Use student travel product?

No, with the student travel product you can only travel free with 2nd class.

If you are enrolled at a college or university, your right to study financing takes effect on September 1. From that moment you can also use your student travel product. This is only possible if you have applied for it on time and if you link your student travel product to a personal OV-chipkaart before 1 September.

If you start earlier, for example because of an introduction, then unfortunately you cannot use your student travel product yet. It is also not possible to receive reimbursement for travel expenses you incurred in the period before your entitlement to student travel product took effect.

When you do and do not travel for free is laid down in an agreement between the public transport companies and the State. DUO and Studentenreisproduct.nl carry out the agreements in this agreement and cannot adjust them independently.

Do you use a weekabonnement? Then you travel in the weekend with 40% discount by train and 34% discount by bus, streetcar, metro and waterbus. Do you use a weekendabonnement? Then you travel on weekdays after 9.00 am with 40% discount on the train and 34% discount on the bus, streetcar, metro and waterbus. Look for the exceptions and a complete overview in our agenda.

If you want to make use of the benefits of your student travel product, you cannot travel with OVpay, so keep your debit card and OV-chipkaart separate when checking in to avoid incurring unnecessary costs. You can check in and out with your debit or credit card, in which case you pay the OV-chipkaart fare without a discount or subscription. For more information, visit ovpay.nl/.

No, if you want to use the student travel product without any problems we advise you not to put any other travel products on your OV-chipkaart with the student travel product. Do you still want to use two travel products (such as a season ticket with a public transport company)? Then place the other travel product on a separate personal OV-chipkaart. Do you still choose to combine your student travel product with another travel product on one personal OV-chipkaart? Then the extra costs you incurred because the student travel product did not work properly are not eligible for reimbursement.

How long you are entitled to study financing and the student travel product depends on your education. DUO has described this for mbo, hbo and university.

It is very annoying when you want to check in and your OV-chipkaart does not work. This can have several causes.

• Do you have a negative travel balance? Top this up to a minimum of € 10. Then you can travel again. If you only travel by bus, then a minimum supplement to € 4 is sufficient.
• Forgotten to check out? If you have not checked out 12 times, your OV-chipkaart will be temporarily blocked. You can have this blocking removed at the counter of the public transport company where you last checked out.
• Is the OV-chipkaart really defective, broken or expired? Then request a replacement card.

There are a number of points you can check if your student travel product is not working properly:

• Make sure you check in with the OV-chipkaart linked to your student travel product.
• Check if your travel entitlement has already started via My DUO.
• Check the validity of the student travel product in the calendar.
• Check whether there are other products on your OV-chipkaart besides the student travel product (e.g. NS Flex). We advise you not to have any other products on your card besides the student travel product. If you choose to do so anyway, the extra costs due to the product not working properly will not be eligible for reimbursement.

Should you still experience problems with the student travel product after checking these points, contact OV-chipkaart customer service .

The student travel product is a weekly or weekendabonnement. You can switch subscriptions free of charge. This is allowed a maximum of twice per calendar year, but not twice within 2 months.

• Indicate in My DUO that you want to change your subscription.
• You will receive an email once your application has been processed.
• Within five business days, the subscription will then be ready at a pick-up machine.
• Pick up your subscription within six weeks.
• Immediately after pick-up , you can travel with it.

For the OV-fiets, you take out a separate subscription (€0.01 per year). The rental cost of the bicycle is collected directly from a bank account. This is completely separate from the student travel product. Check here for detailed information about the OV-fiets.

If you have used an OV-reimbursement abroad and you are back in the Netherlands, the Studentenreisproduct is automatically prepared for you at a pick-up machine by DUO. You can pick-up the Studentenreisproduct with your previously used OV-chipkaart.

Please note: the Studentenreisproduct is only valid after the end date you filled in when applying for a public transport allowance. Have you purchased a new card in the meantime? If so, make sure you link your new card before going to a pick-up machine .

Are you returning earlier than planned? Then report this via My DUO. Then do this in the month before you want to travel with your Student Travel Product again.

With your Student Travel Product, you can take someone with you on the train at a 40% discount during off-peak hours. From April 22, 2024, you can only give a Samenreisk korting by collecting a samenreiscode. To do so, you will need an NS account. You can then share this co-travel code with up to 3 fellow travelers. Want to know more? Go to ns.nl/samenreiskorting or watch the video below