NS to start selling tickets through third parties

NS will soon start selling train tickets through companies like car-rentals, tour operators and hotels. According to the Dutch railway company, it is the first transporter in Europe to fully outsource part of its ticket sales to third parties, Financieele Dagblad reports.

The new NS partners will purchase train kilometers from the rail company and then re-sell them to their customers at their own discretion and price. The customer can then use the train through an app or fuel card, for example. In this way NS hopes to lure car users to the train.

"In the future, the traditional fuel card of the car leasing company will give access to the train", NS commercial director Tjalling Smit said to the newspaper. "The driver of a lease car can then choose which means of transport suits him or her best: the car or the train."

Outsourcing train ticket sales to car leasing companies, tour operators and hotels should also make it easier for tourists to buy train tickets.