NS drops plans to add rush hour tax to ticket prices

NS has scrapped its plans to make train tickets more expensive during rush hour in an attempt to spread travelers out more during the day. “We have found that there is simply no support for this,” NS CEO Wouter Koolmees said on the radio program Sven op 1 on Thursday. The rush hour charge won’t happen, he said.

The Dutch rail company wanted to introduce rate differentiation, whereby travelers pay more during rush hour than outside the busiest times. The intention was that people would travel more during off-peak hours and spread out the crowds. The measure drew a lot of criticism from travelers’ organizations, and the responsible State Secretary ordered NS to reconsider it after a parliamentary majority rejected the plan.

“We had devised a system in which 80 percent of the tickets would become cheaper during off-peak hours. To finance this, we devised the rush hour charge. But we have found that there is simply no support for this,” Koolmees told the radio program on Thursday.

The rail company is now looking for other ways to spread travelers better over the day, he said. Koolmees likes the idea of a “climate ticket” - included in the GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 election campaigns. The ticket allows people to travel unlimited outside rush hour for a lower price.

The climate ticket’s goal is to make trains more attractive as the cheaper and more sustainable alternative to cars, for example. But it could also encourage people to travel outside rush hour, Koolmees believes.