen If you're working an office job as an employee, it is unusual not to get reimbursed by your employer. Some employers are hostile to public transport, but most offer at least the standard EUR 0,19 per kilometer of distance between your home address and the work address, which the employer can deduct from his taxes as a business cost, regardless of the form of transport. However, in case your employer doesn't reimburse you (fully), you can deduct your traveling costs from your taxes in the tax declaration and recoup some of your costs from the Belastingdienst. If you missed this option, you can revise your tax declarations of previous years. Talk to a "belastingadviseur". The expensive public transport is a political choice. In the last two decades, a large part of the voters supported a party which wants to spend as little tax money on public transport. And they got what they voted for. There will be new elections in November. The various parties do offer a wide variety of public transport policies. Any Dutch voter who wants this to change can vote accordingly.

[@ptterz1277]

I definitely did not know this either. I'll definitely use Netherlands as an example next time someone dares to complain about the price of public transit in Finland

[@dutchgamer842]

​@@HeikoEbelingit's 21ct per km now, not 19ct

[@wentelstef]

Also good to know is that most students can travel way cheaper. They can choose whether they want free travel during weekdays or weekends and get the non-chosen option as 40% off. I've been using public transport for about 3 years now and have barely spent anything. It is considered a loan but if you finish Uni or anything of the sort within 10 years (which is pretty lenient), 100% of the loan gets waived and converted into a gift. Edit: It is called studenten-reisproduct for anyone interested.

[@henkoosterink8744]

@@CCNVB323 🤣

[@wentelstef]

@@CCNVB323 oh that is a bit unfair, wish they would allow them to benefit from that as well.

[@jarumboy1]

​@@wentelstefthat would be too expensive for the government, so let's not do that

[@lucasarealcoulombe1453]

@@jarumboy1 its a trillion euro economy we can have free public transit for everyone. Just like Luxembourg, or Spain ffs

[@jarumboy1]

@@lucasarealcoulombe1453 yeah, no, most non European student who come here are from rich families anyway, besides why should my taxes go to give a non European citizen freebies while they're most likely going to go back to their own countries after they get their degree (20% of non European student come from China for example and almost 100% of them goes back after the graduate)

[@jbird4478]

Ever since NS was privatized, prices have gone up considerably. NS meanwhile has been venturing out internationally, under the name Abellio, with bus and train services in the UK and Germany. So we're also funding the corporate adventures of a bunch of bobo's.

[@hidavidwen]

=( Yeah someone mentioned public transport used to be "affordable" back in the day (

[@notroll1279]

"So we're also funding..." How is that - are those international ventures running at a deficit?

[@ouwebrood497]

@@notroll1279 Essentially, it is speculating with money that should be considered public. If that is done with prudence, that's defendable. But in this case the risk taking of companies is coupled with the security of government bodies and there is no incentive at all for any prudence. So the Dutch traveller has to pay.

[@dutchgamer842]

It's privitized where the Dutch state is the only share holder

[@ollu312]

As someone from the UK (not in a major city) you're lucky to get any public transport at all. When i visited the Netherlands I was shocked at how cheap it was. I used to take a bus between towns, (20 mins each way) and it cost like £8 or £9 each day. To get a train halfway across the country to an actual city its anywhere from £150 to £200 for a return ticket. a comparable journey would be around 35-45 euros in the Netherlands edit: not to mention the higher wages in the Netherlands

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Oh wow, yeah someone else mentioned outside of London...public transport is even more expensive. You also mention this. Interesting to hear different perspectives so thanks for sharing!

[@mdhazeldine]

@@hidavidwen Just to clarify, British trains can be very expensive if you just turn up at a station and buy a ticket on the day, but if you have a monthly or annual season ticket or you book online in advance, it can actually be very cheap. It's also relatively cheaper in London and the South East than if you live up North or in the middle of nowhere. So the moral of the story is, live down south and plan ahead. haha

[@bigf5627]

Not to mention the higher taxes in the Netherlands.Also I recall UK salaries to be much higher than the Dutch, but that was before Brexit. I guess the British got what they voted for.

[@FullMetalPanicNL]

​@@bigf562725% of the British live under the poverty line. In The Netherlands it's 4,8%. England isn't doing too hot. A quick Google search tells me looking at the median income that the English median income is actually a tad lower than The Netherlands. While everything is more expensive there ..... yeah....

[@myrrhsense]

I love how refreshingly accurate this analysis is. Just a few additions you didn't mention: - The older (train) models of trains that still ride as well are usually way dirtier. - The environment systems (airconditioning, warming) are often broken in metro's and trains. (Busses are fine in my experience) - Mind that apart from minor delays busses can also sometimes leave a few minutes earlier! (This is because they only stop at stops when people need to get out/in at that certain stop. So when they drive fast, they might be there earlier) + You can also rent cars and scooters as you can with OV bikes. + Whenever trains don't drive for a while due to (unforseen) circumstances like track reparations, pendelbusses are usually put in place, so people can still go to their destinations. + Dutch students get an OV subscription provided for free (when they get their diploma within 10 years), where they can choose to travel for free during either the week or the weekends (and have 40% off on the remaining days)

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for the kind words! Wait what...you can also rent cars/scooters with OV bikes? And yes! I've had a few buses leave earlier than expected, which surprised me. Thanks for the additions, all helpful!

[@sanderdeboer6034]

Great video, and we need the government to subsidize the OV more, not allow it to become even more expensive. I do like the fact you don’t have to reserve a seat, with the often very expensive price. Because in Germany if you need a ticket last minute you can easily spend 100 euros or more. Which I had to do from München to Nürnberg once.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for the kind words and yeah...it's already expensive and will be more expensive next year too. I also like that you don't need to reserve a seat!

[@lillekenatnek195]

Our government is busy subsidizing green nonsense thats why everything is so expensive

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Hell no, i already pay plenty of taxes. People can pay for their own tickets. And the train personnel deserves safe working conditions and a living wage.

[@sanderdeboer6034]

@@TheSuperappelflap Assume you are a car user then? If so, are you aware that the var infrastructure and gasoline is heavily subsidized? Just here in the Netherlands the fossil industry receives over 37 billion euros in subsidies a year. Plus public transport reduces traffic jams and improves driver satisfaction. The Netherlands has been found to be the number one country for car drivers by a study done by Waze. Reason was the fact so many alternatives were available for car driving, making the roads less congested and easier to drive.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@sanderdeboer6034 No, not at all. I don’t even own a car. Commute by train to uni and to the office since 2010. If you’re a student public transport is free, if you have a job your employer pays for it, and if you’re retired you get a big discount. There is no need to subsidise transport any more than it already is. The only people who have to pay for it are unemployed and I already pay plenty of taxes to support those people. They can buy their own ticket with my tax money. Fossil fuel subsidies should be stopped asap and car drivers should be taxed higher so they actually pay for the road infrastructure and the environmental damage they cause. I don’t want to pay taxes for roads I don’t use and damage I don’t cause. As for this being the best country for driving, that’s bs, because the roads are extremely congested. I don’t mind not having a car because taking the train is usually faster than being stuck in traffic during rush hour. Traffic here is bad. Comparable to how bad it is in major US cities.

[@MijnAfspeellijst1234]

Netherlands is perfect example how privatisation of certain industries does not work in long term. Tickets prices are increasing, which results in people using the trains less, which results in less frequent trains, which results in less people using the train. Its a spiral down and only government intervention can improve it.

[@RealConstructor]

Before Covid, the trains got bussier and bussier and frequency is getting better. There are distances where the Intercity rides every 10minutes. And they start soon with doubling tracks from 2 to 4 tracks in South Holland so that there can be a sprinter train every 6minutes. So train is expensive, very expensive but they do good with the extra money. So that at least is something, but it would be better if more stretches would get 4 tracks and frequency would increase, because one train every 30 minutes or every 15 minutes isn’t enough in rush hour. And finally they should make train travel cheaper instead of more expensive every year. They could start with the pensioners (67years and 3 months), give them a free pass instead of a discount card. Stage two would be to give every Dutch person the opportunity to buy a yearly public transport card through the tax office, so you can buy it tax free, from your gross salary before income tax.

[@hidavidwen]

Great input and suggestions (I hope someone in those "offices" reads this and takes ideas like these into consideration). And yeah...prices will go up even more next year...I hope we're getting free coffee and drinks with that...

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this! Yeah, I do know about the student travel product-I was so envious of Dutch students that had that! It's a nice benefit. It wasn't available to me as an international student though...so I always waited for those dagkaart/day card deals...which were great...and I really hope they bring those back

[@12uullaass12]

About the punctuality of the trains. I think it's also good to note that when a train gets cancelled. You usually take another train within 15 minutes. I've had very bad experiences with cancellations in Germany as a lot of times i had to wait 1 hour or more.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing and pointing this out-there's high frequency of trains-Dutch railways are the busiest in continental Europe

[@RFGfotografie]

They want us to use the car and/or airplane less, yet, they let us pay SO much.

[@hidavidwen]

I know....right?

[@dutchman7623]

Airplanes are the most subsidized mode of travel, no btw on fuel, and hardly any pollution tax. Hope that's is going to change after the elections!

[@ouwebrood497]

At the end of the day it is VVD (People Party of Freedom and Democracy) that determines how things go. Airplanes are sacred, those are the big companies the VVD believes throw out all the blessings for everyone in the trickle down economy. If they make any compromise with a left wing party they sacrifice the car. But in the end the benefits don't go to the public transport because of environmental issues where the left again frustrates it. For example, the connection Groningen - Almere by Friesland is already half a century debated while it is a no brainer to complete the core network of the Dutch public rail system.

[@FilipSkobic]

Yesss, I really miss the discounted day tickets for the train. Most of my travels to explore other parts of the country were because of those cheap dagkaarts, where you could travel unlimited for like 15 euros (once even including Belgium for a total of 19 euros a ticket). I really hope NS brings those back!

[@hidavidwen]

Me too! I relied on those discounted day tickets to travel as a student here...even now, as a working professional, I still wish I had those because traveling ain't cheap here. Let's hope they bring those back!

[@jwslijm7278]

The last few years there were no daytickets anymore, but you had to print or on the smartphone for a fixed route.

[@misscindyee]

@@hidavidwen Unfortunately, the NS have said they are not going to be selling those discounted daytickets anymore. The shortage of personnel has resulted in less trains per hour also with less carriages, meaning trains are already pretty full these days. Also the rising cost of petrol means more people are opting for the trains so they are less incentivized to sell the special discounted day tickets en masse via the Albert Heijn or Kruidvat like they used to. They are doing more targetted discounts to reach people who don't already take the trains, doing special personalised discounts with various vendor. Alas!

[@hidavidwen]

@@misscindyeeThanks for sharing the news. Maybe one day...we'll see those day tickets back again. I mean, I can afford subscriptions to make traveling cheaper...but there's something about those day tickets that bring back fond memories for me as a student traveling the country-the excitement of travel and one-day ticket :)

[@misscindyee]

@@hidavidwen YES! I remember those days fondly as well. I would buy extra tickets way in advance so when friends would come visit, they could travel for much cheaper. The good ole days :)

[@AnymMusic]

It's thanks to the privatization of the NS. Idk how the government thought this would ever be beneficial for its citizens, but privatizing public transport whilst they still manage it was bound to fail. Basically the expenses of a private company, with the slower regulatory stuff of a nationalized service (they are very punctual though for sure)

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing...yeah they're trying to make the world more "sustainable" but then public transport costs keep going up and up (and they're already expensive)

[@AnymMusic]

@@hidavidwen exactly that. Instead of cranking up the costs for cars and airplanes, they're upping the cost of the sustainable option

[@jbird4478]

I have no illusion that they ever thought it would benefit citizens. It certainly benefits some people though.

[@purrt-kurt]

Anym makes a good point. Some people will say "but the NS isn't private, the government owns 100% of it" while forgetting that the NS is expected to be profitable, and that the government wants to cut the NS off of its semi-public position once it is. If the NS didn't have to make a profit, or it was a public company with the correct funding, we could drop the prices dramatically.

[@ouwebrood497]

Yes, it 's one of those horrible neo liberal inventions of (mostly) the VVD (People Party for Freedom and Democracy) where big companies (in the case of NS a de facto monopolist) have the benefits of the free market and being sort of a government body and not having te downsides of either. Somewhat the same was done with the energy market and later with health care. VVD is really poisonous in that regard. That also explains how Dutch salary is yet one of the lower ones in Europe. The idea of privatization was that the rail infrastructure and the rolling stock was decoupled and that every business could buy a place on the rails. Of course, this did not work out wel, because the vast majority of the rail system provides the core connections between the bigger towns (100.000+ inhabitants), local trains on those trajectories have to fit in the schedule of the intercities, also the trajectories are highly interwoven because the NS want to sell direct connections from any city to any other city (this has become even more so since the privatization!), there are special fast trains in rush hours and on top of that freight trains have to fit in all of that. So no other business beside NS can fit on the main rail network. Only exception are some local lines and they do really well since privatization.

[@BrazenNL]

I'm one of those lucky ones that never had to pay for work travel. With regards to PT, I never had a bad experience. I do admit that it would be nice if it was subsidized. Lots of things have been privatized because it would provide a better experience, but I've never seen that to be true for essential services.

[@hidavidwen]

True! I'm also one of those lucky ones (where office travel is reimbursed) and never had a bad, bad experience (well besides a few cancellations)...but traveling using the trains to visit friends (even in Den Haag/Rotterdam/Utrecht)...the costs do add up. Thanks for sharing

[@weeardguy]

You do know that public transport in The Netherlands is heavily subsidized?

[@BrazenNL]

@@weeardguyAh, I had to be more specific. In my head I was talking about the NS. Big change in 2025 for them.

[@weeardguy]

@@BrazenNL But what will happen then in 2025? Will they suddenly loose their subsidy in 2025? It will be subsidized now and it will be subsidised in 2025 ;) There's just no way an operator can live off the cost of ticketing alone.

[@BrazenNL]

@@weeardguyDan hoeven ze geen 80M per jaar te betalen om op het hoofdnetwerk te mogen rijden.

[@michielzwart3270]

Well, you forgot to mention that there are a view subscription options, that are much cheaper. For example ,For 5 euro/month you get a 40% discount on all your weekend trips and non rushhour trips during weekdays (so between 09:00 en 16:00 en after 19:00) besides that for 39,- a month you have free travel all month from friday 16:00 until monday 03:00

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing, true! There are many more subscription plans-I hope people check out the NS website

[@elembones]

Even though it's expensive, transportation like this would be a dream. I'm near Calgary, Alberta, Canada and it's $115CAD (about $77USD) for a monthly pass or $2.50USD per trip one day. The bus I take to the uni is meant to be one of the "good" express buses that get you across town faster. It's late at least half of the time, consistently so full that even with people standing in the isles people often have to wait for the next on twenty minutes later. There's minimal infrastructure to avoid traffic so if you travel during rush hour your trip can take twice as long. And that cost is just for the city buses and metro lines (that are minimal) within Calgary. There's nothing connecting other cities in the province, let alone the small towns. The nearest small town to me doesn't have any public transportation at all. That said, 50 euros a day does seem a little bananas even if it's amazing, hahah.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Oh yeah, overall...Dutch public transport is quite good. There's a lot of infrastructure and the entire country is pretty much connected. I used to pay around that much for a monthly pass in San Francisco (I think it's around $81 now). Yeah, it's cheaper for sure but not as nice/efficient as well. A big plus is most employers reimburse you for public transport to the office in the Netherlands-I'm lucky to be part of that group-I'd complain way more if that weren't the case though...

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Not only do employers pay for it, its also free for students and retired people get heavy discounts. So the only people actually paying a lot are unemployed. I pay about 50 euro a day in taxes to support those people already, so I dont want to also subsidize their public transport. They can pay for their tickets with the unemployment benefits I pay for.

[@RFGfotografie]

Most of the time, safety is so crazy, if you forget something in the Public transport, people will actually stalk you till the moment they gave you your stuff back xD

[@hidavidwen]

Hahah that's crazy to hear...I grew up taking public transport in the US...and you would not get your stuff back for sure. That's why many people drive as well.

[@markjacobs1086]

Someone at one point forgot their (plastic) bag in the bus where they puked in. Someone grabbed it, ran after him & called out: "SIR, you forgot your puke-bag!" 😂😂😂

[@royhoeksema5720]

I once forgot my phone on the train one station before the final destination on the route. It was still lying on the seat when the train made its way back, with someone in another seat watching over it. Also once forgot my phone on a bus. Called Qbuzz and some already handed it in to the bus driver. That same phone got pickpocketed once in Utrecht tho. But was found during a raid a month or two later, after which I also get it returned. My phone has on a lot of adventures on Dutch public transit lol.

[@weeardguy]

@@royhoeksema5720 What I like is that certain things have gotten better when it comes to lost and found. Found a registered (personal) chipcard on a platform bench at Amsterdam CS a while ago. Took it with me and handed it over at the ticket windows, expected to have to fill out a form of some sort, but no, they thanked me for doing the right thing and would attend to it. 30 seconds or so after leaving the ticket window the stations' PA-system was already used to address the unfortunate person and if still present, he could retrieve his card at the ticket windows behind Amsterdam CS.

[@walthanas]

Unfortunately, the worst part of Dutch public transport wasn't shown in your video. In the countryside, many smaller villages are either not connected or no longer regularly (as in, at least once every hour during the day) connected by bus. That means that people living in smaller villages cannot get to the better connected larger cities outside of the rush hour times. Since you only traveled to larger cities, that side of Dutch public transport wasn't shown to you.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, I heard in small towns...it's pretty bad (according to many that also commented). Haha, I thought going to Amersfoort was going to a small town for me!

[@walthanas]

@@hidavidwen By your US standards, Amersfoort certainly is small, but I'm talking about villages with a few thousand inhabitants. Many of those villages have seen the younger people move to larger cities, supermarkets have closed and not everyone can afford or is allowed to drive a car. That the public transport is closing their routes through those villages really isolates those people there.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

You didnt mention that towns which have irregular bus service have on demand transportation. You call and within an hour the transport company will come pick you up at your front door in a minivan and you pay the same price as the regular bus costs.

[@walthanas]

@@TheSuperappelflap If things were only that simple... The so called "buurtbus" usually has more limited operating hours than normal line buses, like, for example, from 7:00 to 18:00hrs only. Then there is the limit of 8 people (per buurtbus, which usually only comes once per hour), that brings the risk of it being full just when you want to travel with it at that time. On top of that, many of those smaller vans tend not not be accessible for wheelchair bound people, unlike normal line buses. Then there is the ever more pressing problem of those buurtbus drivers being volunteers, of which the number is steadily decreasing to the point of the province of Gelderland talking about stopping with the buurtbus altogether. So no, the picture isn't as rosy as you try to paint it.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@walthanas it’s also not as bad as you made it out to be

[@lillekenatnek195]

As a Dutch person who travels bij public transport every now and then I agree to literally everything you said. Also it's good you compare the costs of public transport in relation to income and that you even mentioned there used to be cheap AH and Kruidvat tickets every now and then before the covid-madness. All prices went up after covid unfortunatly. The public transport system is solid and decent but just overpriced.

[@renefrijhoff2484]

Not really, unless you live in the Randstad. Outside of it it's a nightmare. To give a real example: Here in my village, only 3 busses in the morning and 5 in the afternoon for scholars and only during weekdays, on saturday only a buurtbus (and no time table to be found) and Sunday literally nothing.

[@bingbong6066]

​@@renefrijhoff2484ns should be removed from the netherlands lmao. Privitizing of it has been awefull.

[@lillekenatnek195]

@@renefrijhoff2484 well in general what counts for most countries is the more tax payers within a region the better things are in that region

[@renefrijhoff2484]

@@lillekenatnek195 This is not the U.S.A., but the Netherlands. Except for vehicle tax en insurance for your car, taxes are country wide, not regional.

[@lillekenatnek195]

@@renefrijhoff2484 i know but tax spendings are not spreaded even across the country

[@christopherlam7463]

Great video! This is super useful as I'm planning for my 1.5 month trip to the Hague in March!

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks Chris! 1.5 month trip to the Hague? What will you be doing there? Exciting!

[@BuzzinsPetRock78]

One of my main complaints about the Dutch public transport is not the price, as that would be covered by my employer, but the time it takes to get anywhere. Both in my current location and previous apartment it would take me an hour longer to get to work as it does by car. That is including traffic and finding parking. Stations are only in 1 place in the city/town usually (unless you either have a large city or happen to be blessed with historical routes through your town), so if you live on the other side of town, things fall apart. The hour extra might not sound like much, but when you realise that the commute by car is ~35 to 45 minutes, adding an extra hour is ridiculous... Yes, public transport can work, and if you happen to live near a station or have a fast bus/tram connection to a station it will work better, but for anyone not living in a big city, it's not great. Even smaller cities can have terrible connection, even when they are in the middle of the "randstad"

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! True..it works great in/near a city but outside…I’ve heard it’s not that great

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Depends on how much traffic there is in your area. My commute to the office is about 2 hours by public transport. Yes thats a lot but I work from home and only go to the office once or twice a month. However, if I drove, I would have to drive down the A4 for 50km during rush hour in the Amsterdam direction. I would be stuck in traffic for hours. It would take longer. The connections to smaller cities in South Holland, like Alphen or Zoetermeer, can be terrible, and that is definitely something that has to be improved. I think there is a lot of public support to create new railway connections to and from these towns. The high speed rail from Rotterdam to Amsterdam passes right by both these towns. All that needs to be done is to build a few train stations, to connect these two cities to both Rotterdam and Amsterdam with a direct line that takes under 30 minutes. And that line would also allow people from neighbouring towns to get to the big cities more quickly. If you want to get to Amsterdam from Gouda you either take a sprinter that goes to Woerden and then up north, which stops about 20 times, or you take the intercity to Utrecht and transfer there. Both take about an hour. If instead you could take a sprinter to Zoetermeer, which takes 10 minutes, and then take an intercity straight north to Amsterdam via Schiphol, you could be at Amsterdam central station in less than 45 minutes. The whole idea of this high speed rail connection that only connects Amsterdam, Schiphol and Rotterdam is stupid. I took it recently. The maximum speed is 160km/h, instead of the 130 a regular train does. It takes 30 minutes to get from Schiphol to Rotterdam. That 30km higher max speed saves less than 5 minutes on the trip. Just run a regular intercity on that line, add a few stops, you will take 5-10 minutes longer to get to Rotterdam, but it can service 10x more people.

[@sentokigames151]

I can tell you public transport used to be very cheap. However when the Government decided it should be Privatized (The Government is still 50% owner of the public transport) suddenly money had to be made because stock holders want to become rich and don't do it for free. So it became around 5x more expensive. I remember getting a return ticket from Amersfoort to Hilversum for around 1,50 guldens (currency before Euro) so basically less than a euro. Also on the same ticket I used to go back and forward throughout the whole day. Also back in the day you had way more space in trains. But then again that was back when the Netherlands had around 15 million people compared to now 18 million. So yes I find it very expensive and I think it should have never been privatized. Many things have changed the last 40 years and to me it has become worse.

[@Makro3d]

Indeed, privatization has never brought down prices, only inflated them massively. It has not brought what we need, and given the climate challenges we're facing, coupled with the road traffic safety challenges and policy goals, we need to rethink whether or not we should still allow private, for-profit, companies in our public transit system. I would argue that the greater overarching goals are not compatible with a for-profit system.

[@MoViesDProductions]

While NS is a for-profit company, the Dutch government is the sole shareholder. It's a weird type of semi-privatization because the state still calls all the shots, just not quite in the same way they would in a true state-owned company.

[@purrt-kurt]

@@MoViesDProductions You're 100% correct about the government being the only shareholder and it's a good point to make, but the government does require the NS to be able to operate without subsidies, which still shifts the focus from being a utility to working for profitability. It's certainly had an impact.

[@MoViesDProductions]

@@purrt-kurt Yeah, I wasn't trying to say it didn't have an impact, just that saying "NS was privatized" (as many people like to do) doesn't quite give you the complete picture. Yes, it's a "normal" nv on paper, but it's still not like it's majority or even minority owned by a bunch of investment firms (unlike other companies that were previously state-owned like PostNL or even KPN to an extent).

[@Makro3d]

@@MoViesDProductions I'm aware of the ownership structure. Does not change the for-profit nature and manner in which NS is run.

[@semaph0re]

I had the displeasure of having to use the NS for 4 years every day during rush hour. This video gave me flashbacks. Yes, enjoy sitting on the stairs, I did it many times. Thankfully I am in another country now. I remember in 2005 the NS was actually affordable for people. That's before they started building overly expensive station buildings, buying overly expensive trains, hiring too many expensive people in their workforce, forcing OV chipkaart on everyone, etc.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Oh wow NS back in 2005...many others have also said it used to be AFFORDABLE...

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Since 2005 inflation has been about 51%, which almost entirely makes up for the price difference. NS has to hire "unnecessary expensive people" aka pay their employees a living wage and guarantee safe working conditions and invest in digital automation by hiring data scientists and doing stuff with AI etc, to lower operating costs and continue their high standards for maintenance. For example they have a project that uses AI, computer vision, to detect cracks and other deformities in the railways automatically, instead of having to manually inspect all the thousands of kilometers of railway. They also have to buy "overly expensive trains" and build "overly expensive train stations" because the massive demand for public transport means they have to continually increase the throughput of the system to keep up. I dont know if you noticed but most of the trains are pretty full and most train stations are quite busy. While renovating train stations, like the one at Driebergen/Zeist that just finished, or at Ede/Wageningen, they not only allow for more people to go in and out of the train station, but also improve the traffic flow around the train station by building road tunnels and other infrastructure that improves things for car lovers like you. At Delft, the entire train station was moved underground, which opened up a long strip of space where the elevated tracks used to be, with car parking underneath. This not only greatly reduced noise levels in that area, it created so much space that the city rebuilt the old canal that used to be there before it was filled in and paved over by the car lovers. It also made space for a park, many new businesses, a new town hall on top of the train station, and room for several housing projects that were sold out in a matter of weeks. But of course according to you this is all just a big waste of money that could be spent on more asphalt. lmao

[@davidandhometech]

Great video! Having seen you crunch a lot of data for us, I'd be interested to see a comparison of the schedule density (I'm sure there's a better term) per country. Cancellation percentages are interesting but cancellations of a train that runs every 20mins vs a train that runs every 2 hours clearly has much less impact. This summer I travelled back home to The Netherlands and was miffed when I heard that our direct intercity from Maastricht to Amsterdam stopped in Den Bosch and we had to get off. The train conductor explained that we should change 2x to get to Amsterdam and we were not pleased. HOWEVER we did what they said and made it to Amsterdam fine and were only 10mins later than the original arrival time. Totally agree with your video, yes it's expensive but boy is it nice to have!

[@hidavidwen]

Hey David - nice to hear from you! Summer 2024 is coming right around the corner...starting to make plans? =) And I remember that being one of the pros you gave me about NL (public transport)! Oh yeah, that's a good point-the schedule density. Well, I believe the Dutch rail system is the busiest system in Europe so there is a high frequency of trains (every 10-15min). Someone else in the comments (why I appreciate the comments) mentioned that due to this high frequency...if a train is delayed by 10min...it will be canceled since the next train is already right behind it, which could explain the higher cancellation rate. Anyways hope you and your family have been well and you had a nice trip? David

[@davidandhometech]

@@hidavidwen Hi David, great to hear back from you. Yes the summer 2024 plans are now starting to take shape. Somewhat daunting but really looking forward to it!

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@hidavidwen We are actually transitioning to a 5-10 minute schedule between major cities now. So you can turn up at Utrecht centraal at any random moment and take a train to any other big city in less than 10 minutes. This would completely eliminate the need for people to check train schedules. Just show up and get on the train. In many cases this is already possible currently because there are usually 3 different ways to get from A to B so when I need to travel I just walk to the closest bus stop or train station when I feel like it and then check which route is the fastest on my phone. Worst case, I have to wait for a bus for 15 minutes if I just missed the previous one, and thats only in small towns that dont have a train station.

[@sanderappel4499]

Yesterday I was proud of my country when I drove through a small town and saw a bus stop with a large, covered bike rack right next to it. So people are encouraged to bike to the bus stop, park their bike safely and free to take the bus to the nearest city

[@hidavidwen]

Ah yes...glad you noticed and thanks for sharing! Often...we just need to look around to notice the good things that surround us

[@donnjohnsen1762]

Public transport in the Netherlands is becoming a elite thing.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks Donn for sharing. Some others also mentioned that...I see that now =/

[@RFGfotografie]

Great video.

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

Fair enough David. Good topic again on this Sunday.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks! It was fun to make it. But I think I'm going to stop looking at public transport statistics for the next few years (unless they decide to make it cheaper haha)

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

@@hidavidwen I can must certainly relate to that.

[@baritonetenor]

I think most issues with our pt is the fact it is being run as a for profit company. And I don't think it should be.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Many others have also pointed that out...

[@AdvdW]

I completely agree with you. Dutch public transport is well organised, neat and punctual (especially considering the busy network). Wheelchair accessibility is getting better and better. So I can use the public transport independently. Yes... public transport is expensive. Especially if you go by train.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. I’m quite happy with the quality (though it could be cheaper hahah)

[@Henry_Jr_Watsson]

Awesome video!! Here's an example based on my actual situation a few years ago. In The Netherlands, after you get a BSc and go for an MSc, you lose the free OV card. In my case it was ~380 euro/month. ~260 euro/month for just the train on 1 trajectory. +bus. Meanwhile a CAR was cheaper including all running cost + depreciation. So that is what I did. My traveling time dropped from ~1h20min 1-way with the OV to ~30-35min by car, 1-way. Enormous time savings + cheaper too while with the car I could also go on vacations with it.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks Henry! Oh, so MSc students don't travel for free? But yeah...looking at your calculations...you definitely save money and time. Yeah, that's a huge plus with having a car...I miss just spontaneously hopping in my car and going somewhere (eg. nature where you can really only access by car).

[@ravecsucks6192]

You can buy a second hand Toyota Aygo with a 1:20 petrol/km usage, which costs 80 in maintenance and 40 a month to acquire(5k eur) spread out over 10 years, thats 120 a month. Driving 10k km annually would cost you 95 a month in gas, so that's a total of 215 euros a month to own and drive your very own car, have the flexibility to go anywhere at any time in less than half the time. Public transportation is fucking absurd.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@ravecsucks6192 I pay 50 euros a month for public transport outside of work. So Im still saving 150 euro compared to your beat up Toyato which these days costs more than 5K and wont last 10 years. My employer pays for my commute. Plus I can work on the train or read a book. Yes it takes a bit longer, compared to the hypothetical situation in which there is no traffic during rush hour, which does not exist, but if I calculate in the amount of money Im saving, I get paid more per hour to sit on the train for a few extra minutes than I make per hour at work. Plus, I dont have to drive a beat up Toyota Aygo. You also forgot to factor in the insurance cost and road tax, which are significant in this calculation. So Im saving way more than 150 a month compared to you. Car owners always conveniently forget to factor in some of the costs of car ownership so they can pretend that they are being econimical. You are not. Car ownership is more expensive than public transport.

[@bramdekker1422]

well structured video

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for noticing Bram! I'm quite a structured person and put a lot of time to put structure into the story...so I'm glad you noticed.

[@rogierdewit1539]

I think that for most tourists, it it really is helpfull that you can just tap in and out using contactless payments (apple or google pay / debit- or creditcard), as you shown in the video. Especially because this works on _all_ modes of public transport in the entire country, without having to use an app or to register, this makes it very easy! Thanks for the nice video, I enjoyed watching it!

[@hidavidwen]

You’re welcome and thanks for watching and sharing! 🙏

[@Jurjen_Warrel_Ottenhoff]

Great video. There is one thing not mentioned in the video and I don't know if this is done in other countries or not. The NS (Dutch Railway) has a maximum fare of just under €30,-. I live in Groningen, the biggest city in the north of the Netherlands, and if I take the train that max is reached when I get just over halfway through the Netherlands. So going to Amsterdam wil cost the same as going to Vlissingen or Maastricht.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this! You’re the first to mention this and I had no idea. But when I think about it…yeah I used to travel from Amsterdam to Maastricht and it was never over 30€ per train ride.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

The cost for accidentily forgetting to check out, however, is only 20 euro. Life hack.

[@tantoassassin]

Agree with all your points. Coming from living in France and Spain it was a shock to me when I saw my public transport costs. Sure my employer pays me the cost, but it gets more expensive when you travel personally with your family and more inconvenient because lack of accessibility or seating while travelling with kids. So I decided to the dump the overpriced NS and started driving. Employer still pays 21 cents/km which can still cover the monthly fuel cost including personal trips.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. And yeah I can understand…especially since you have a family. Then it makes sense to drive (convenience and costs)

[@TheSuperappelflap]

It covers the fuel costs but not the lease, or if you own the car, insurance, maintenance, and road tax. Whereas public transport is often 100% reimbursed by the employer. It costs me nothing to commute to work and outside of work I spend maybe 50 euro per month. Even if I was traveling with a family of 4 people the train would still be cheaper than owning a car. The problem is people never factor in all the costs of car ownership and just look at the price of gas compared to the train ticket. The main advantage of taking public transport is the part where you dont need to own a car.

[@vlegeltje]

What I have learned as a geographer in a few classes about transportation and connectivity, is that people in each culture have a limit to how long they are willing to commute. I expect it is the same for how much they are willing to spend on transportation costs, and how much transportation inconvenience they are willing to bear. Spatially this leads to different choices in where people live and work and which mode of transport they choose. For example: if a part of a country has many traffic jams, often there is an argument for building more car lanes or alternative routes to a destination. However, what we see is with the improved motorway, more people will decide that taking this route to their job will work for their lifestyle, perhaps opting to live further from centres of work where prices for houses are higher. This increases the amount of people who live further from work - use the road - and within a few years the traffic jam reappears. This makes me imagine, that the expensive public transport might also be an incentive for people to live closer to work (and therefore form more cohesive communities), spend less time on their commute and to bike to work whenever possible (with all its benefits). This does mean that a country with expensive transportation, needs to facilitate mixed living and working AND mixed-income neighbourhoods so that all professions needed to run a city or village have their work on an acceptable distance/mode of transport/travel inconvenience. So although we have expensive public transport, in the past there have been political choices made for a.o. subsidized housing, prevention of urban sprawl and detailed zoning plans to top down design liveable neighbourhoods mixed with commercial activity.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this. I’m curious…if you were the Director of Public Transport for the NL, what would you change? :)

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Everyone who takes public transport to work is reimbursed fully by their employer, so there is nu such incentive.

[@khashayarmokoe5180]

Your video was great 👍, like a university lecture 👍, you gave us good information. Thanks.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@Tilumbus]

In 1995 I took a train ride from Düsseldorf to Middelburg. Düsseldorf to Venlo (60 km) on a german ticket had cost the same prize as Venlo to Middelburg (220 km). So there had been times the dutch train rides had been alot cheaper than german train rides.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this piece of history! Someone also mentioned he used to be able to travel from Hilversum to Amersfoort for less than 1 euro (back in the day). But even with inflation...that is very affordable.

[@daanwolters3751]

The problem with the ns is that while most countries subsidize trains, they have to pay the government to use the tracks (and are taxed heavier than plane travel (because why not)). Additionally they are very inefficient with staff, as there always has to be two ticket inspectors per train set, and the ns has to pay them a much higher salary than other train companies do, while not being able to use them efficiently. To make matters worse, no one actually checks if these guys actually check passengers for tickets, which result in a lot of these tickets inspectors rarely actually checking tickets, which has lead to a high and rising amount of people not paying fares, making matters even worse. Additional problems are that because the netherlands were early adopters in both automatic train control systems and electrification, they use old systems, who fail more often. Especially the electrification is an issue as it is very energy inefficient and leads to power failures more often. And due to how interconnected the rail network is, it is very difficult to switch one of these systems as most lines are interconnected. Lastly the ground in the netherlands is very very weak, meaning you rails will need to have foundation as well, and will still keep sinking into the ground (as most railways were not designed to be used this frequently) which results in track maintenance very expensive.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing these useful bits of information. I've heard a lot about the "staff shortages" as well. I've only lived and experienced public transport here for 5 years...how have you seen the system change over the years?

[@daanwolters3751]

@@hidavidwen no problem. Yeah the staff shortages are a problem as well, but it the things i mentioned were there 10 years ago as well. 20 years back there was already talk about re-electrifying the entire country for example. And in 2012 i read an article about Arriva making more money on 7 diesel lines in the north of the country than the ns did on the entire network. But it definitely has changed for the worse, using your personnel inefficiently is not great in any case, but if you are short on staff it is much worse for example. 10 years back trains generally were over 95% reliable (both counting cancelled trains and delayed ones), the ov kaart (a subscription of 300€ a month for unlimited public transport including trains, busses, metros and trams as well). And trains were a lot cleaner (ns did a lot of budget cuts on cleaning staff). Another thing is politics, the vvd (also known as the car party) has been in power for over a decade and the effects of the budget cuts to public transport (or police) are starting to show. As well as a lack of investment, covid damage and the fact that most people only go to the office on tuesday and thursday instead of every workday. And all aspects make each other worse as well.

[@weeardguy]

@@daanwolters3751 What I think is not fair to keep out of this comparison is just the fact that the whole privatisation thingy and certain rail lines ending up in other operators' hands has most to do with the different labour agreements in place. When NoordNed, the first operator besides NS to operate a few rail lines started in 1998 or so, they basically 'won' the idea because they were so much cheaper. But almost no one (except Zembla) talked about the fact that trains were not equipped (as standard at NS at that time and is still so these days) with a conductor ánd the drivers of NoordNed fell into a different CLA (Collective Labour agreement, CAO in Dutch) requiring the operator to pay them a different (lower) salary on different terms and conditions than a traindriver at NS.

[@user-nj2io3pg3w]

Hi David, Thank you for all the information that you share with us. You're a super smart guy with a great ability to synthesize all the important information. I look forward to your posts (from Romania) although I don't live in the Netherlands. Sometimes I can give some advice (which I found it from you)to my daughter who study in Amsterdam. You take care of yourself and good luck in everything you set to your mind to.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for the kind words :) where do you live? And best of luck to your daughter on her studies!

[@ouwebrood497]

"Allow me to me Dutch and complain a little bit." You're definitely one of the guys LMAO!

[@hidavidwen]

Hahaha thanks for the warm welcome!

[@patient_zer0850]

Hi mate love your channel and the interesting videos :) I think it is quite hard to grade the Dutch railways and compare them to other countries. All major cities in the country are relatively closeby eachother and from each major city you can travel in many different directions (in contrast to Switserland where many cities are in a valley and you can basically only travel North-South or East-West). Also many medium sized cities are connected in multiple directions. And in between there are many small cities/villages also connected and often using the same tracks. In total this small NL country has 322 train stations(!). If a data analyst would break down the system and compare it to other countries, the outcome would probably be that there are so many variables in the Dutch railway system that it is logical the system is more expensive to maintain. Another of looking at it is that the construction of a railway in Switserland is harder because its in the mountains and you have elevation/tunnel challenges. But once it's there, its foundation sits on solid rock and is not going to move an inch. In NL the railways and roads are slightly wavy and there are bumps at connections with large over/underpass structures, simply because the soil is soft and always moving/settling. So maintaining it is a constant and costly process. Comparing the noisy people in the silent carriages and the dirty toilets is easier though.. In NL we are all friends during koningsdag and big international football tournaments.. but apart from that many Dutch people are not so nice to eachother I think.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Ah yes...that's a good point, how everything is connected in the Netherlands. And that construction is harder in Switzerland due to its mountains/terrain compared to NL. And didn't know how costly it can be to maintain NL railways due to the softness of the soil...but it makes sense now and I've also heard of this with the construction of housing too. Thanks!

[@lhjmhdj]

​@@hidavidwen also, there's been an awful lot of construction and renovation works to enhance the quality and modern practicality of railway stations. I advice you to google for pics of, just to name four, Rotterdam Central, Utrecht Central, Arnhem Central or Zwolle in their predecessor state. And there's still projects coming up, Nijmegen Central for instance, which badly needs a serious update. And all of that is costly of course.

[@RFGfotografie]

The OV Chipcard should be a worldwide thing, making traintravel cheaper/easier to access and just better. Though we do also have OVPay now, which will probably be even better.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing-it is quite efficient :) Personally...it still does annoy me to check in and check out everywhere though (because I tend to forget)...I don't know of another solution though!

[@metalvideos1961]

why get a OV chipcard when you can use your bankcard lol.

[@parmentier7457]

@@metalvideos1961With a public transport card you can add services such as a 40% discount during off-peak hours or a senior discount. But a public transport card is for regular use of public transport.

[@HENN3H]

​@@hidavidwenmost stations are currently being converted to a turnstile setup, making it pretty hard to forget. Transferring from one provider to another you are still obliged to check out with one and check in with the other, which feels arbitrary and stupid. Hoping they figure that one out, cause that's always a hassle. They should unify the system and just bill you for the most efficient route, splitting the bill for the providers accordingly.

[@hidavidwen]

@@HENN3HThanks for sharing this! Didn't know that. Yeah...I know to check out now but during my first few years...I definitely forgot to check out multiple times and had to go through the process of getting a "refund." But yeah...from time to time...I'm in my head a lot (listening to a podcast or something)...and I do forget if I don't see it

[@usernameONBEKEND]

Dutch person here: a small car is cheaper than public transport. During winter trains are regularly cancelled so if you want to get somewhere for sure, take a car. Travel with two persons, you guessed it, car is cheaper and more convenient - even with adding parking cost. Now the kicker: when you own a car you have to pay road tax and insurance, even if you don't use it. So if you have a car, are you going to pay the same amount as you car costs to use public transport?

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing and for the additional information. Yeah having a car-especially if you are more than 1 person-can definitely be cheaper. I do miss having a car, especially for the convenience (that money cannot buy)-sometimes I just want to go on a road trip or to nature

[@usernameONBEKEND]

@@hidavidwen few friends of mine rented until they bought a small car.

[@ObscenePizza]

love the brood painting

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks 😁🎨🖼️

[@crea8ivepeter]

I use the public transport daily. But one aspect you forgot to mention is how good the train stations actually are. In most of the bigger cities there are plenty of food options as well as some grocery stores. I think that also plays a key part to leveraging more out of the public transport.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing...yeah I didn't include that but that's a very good point! The train stations are top notch-I think Amsterdam Central was voted one of the best train stations in Europe.

[@jeffafa3096]

Having a place to sit during peak hours usually is determined by where the train starts and ends. If you get on the train from the starting station, chances are pretty high. When you get on at a station on the middle of the route (which stations like Amersfoort usually are), then your chances of finding a spot to sit are a lot smaller... Edit: About the compensation for work/home travel: There are also companies out there that give you a business travel card, which they sometimes allow for personal use as well.

[@RealConstructor]

Sometimes yeah, but not by my employer. I have a NS business card, but I am not allowed to use it outside office hours, unless for work. In the software you can simply add if a train ride is personal or work related. But my company doesn’t want that hassle. So they leave the hassle for the employee and so I have another OV chip card for my own travels. Such a spillage of plastic cards and so unnecessary. I have the NS business card because I have a company car and because of environmental reasons, they want me to use it as less as possible. You would think that counts for private time also. But no. Privately I can drive the company car as much as I want, but I can’t use the NS business card. So strange.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this info! About compensation for work/home travel...oh yeah, I also know about the business cards. My company stopped "subscriptions" for employees during COVID (now it's manual reimbursements based on monthly OV data). I know other employers have also changed their policies too.

[@hernantibolla64]

Thanks David for this deep investigation and for dedicating a whole day to show us in real time a round trip. Yes, it is definitely expensive but I hope that with reimbursements and monthly passes it won't cost that much haha

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks Hernán! Yeah...it was a longggg (but fun) day...and very appreciative for the kind words. Yeah...without the reimbursements...would be very expensive (though not everyone gets the reimbursements)

[@RFGfotografie]

I don't use public transport anymore as I have a car now. But one fun thing I love to do sometimes is just go with my car to a station and then, check in and out. As I love spotting unique trains like the MAT64, steamlocomotives (on the second weekend it's standard to see them here in Gouda) and so on. And with a OV chip card you can do that, as long as you keep it within 20 minutes. Then it will cost you nothing, because you didn't actually use a OV method at all. If it's longer then 20 minutes, you have to just tweet them and they will do a quick fix to get ya money back which is about 20 euro's. Also somethimes you don't wanna walk all they way to the other side by a long walkway, then you can just use your card to get underneath the trainstation from one to the other side. I do like this a lot. (Also as a news photographer this can be quite handy).

[@hidavidwen]

Haha I get you. As a photographer myself, I've also taken quite a few pictures of trains and the train stations

[@angelaappels2423]

I’m dutch and I live in the UK, and I must say.. I think the UK is so much more expensive than the Netherlands. My trainride of 30 minutes, return 5 day a week costs £600 = €696,00. Thats insane. Also in the Netherlands we have dicsount cards and most employer offer free travel for their employees. Something that the UK certainly doesn’t offer. In the UK they strike so often, it’s insane.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing Angela! Oh yeahhh, others have said UK public transport can be really expensive (if you live outside of London). And the BIG plus is that many employers offer free travel for their employees (not everyone as some have pointed out...but yes, many employers)

[@albertlay8927]

It would be more relevant to compare public transport with other forms of transport (meaning the car). How long would your journey have taken and how much would it have cost by car. After all, that is the option if you live in a certain country. Comparing to other countries doesn't mean much, since you can't choose between e.g. a Dutch train and a Swiss train to go to Leeuwarden. And then you can lay the results next to each other and see how in different countries public transport performs in relation to cars. You would have something like a PT to car-ratio. Building a railway network is different for each country, bringing totally different costs. In the NL, we don't have to dig tunnels though mountains, but we do have to build a lot of bridges. So comparing prices doesn't make much sense. Also, the photo only tells you that you put your bike in a bike rack, so good luck finding it back.

[@dutchman7623]

At least he knows what (a part of) his bicycle looks like! So always remember which corridor, row and level. I once helped a colleague to find her bicycle at the train station for an hour, but we couldn't find it. Next day she told me she had stalled it at the office but forgot about that. 😁 And you are right about comparing PT costs to car costs, including parking, because that's expensive too. 💰

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah would definitely be interesting to compare public transport with driving in the Netherlands-I just don't drive here-but the beauty of the comments section (most of the time) is the sharing...and we can hear from people like you who can give a better perspective =) And hahaha yeah about the picture. Maybe that's why I always forget where I stored my bike...

[@loopingmoon1444]

Hey Albert, There's a reason I personally take pictures of my bike and that's because some bike stalls at major cities have indicators with a number below the rack. This is immensely helpful in finding it back. If it's a rack that's located against a wall, that's also information that can be extracted from a picture. Of course, there's other ways to do it but taking a picture is quick and easy and will help. I personally have a device that helps locate my bike by communicating with my phone.

[@dutchman7623]

@@loopingmoon1444 Have such a device too, called memory, the biological one. But in those giant stalls where everything looks the same, a picture of the floor, row, rack and place is a good solution of course.

[@loopingmoon1444]

@@dutchman7623 Memory works amazing! Until you store your bike for 2 weeks in a stall holding several thousand bikes. And because it's a cheap "student bike", it has hardly any distinguishable features. Not saying everyone needs one, just adding another option for people that do.

[@diedertspijkerboer]

I live in the Netherlands, I commute by bike, don't own a car and I spend only a few hundred euros a year on public transport. To save costs, I have a dicount card that gives me 40% discount on train trips off peak which costs about 60 euros a year.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. True...if you don't need to travel during "peak hours," that 40% discount plan is very sart to have

[@aWanderlustForLife]

Another great in-depth video! I love having the train system but it is so frustrating that it's so expensive. My husband's company (and some others) may pay for a business OV chip card so they, essentially ride for free. I have the 40% non-peak rides. I honestly don't think I'd go anywhere of I didn't have it.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks Jessica! Oh the business OV card is nice..I know many companies stopped that benefit during COVID (mine did).

[@Ralph_NL]

I liked the video and I also think our public transport is way too expensive. Especially since they want to reduce pollution so extremely these days. They should make it a lot cheaper. But I do think you should have mentioned that the Dutch railways are the 2nd busiest in Europe en 3rd in the world. I think this matters for cancellations and late arrivals compared to countries that have much less train traffic. Although you did compare to Switzerland most of the time which is the busiest in Europe.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing and the kind words. Yeah...someone also mentioned that because there are so many trains running in the Netherlands (high frequency ever 15min)...if a train is late 10 minutes, it will just be "cancelled" to not hold up the next train...which could explain higher cancellation rates. I don't know how true that is but it makes sense. But yeah, it is expensive!

[@esthermarye]

I live in the Netherlands and always use my car but yesterday I took a train with my daughter to Amsterdam . (I still had 2 day tickets laying around) Trip time is double compared to driving . Normal price would be over a 100 euro compared to about 40 euro for gas . So it was nice trip but you will not see me selling my car anytime soon.. I'll stick with my car .

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing Esther! Oh wow...double the price and double the time (time is money too)...not surprised. I do like taking long train rides...but I do miss having a car =/ Convenience is something I miss...sometimes I just want to hop in my car and go to nature (which you really need a car to get to in most places)

[@lolololo-cx4dp]

That's the beauty of options, people who enjoy driving can drive, and people who don't can just use public transport. Come to any car centric country where having to drive is mandatory. You will realize how lucky you guys are.

[@weeardguy]

Yep. And did you also include the price for insurance of your car, road tax and so on? Yes, I do also think public transport in The Netherlands is too expensive, but it's also so extremely popular to only think about the price of a journey by car by taking the price of petrol into account as the sole factor that determines that price.

[@Roel_Scoot]

For employees there is a reiskostenvergoeding (travel fee) which is not taxed as income.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! From my understanding, not everyone gets this travel fee (reiskostenvergoeding)...if you work in horeca or something

[@Bernadette-vW]

@@hidavidwen It depends on your employer (and if they follow a CAO for example) The employer is not obliged to pay a reiskostenvergoeding by law but it is rare for them to not do it.

[@JGWlimbeek801]

Great video! I do think that the system works really well for Dutch (and EU) students which is something I really appreciate as a student from Amsterdam. I don't pay any public transport fees on weekdays, and I get 40% off when I travel during the weekends. There is also the possibility of having it the other way around where the discount is on the weekdays and you travel for free on the weekend. This is a way to motivate students to finish a degree at uni/college within a certain amount of years. It has saved me so much money! :) Last year I lived in the UK and had to pay so much in public transport fees (even with a student railway pass) which made me realise how lucky students in the Netherlands are in that aspect :)

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing Juliette! Oh yeah, I remember hearing that my Dutch classmates had this free travel product...and I thought, "Wowwww that's such a nice benefit." I didn't get it as I was an international but it's nice to hear it's a student benefit =)

[@yoloswagggggggg1310]

@@hidavidwenyou get free public transport as an international when you work more than 16 hours a week or month! My international colleagues do get it

[@hidavidwen]

@@yoloswagggggggg1310 Yep only for EU/EEA students though but doesn't apply to non-EU/EEA...I looked into this when I was a student here =/

[@RFGfotografie]

You're not Dutch if you don't complain xD So good on you that you do complain like everyone else using Public transport xD

[@yoloswagggggggg1310]

Students get free public transport

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing...it is a great benefit indeed for students! I heard it used to be better though...like students could travel "free" during summers before too

[@gueldenerlarry8270]

How? I still have to pay.

[@benchaanariman1405]

I really appreciate your analysis, I completely agree. Thank you for the video which I find perfect. sometimes "Ticket composting terminals" does not work. Once this happened to me. Late night at the station in Zwolle, the last train, and so, from Zwolle to The Hague on the train, in the middle of the journey, the inspector arrived, he did not believe when I explained to him. He fined me 100 euros, it was in December 2019. Arriving at The Hague station, I explained to customer service, they didn't want to know anything. I paid. My poor money.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your story too. Ah yeah...your poor money...especially late at night too...you would think people would have more compassion and let things go especially if you seemed like you had a valid reason too...

[@TheSuperappelflap]

What? why did you get rid of your ticket before arriving at the destination? Of course you will get fined during a check. You need to have a valid ticket to travel.

[@raphaellauf7786]

i think this big diffrence is to really push people to use a OV card wich makes everything more efficient, instead of rows of ticket buyers everybody just uses the gates

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks, makes sense!

[@weeardguy]

Sorry, the gates have not made anything any more efficient at all: Subscription holders just walked in and out of bigger stations in the past, not needing to do anything. Now EVERYONE must go through gates at stations that have gates, severely impacting the flow of passengers. And if those gates were fast, no problem, but they are ridiculously slow-opening. And most stations are WELL underequipped when it comes to the amount of gates, the tariff system has become very complex since the chipcard was made mandatory (there was no reason to ALSO change the whole tariff system besides changing the way you would pay, but they did anyway). Go to Schiphol Airport and see the lines at the ticket machines on most days and you'll be amazed on how 'efficient' it is, especially for tourists, not helped by an overly complex tariff system.

[@am53n8]

Dutch public transport is still more than decent, but it definitely has gotten worse and more expensive in the last decade (thanks government :) ). I had a trip from nijmegen -> amsterdam earlier this week, luckily someone picked up by car for the first part. Otherwise the round trip + 2 trams would have been more expensive than the €48 ticket, and this is the first I've even heard of its existence. Man I miss those daypasses

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing...yeah I've only been here 5 years...I can imagine it's gotten more expensive. Someone else mentioned...it used to cost less than 1 euro to go from Amersfoort to Hilversum ("back in the day"). I REALLY miss those day passes too...it was how I traveled as a student here (I wasn't eligible for the free travel product). But even now...I'm working...and I do want to travel on the weekends to see more of the country...but I do have to be cautious because train travel is quite expensive

[@ouwebrood497]

Yes, I didn't even know these passes exist. If I intend to make some long trip by public transport I think I don't even bother to research anything and just buy this card. Because then you are free to deviate a little if you want to.

[@hummel3479]

Hello David, i used to go to Amsterdam or Rotterdam or the Hague a lot when Albert Heyn and Kruidvat had the all day tickets for 14 euro or so. But nowadays i do this rarely. Because i live in Roermond in the south it is really idiotically expensive to take the train to the Randstad which i loved to visit. So i go to Eindhoven or Maastricht instead. I really miss the pretty atmosphere of the Randstad. Thank you NS and Dutch government for making the treintickets sooooo expensive 😭🥶☹️😞😰😡🤬

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing! Me too! When I lived in Maastricht, I used to buy those day tickets to travel...I mean, as a student (who didn't get student finance), it was the ONLY affordable way to travel... I hope they bring those day tickets back!

[@rikavanderhofstad]

Eindhoven is fun too tho :D. Is roermond itself worth a visit one day?

[@hummel3479]

​@@rikavanderhofstadof course Eindhoven is worth visiting. Roermond is not such a big city we have all the big shops . You can also visit the McArthur Glenn outlet. It is 1 minute from the city centre and it is like you are in another world. It is beautiful and you can by (Designer) clothes with big discounts.

[@JakkeJakobsen]

I checked a ticket from Amsterdam Centraal to Rotterdam Centraal now, 17:00, it was 18eur. A ticket from Oslo S to Hamar, both being around 1hr, was 347NOK. That is 32eur.

[@hidavidwen]

Wow that is expensive. However, Oslo is also one of the most expensive places in the world, and you make a lot more money compared to the Netherlands.

[@JakkeJakobsen]

@@hidavidwen salary is definitely higher, but not close to 100% higher. Also, probably the worst reliability of western Europe. Bus for train is seen more often than the trains here 😂

[@RobertDoornbosF1]

Something very important to consider when talking about cancelations. A cancelation is much less worse when there is a train in the same direction in less than 20 minutes.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing-yes, the frequency of trains is really high in the Netherlands

[@-SpiderNoob-]

I pay roughly ~€200 a mouth to travel to school... it pretty insane

[@hidavidwen]

Oh wow...but do you get the "student travel product" to travel freely? If you don't, then that's insane (I wasn't eligible for that as an international student here...and I always waited for those 15-20€ day tickets which they don't sell anymore sadly)

[@-SpiderNoob-]

@@hidavidwen I did, but that is for 5 years. I switched studies halfway through, so fully pay for traveling in my last couple of years. It is kinda my own fault, but still insane prices for a student.

[@hidavidwen]

@@-SpiderNoob-Oh wow...yeah still insane prices for a student (I can definitely understand that!)

[@kutkrokodil]

the odd thing is, the government is pushing people to use public transport mostly for environmental uses, but the transport companies are pushing people away by increasing ticket prices.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, I don't understand the logic behind that one...

[@lolicantthinkofabettername3437]

(dutch person) I can't imagine paying full price for the train. There are many ways to not pay full price. I used to pay 5 euros a month for a 40% (i think) discount while traveling outside of peak hours or in the weekends. Now I am a student and I can go by train for free during the week and with 40% discount during the weekends. Als I think the unlimited tickets for specific routes are not worth it. Just get a discount by getting a ns-flex subscription. Looking at cancellation might give a bad view though because trains go very often (a train goes every 30 min on my route).

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing all of this! And you have a point about the frequency of trains...Dutch railways are the busiest in Europe

[@12uullaass12]

There's also a subscription for a specific route! If you have to travel to your work every weekday, you can get a subscription specifically for that route. It ends up being way cheaper

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing!

[@abartz1034]

Dutch person here, I take the same 1 train and 1 bus route every day, and the trains are great, but the busses will often be cancelled. Since I am a student I do have ,y travels funded by the government, which is a great thing.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. Oh yeah, I've also learned from others that the buses (especially in small towns) can be very unreliable. Good thing you can travel for free as a student =)

[@Avgeek_germain]

big tip for minors using NS train transport in the netherlands: IF you are 3-12 you can use a "railrunner" for 3 euro and 12-18 year olds can use "Dagkaart Dalkaart Jongeren" for 8 euro (only during off peak hours)

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing these tips! 🙏

[@diedertspijkerboer]

Reliability is an important factor, but comparing different countries can be like comparing apples and oranges. The Netherlands is a very densely populated country and the network is used very intensively That means that it's much more likely that trains start to interfere with each other. Switzerland is about the same size, but with about half the population, while cities are of course even more densely populated than the Netherlands,with probably even heavier use of available lines.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks again. A very important point...that Dutch railways are the busiest in Europe...and that's why I appreciate people like you sharing (things I missed)!. Thank you!

[@twanhendriks4513]

as a student in the netherlands you can travel for free, so it's a really nice way to travel for students

[@hidavidwen]

Yes, thanks for sharing! That's a nice benefit to have!

[@thejeeder3333]

Wow, now that I remember. I might have crossed you in Leeuwarden. I was just getting back from the town hall to renew my drivers license. I hope you liked the city!

[@hidavidwen]

Haha I was there in mid-August! Maybe we did cross paths. I really liked the city...and I will definitely be back for a longer trip. There was a really friendly volunteer at the Oldehove tower who made my day-he was telling me about the history of Leeuwarden and how he was so happy to see the town becoming more recognized and "cooler"...especially after 2018 when it was the European Culture of Capital.

[@thejeeder3333]

@@hidavidwen the city has modernised and changed a lot in the past ten years and it is so much more lively nowadays. Although I have to say when I see some old pictures I feel pretty nostalgic about how it used to look. The volunteers working here are proud "liwwadders". They tell all those stories with such passion. I remember going there and other places around here in primary school. I loved hearing the stories :)

[@jettenielsen4951]

About the silent carriages, we have them here in Denmark too. Whenever I find people speaking there, I quietly ask them to please respect that they are in quiet zone. It actually helps in most cases.

[@TruPunx89]

im autistic and sit there because it has a higher chance of being quiet. however most people don't even notice.. and im too shy to "ssshhhhhh" them

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this about Danish trains too (silent carriages)! I appreciate people like you who ask people to respect the rules (something I can learn to do more of)...I usually just put on headphones

[@baukewijnsma]

In the Netherlands, there is a high change of people shouting even louder when you do that or being angry at you for annoying them

[@ellenreuvers642]

Liv ing in the Netherlands you can buy a " kortingskaart" (reductioncart) at the NS. Sales you 40% woensdag travelling outside rush hours.But you are right.The proces are insane

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks Ellen, yes the 40% off is a great deal and smart to have!

[@Serko070]

yup, coming from the hague the trainride to amsterdam is just insanely expensive.

[@hidavidwen]

Yep...I was just in the Hague yesterday. Subscriptions help save money...but it's still expensive hah.

[@rikmetz4720]

Public transport in the netherlands is getting shortage of staff and people using it, so there are less trains. But the rails still need the same amount of maintenance, so there is still need for money. So if there are more people using public transport, it can become cheaper. Since you can divide the total amount of staff income, electricity and maintenance costs over more customers.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this perspective....more customers but fewer resources

[@inkaman-3708]

I saw that you mentioned international students at the reimbursable section. You can get the free student travel ov as a foreign student too but you have to work at least 27 hours a month (it used to be 50 hours last year)

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. I believe this applies only to EU students...but correct me if I'm wrong, does it also apply for non-EU?

[@bluur101]

I have the 40% discount OV-card. When I am working (four days) I get the costs back from my employer and when I am not working (Friday and the weekend) I get 40% off these prices, as I don't get up early enough on my day off to travel in morning rush-hour. My travel bike is a folding-bicycle, which means it is free on the train or bus -- so with a little care it is easy to not pay the costs you mentioned. Additionally, most stations have a choice of free or paid bike storage, so that works well when needed to. However, the second requirement sfter a bicycle is definitely a bicycle-lock (third is an umbrella, despite your video looking quite sunny). Nicely produced video too -- good job !

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing!

[@tetianatrofymets3318]

Thank you for the video! It was very informative. A practical question about the reimbursement: if the train with NS was canceled out of the blue and the only option was to take a train with Arriva, can we still get reimbursement from NS for the cost we paid to Arriva? (provided that we had an NS Weekend Vrij subscription)?

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks and you're welcome! Unfortunately, I don't think so. You can read more here = www.rijdendetreinen.nl/en/information/passenger-rights-train

[@weeardguy]

If you have a Weekend Vrij, this chart says it's valid at both NS and Arriva and one thus does not have to ask for any reimbursement at all, as your journey would be of no charge at both operators anyway. www.ns.nl/binaries/_ht_1533549143503/content/assets/ns-nl/voorwaarden/geldigheid-vervoerbewijzen-van-ns-bij-andere-vervoerders.pdf

[@petralderliesten7961]

You summed it up well. I live long therm in the Czech republic now, where wages are lower but public transport a lot cheaper as well. It is fairly reliable however doesn't get anywhere near when it comes to comfort or how new the equipment generally is. For example, in the summer You can buy a week ticket for about 50 euros, which takes You all over the country for a full week.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing Petr! Do most people take public transport in Czech Republic? Or drive?

[@petralderliesten7961]

@hidavidwen well it depends on where You need to go to, but for traveling between two cities with a direct line between them it's basically a nobrainer most of the time ( if You don't need to move too much stuff around ofcourse ). Most cities also charge for non-resident parking as well, especially in the centers. I don't have a car license myself ( never needed it tbh) which makes the choice easier 😄

[@DoomRaider997]

First of all. its true that we tend to focus on the negative because dutch people always talk about how trains are never on time or often cancelled, which generally isnt true. Second. You forgot to mention the "Traject vrij" subscription. where you get a free pass for a specific journey, like Amsterdam - Rotterdam, which is nice if you make the same trip daily for school or work. this will save you about 50% of the cost and also comes with extras, like 40% off on other trips you make. :)

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing...having the subscription really does save a lot of money!

[@TheSuperappelflap]

That subscription is a scam. If you take the train 5 days a week, every week, you barely save any money compared to regular ticket prices. If you are sick for a week, too bad, you lost money on the subscription this month. Work from home sometimes? Too bad, lose money. Work four days a week? Subscription isnt worth it. The 25 euro 'altijd korting' subscription that gives you 20% off during rush hour and 40% outside of that, saves money over the Traject Vrij subscription, strictly, in all cases. I did the math. It saves money even if you travel 5 days a week. And if you dont travel, you pay nothing. Whereas with traject vrij you will pay a fixed price monthly, also if you dont travel. Its a very bad deal.

[@bararobberbaron859]

48 a day seems like a lot, but when you look at the year ticket, and then you share it with family, comes to about 130 a month per person for all access across the entire country. So the costs go way down if you dedicate yourself to riding public transport for longer periods of time. But if you don't have a membership but you need to travel a lot for a day, 48 is cheaper compared to that. So you pay most per km if you just grab a ticket, then if you grab a day pass, then if you grab a solo year pass, then if you grab a family year pass (Cost per person on the year pass scales down per additional member, so the average lowers as there's more people on it). Still I don't disagree its expensive, but the costs seem more in the direction of tourists than natives this way.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing these tips!

[@baukewijnsma]

The thing is the company that rides the train tracks and the company that makes and repair the train tracks are different. Because the company that rides the tracks pay a fee to the other company it makes it more expensive.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing this-NS and Prorail.

[@eluu6548]

There's a crucial aspect about the "monthly unlimited pass" for Switzerland! Thats an offer for tourists only, wich can't be purchased by Swiss residents. We would pay around 450€

[@hidavidwen]

Oh what really? Does that make sense that it would be cheaper for tourists and non-residents? Thanks for sharing

[@the10thplague]

Germany can actually be significantly MORE expensive than Dutch public transport. The main difference is that in NL you can take any train you want, as long as it goes in the general direction of your destination. In Germany, you generally can't. Your ticket there is usually only valid for a single train, or for a single train class. Especially when you need a train on a whim, Germany is about twice as expensive per km than Dutch rail is. Germany offers more discount tickets tho that have to be planned in advance. In addition, comparing the 49 euro ticket in DE to the 350 euro ticket in NL is a bit disingenuous given that the 49 euro ticket in Germany is only valid for the equivalent to sprinters. That said, I do agree that service is seriously decreasing after the pandemic. It's easy to get a high reliability number when you simply get rid of services that don't perform well. Trains are much shorter than before, I these days i often have to let a train pass because it's so full.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for taking the time to share! Yeah good point, frequency of trains in the Netherlands is a lot higher. True that 49 euros ticket is not valid for all trains-though most of the Germans I've talked to said it's a good deal for the price and works for most. Ah yeah, the service going down. I think a lot of people also commented the same thing

[@iceagefighter]

cool to see this, i started going to school in rotterdam a few weeks ago and its funny to see "zuidplein" here on YT now :) I do also want to note that students can get a OV card for Free travel with all public transport for week days or weekend

[@hidavidwen]

Haha Zuidplein, is that your station? Oh yeah, nice that students get free OV travel-saves a lot of money! Success and have fun with school!

[@edouardschneiders0]

It's important to note that most locals have a discount card of 5,60 EUR per month which gives you a 40% discount on off-peak hours. You can also get free travel on weekends for 35 EUR per month and free off-peak hours (including weekends) travel for 120 EUR per month. People that need to travel to work cannot choose to travel off-peak, but they are usually reimbursed by their company so they don't pay these costs anyways. Train travel is still too expensive in the Netherlands and these costs need to drop (and reliability and train cleanliness needs to get back to what it was pre-covid), but through a complex system of monthly discount cards and reimbursements it becomes a lot more affordable than one might think just by looking at un-discounted journey costs. Also, although I hate a cancelled train just as much as the next Dutchie, it's important to note that the frequency of trains in the Netherlands is extremely high for the corridors that experience most cancellations. Meaning that even if a train is cancelled you are rarely waiting more than 15 minutes longer than you otherwise would have (unless we are talking about the night network which has an hourly frequency).

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. That’s a really important point…that there is a high frequency of trains (I think the busiest in Europe)

[@ojgfhuebsrnvn2781]

Here is a question though. Does this ticket work for all companies or only for NS? As i also found out ICE and Intercity direct require additional purchase of supplement ticket. And sure you need to pay for bicycle ticket if you want to travel with it (it's fare though but create additional cost for turists). If it's only NS, then 48 euro is just too much

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. It also works on Metro/buses/trams (non-NS)

[@weeardguy]

Usually every modality that requires a supplement or has a higher tariff per kilometer (used with pay-as-you-go credit), can not be used with the 48 euro travel ticket. What I find the most strange (and something I learned from this video) is the fact that this ticket, in comparison to a great deal of other T&C's for other tickets/subscriptions, does NOT have a limit on use during the evening peak, while many other tickets DO.

[@d4rq0n3aphextwin]

2:13 yeah that closeup picture if your bike is really gonna help you remember where you put it....

[@hidavidwen]

Hahaha...I should take a photography class

[@anotherdamphotographer]

My main problem with public transport is how it feels like it’s designed to make you miss checkout. Or sometimes you simply can’t cause it fails. Then you end up getting charged more. Monthly pass is crazy price. And lately the trains seem to be late a lot. You end up waiting quite long. Good overview. Thanks. Bike is free at least 😎

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing and the kind words! Haha yeah, I've definitely forgotten to get reimbursed for a missed checkout...and have given multiple €20s to NS..

[@pokedreamsnl9411]

As someone who goes to school in the Netherlands it’s really frustrating if the public transport gets canceled , cause then I’m punished at school

[@hidavidwen]

Ah yeah I know what you mean...and you better hope the trains don't get canceled when you have a big exam or presentation...thanks for sharing

[@hvb9123]

Living in a rural part of The Netherlands I prefer my car. Going from home to the office. By car it's 35 minutes, by public transport 1 hour and 20 minutes. :)

[@hidavidwen]

Ohhh yeah...I would drive too if I lived in a rural part =) I also know...well, if something happens with public transport, you may have to wait a long, long time. Thanks for sharing!

[@frikandelkroket9335]

Dutch public transport is good compared to the US but the the Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai etc experience is on another level. Especially the hygiene of public toilets.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks for sharing. I’ll be visiting Asia soon and will be taking some of those trains :)

[@helenooft9664]

Sorry, but also my compliments to you for all your video's on youtube about my country the Netherlands. You always suprised me that you are always so well informed socially and financially about living in mij country the Netherlands. I alway's enjoy your video's.

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks a lot Helen, your words mean a lot to me 🙏 Especially since I did take a lot of time reading and researching about public transport in the Netherlands-actually, I surprised myself...I never thought I'd enjoy reading/researching trains and public transport this much- I've also learned a lot from people in the comments too so thanks for the support.

[@kedimnvfjnnvfjffurju]

Great video, greetings from Zwolle

[@hidavidwen]

Thanks 🙏 I’ll need to go back to Zwolle for a longer visit, beautiful town :)