Students continue to pay millions of euros in public transport fines

In 2025, thirty thousand students together paid 5.6 million euros in public transport fines. An alternative could make these fines unnecessary, but the ministry has never considered it.

Students are allowed to travel for free or at a discount on public transport thanks to the ‘student travel product’ on their OV-chip card. If they are no longer entitled to it, they must remove this travel product at a chip card machine.

Stopping the travel product often goes wrong. Students forget to do it or think it happens automatically when they deregister from their programme. If they then check in somewhere, they receive a fine.

In 2025, almost 30 thousand (former) students received such fines. Via student finance body DUO, they paid a total of 5.6 million euros to the transport companies.

Politics

It used to be much worse. At its peak in 2014, (former) students together paid 52.6 million euros. The House of Representatives began to apply pressure: students should not become a cash cow, several parties argued.

All sorts of measures were devised to reduce the avalanche of fines. Information provision improved and (former) students would no longer receive a fine if they had not used their OV card at all.

But in reality, everyone wanted the student travel entitlement to be stopped automatically. It was a matter of waiting until this became technically possible. In 2022, then education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said: “It is also my wish. It is simply clear that we must do this. However, in the current public transport payment system this is not easily possible.”

New system

In the new OVpay system, automatic termination is in principle possible. But even then it will not happen. Students still have to end their travel product themselves. It will only become slightly easier: it no longer has to be done at a machine, it can be done online.

If the student forgets to do so, DUO will terminate the travel product after a month (see the box for the reason). By then, forgetful students will have accumulated 192 euros in fines.

Alternative

An alternative can be imagined: instead of issuing a fine, you could simply charge the fare. After all, thanks to the check-in and check-out system, it is clear exactly which journey the (former) students have made.

The fines are intended to combat misuse of the student travel product: the government and transport companies want to prevent (former) students from continuing to travel for free with their student card when they are no longer entitled to it.

But that misuse could also be prevented by charging the fare. Fines would no longer be necessary.

It turns out this idea has never occurred to the ministry. “As far as is known, this has never been considered”, a spokesperson said in response to questions from the Higher Education Press Agency about this alternative.

The company behind the OV-chip card and OVpay (Translink) believes it is possible. “Technically, many things can be made possible”, a spokesperson said.

History

From the 1980s until 2012, the student public transport card was a laminated card that you had to show to the conductor. You had to hand in the card at a post office if you were no longer entitled to it. The fine system dates from that time.

There was logic behind it. If you did not hand in the card, you could continue to travel with it. You could take the train from Groningen to Maastricht every day. Where you got on and off was not recorded. The fines were meant to deter fare dodgers and to compensate the transport companies.

The introduction of the OV-chip card was supposed to put an end to this, transport companies promised at the time, but they later went back on this. It turned out not to be technically possible after all to stop the travel product automatically. But with OVpay, it is now at least possible.

Opponents

The Dutch National Student Association (LSVb) has long been a fierce opponent of public transport fines. “You should help students, not punish them”, says chair Maaike Krom. Students do not deliberately continue travelling with an expired travel product, she believes. “Who would deliberately run up sky-high fines?”

The final word has not yet been said. On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Representatives will debate higher education and student finance. This issue may also be raised then.