Rotterdam, birthplace of Desiderius Erasmus and city of the Erasmus University, place of the lost bikes. So you've just decided to move to Rotterdam either for exchange or for a longer study period? The thing is, you don't know anything about the city and you need some advice and information on how to survive this dangerous place. Well you've come to the right place, as after reading this article, you'll know all you need about how to properly function in the city.
As a modern country, The Netherlands have adopted a unified system to pay for public transport all over the country, from metros to trains, bikes and buses. This system, called the OV-Chipcard, uses RFID technology to pay for the transportation without disposable paper tickets. However, a newcomer might be slightly confused about how the system works. To begin with, there is four different types of OV-Chicpcards: the disposable chipcard, the anonymous chipcard, the personal chipcard and the student chipcard. The first one, the disposable chipcard, can be bought at the ticket machine for various prices depending on the type of transport and amount of time the ticket will stay valid. While this ticket is useful for tourists and friends or family coming to visit, it isn’t the most affordable option in the long run.
This is why the second one option, the anonymous chipcard, is the one that I use. Indeed, it provides all the benefits of a chipcard without having to give any personal information. Those cards can be bought for 7.5€ at any ticket machine, or at the RET (Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram) desks. However, these cards have to be recharged manually at ticket machines when the credit runs out. To give you an idea of how much transports cost, a trip from the centre to university is about 1.5€, which makes it easy to spend much money on public transport (and why many people use bikes).
The third option is the personal OV-Chipcard, which can be ordered online or bought at one of the RET stores. Those cards display a photo, name and surname. They are more useful than the anonymous ones as they can be scheduled to automatically recharge once the credit on the card runs out. Furthermore, if the card is lost, a number can be called in order to prevent other people from using it for themselves.
The last type of chipcard is somehow similar to the personal chipcard: the student OV-Chipcard. This type of card grants Dutch students with unlimited free travel throughout The Netherlands either during the week or the week-end. And when they don’t travel for free, they still have a 40% discount on the tickets, which they can use for friends without a student chipcard to also get a discount. The issue with those free travel cards is that they are only available for students with a Dutch nationality, meaning international students cannot obtain it right away. However, there is a way for international students to obtain a student chipcard. Indeed, if a student starts to work legally and keeps the job for at least three months, the Dutch governments will reward them a student OV-Chipcard (as well as STUFI, a sort of funding to help students with their education).
For students (like me) who are too unfortunate to manage to get a real job, there is always the cheaper option for transportation in the city: the sacred bike. Biking comes naturally in Holland. The infrastructure is largely developed in all cities and even the countryside. Bike paths are sometimes wider than the roads and make biking easier and safer for everyone. Being from Brussels, I can assure you that biking there that city can be fatally dangerous, unlike Rotterdam. On top of providing a cheap alternative to expensive public transports, bikes are also a great to stay in shape and burn some calories from that last Kapsalon you ate.
There are some basic to observe however, when using a bike in Rotterdam. To start with, the biking path can be treacherous and cause you some bruises. Indeed, there is often a difference between your speed and the morbidly obese old lady in front you, struggling to stay on the bike. In that situation, trying to get in front of her seems to be the logical solution, but might prove harder than you think. Most of the time, said old lady will oscillate on the large bike path, going randomly left or right and making it impossible for you to anticipate when to accelerate and pass the lady. Moreover, there is probably someone biking in the opposite direction that will almost crash into you as your are 30 centimetres close to passing in front of the slow lady-biker.
Some other dangers that are worth mentioning when biking: beware of the tram tracks, as getting your wheel stuck in it while carrying 20 kilos of groceries on your shoulder might result in a few bruises and spilled red wine on the road, making people think your cracked your head on the floor, while the minced meat you bought makes it look like your brains are spilling out. Another danger comes in the form of cars, trams and buses that don’t seem to pay attention the traffic lights and might just run you over for the fun of it. Who doesn’t like some biker mash after all? Biking at night can also be somehow imprudent, as you will usually have a high level of alcohol in your blood. Then, the compulsory bike lamps should help you to not get run over, and show you the way to your bed, if you can still remember where you live.
Finally, there is the tradition of sharing the back of your bike to some friend in despair that needs to go somewhere even though he or she doesn’t have bike. This exercise makes the whole biking experience a difficult fight of balancing your friend and yourself, to avoid the unavoidable violent crash on the floor. I can speak from experience that crashing on the pavement while intoxicated and carrying a passenger is very painful and might destroy your friendship with said passenger.
- Arthur P.
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