As everyone in the Netherlands already knows, you need an OV chip-card if you want to use any of the public transit options in the Netherlands. And while you can buy an “anonymous” chip-card in the shop, most people who need to travel daily will just register one in their own name. However, most people don’t realize that by registering the chip-card, they also give up on some of their privacy. Because even though public transit organisations officially tell everyone that they won’t abuse the data collected by these chip-cards, the reality is different as explained by this (dutch) article…

The NS (Dutch Railways) has used data collected from these chip-cards to track trips made by their customers to use this for marketing purposes. By doing so, the NS violated the trust of their customers. To make matters worse, even those who used the anonymous cards weren’t completely safe since they often had to provide their email address to activate the chip-card before they could use it.

For me, this is just one more reason to stay away from the public transit in the Netherlands. I value my privacy and my car is often more comfortable than the train. Besides, it’s even faster for me to use the car than to use the train if I want to go to my work, even if there are some severe traffic jams.

Sure, the NS has promised they will destroy the data they’ve collected so far and will stop collecting this information in the future, but do you trust them? They’ve made this promise before, when the chip-card was introduced. And it also makes you wonder what data they will continue to collect and makes you wonder what data other transport organisations are collecting about your travels…

Maybe it’s just time to reorganize public transit in the Netherlands completely. First of all, make it free so everyone can make use of it. The costs could be paid from taxes and sponsors. I bet some companies will be pleased to pay for a bus stop near their front door so employees and customers can easily reach their shops or services. I also think some costs could be earned by having advertisements in the train, bus and subway including spoken advertisements on the build-in intercom. This too would provide more income. And of course, cities who want to support public transit within their boundaries could also pay part of the costs. Quality would improve and there would be no need to keep track of customers.

Besides, free public transit would encourage a lot of people to get out of their cars since it much less expensive. Employers would have no need to compensate their employees for their daily travels since travel would be free. A car would then be more luxury than requirement. Question is, which political party would even dare to make this part of their campaign?