During off-peak hours, the additional supplement for the NS Intercity Direct train (IC Direct) will be 42 percent cheaper, starting from April 9 until December 8, 2018. NS hopes that making the supplement for the IC Direct cheaper will encourage passengers to travel during off-peak hours.
NS previously made the supplement on the IC Direct free for those travelling between Schiphol and Rotterdam during off-peak hours. This was because of a fine that the NS received for the inadequate performance of the IC Direct in 2016. The free supplement was thus a means of giving back the money spent on the fine to passengers.
The IC Direct supplement will no longer be free, starting April 9. However, passengers travelling outside of peak-hours will receive a discount of 42 percent. This discount amounts to one euro, thus making the supplement 1,40 euros instead of 2,40 euros.
NS has set aside two million euros for the new discounted supplement and hopes that it will prove an incentive and encourage passengers to travel outside of busy peak-hours. Off-peak hours are between 9:00am and 4pm, 6:30pm and 6:30am and during the weekend and public holidays.
The number of passengers on the high-speed train line has been increasing and between Schiphol and Rotterdam this increase came in at 25 percent, much higher than the national increase of 0,8 percent. The passenger growth is expected to continue.
According to NS, the high-speed trains departing from Rotterdam to Amsterdam at 7:11am and 8:41am are especially crowded, as well as the IC Direct trains departing at 7:41am, 7:57am and 8:11am, which can better be avoided by travellers.
In order to accommodate the growing number of passengers, NS will be introducing another train service this December, bringing the total number of trains running each hour from four to five. The extra service will run in both directions between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. At the end of last year, the IC Direct was on time for 83 percent of the journeys it made.