Students can travel for free or at a discount on public transport thanks to the student travel product on their public transport chip card. When 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 assume it happens automatically when they deregister from their program. If they then check in, they receive a fine.

In 2025, nearly 30,000 (former) students received such fines. Through student finance provider DUO, they paid a total of 5.6 million euros to public transport companies.

Politics

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

Various measures were introduced to reduce the flood of fines. Information provision improved, and (former) students would no longer receive a fine if they had not used their public transport card at all.

But in reality, everyone wanted the student travel product to be stopped automatically. It was just a matter of waiting until this became technically possible. In 2022, then Minister of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf said: “It is also my wish. It is clear that we need to do this. However, in the current public transport payment system, it is not yet possible.”

New system

In the new OVpay system, automatic deactivation is technically possible in principle. But even then, it will not happen. Students must still deactivate their travel product themselves. It will become slightly easier, however: instead of using a machine, it can now be done online.

If a student forgets to do so, DUO will deactivate the travel product after one month. By then, forgetful students will already have accumulated 192 euros in fines.

Students sometimes switch programs, and their new enrollment may not yet be registered with DUO. In 2025, this applied to 23,000 students. This means there are students who are still entitled to travel benefits, while DUO is temporarily unaware of this.

The ministry does not want to disadvantage these students by deactivating their card, a spokesperson said. That is why, in the new OVpay system, DUO waits one month before deactivating the student travel product.

There are also European students who apply for student finance (or an extension of it). The assessment can take several weeks, after which they may still be entitled to the student public transport card. Last year, this applied to 88,000 students.

Finally, there are 32,000 students who deregister too early from their program, in May or July, even though they are still entitled to use their student travel product through August.

Alternative
An alternative is conceivable: instead of issuing a fine, the system could simply charge the regular fare for the trip. Thanks to the check-in and check-out system, it is known exactly which journeys (former) students have made.

The fines are intended to prevent misuse of the student travel product: the government and transport companies want to avoid (former) students continuing to travel for free after they are no longer entitled to do so.

But that misuse could also be prevented by charging the normal fare. In that case, fines would no longer be necessary.

This idea has apparently never occurred to the ministry. “As far as we know, 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 public transport 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 had to be shown to the conductor. You had to return the card to a post office when you were no longer entitled to it. The current fine system dates back to that time.

There was logic behind it. If you did not return the card, you could continue traveling with it. You could, for example, take the train from Groningen to Maastricht every day. Entry and exit points were not tracked. The fines were meant to deter fare evasion and compensate transport companies.

The introduction of the public transport chip card was supposed to put an end to this, transport companies promised at the time. However, they later went back on that promise, saying it was technically not possible to deactivate the travel product automatically. With OVpay, however, it now is.

Opponents
The Dutch National Student Association (LSVb) has always been strongly opposed to public transport fines. “You should help students, not punish them,” says chair Maaike Krom. Students do not intentionally continue traveling with an expired travel product, she believes. “Who would deliberately rack up sky-high fines?”

The final word has not yet been spoken. On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Representatives will debate higher education and student finance. This issue may also come up.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.