NS increases single ticket fares but drops some subscription prices

The Dutch rail company NS will increase the prices for single train trinkets in 2nd class by 5.5 percent next year. The price for some subscriptions will decrease, with which the rail company says it wants to make traveling by train more attractive for commuters.

NS adjusts the rates every year based on the expected inflation and the fee that the rail company pays to ProRail for the use of the rail network. On average, prices increase by 4.3 percent.

NS announced the price increase while struggling with staff shortages. As a result, travelers have experienced many problems in recent months due to overcrowded and shorter trains. Traveler organization Rover announced this week that it has never before received so many complaints from NS travelers as in October. From November 7, NS is cutting the timetable further.

Prices for people traveling 1st class will increase by 7.4 percent next year. A spokesperson for NS said that 1st class tickets were slightly too cheap in recent years, which is why they are rising relatively more this year.

To get more commuters on the train, the price for a subscription that allows unlimited travel will decrease by 2.4 percent. Such a subscription now costs 362.40 euros per month. The cost reduction also applies to subscriptions that allow unlimited travel on a single route.

Not all subscriptions will be cheaper next year. Some, including group tickets, remain the same, and others will be more expensive. For example, people who want to travel unlimited during off-peak hours will pay significantly more, with this subscription increasing over 10 percent from 107.90 euros per month to 119.95 euros.

Tjaling Smit, responsible for train tickets and subscriptions within the NS Executive Board, said the company is trying to keep the price of a train ticket affordable. During the coronavirus crisis, NS suffered heavy losses, but Smit does not want to let them end up with the traveler.

The same applies to the high inflation, said Smit. “Total inflation of almost 13 percent is expected for 2022 and 2023. Travel by train will become 6.3 percent more expensive in these two years. That difference is expected to cost us more than 100 million euros, and NS itself will raise that.”

Rover and other consumer organizations call it “strange” that NS is increasing ticket prices. “With fewer trains, longer travel times, fuller trains, and extra transfers, the significant price increase is in no way justified,” they said. The consumer organizations want NS to scrap the price increases altogether. Because with the price increases, NS travelers will pay considerably more for “significantly less offer.”