Seamless travel
People travelling by train have usually already travelled a distance. Usually by bicycle, sometimes on foot, or by car or another form of public transport. We work with partners to invest in a seamless door-to-door journey for our customers.
Chain Experience Monitor
Since 2024, NS has conducted online customer satisfaction surveys through its Chain Experience Monitor. The Monitor focuses on the NS services Bicycle Parking, Fiets & Service, Public Transport Bicycle, Car Parking and Toilets. The survey is structured in the same way for each service to allow comparisons. Before 2024, the Chain Experience Monitor was carried out using a different measurement method. The figures from the 2024 Monitor therefore cannot be compared with the customer satisfaction figures for previous years. The new method makes it easier to compare the different chain services.
Bicycle parking
A large proportion of train passengers cycle to the station. In collaboration with municipalities and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, ProRail and NS Stations are developing facilities where train passengers can park their bikes easily and without hassle. We offer passengers supervised parking spaces for more than 193,000 bicycles (2023: 198,000). In 2024, a new bicycle parking facility was opened at Ede-Wageningen station, but the bicycle parking facility at The Hague Central was temporarily closed due to renovations. The parking facility at Jaarbeursplein in Utrecht was also temporarily closed as a precautionary measure by the municipality of Utrecht in order to investigate the construction. Passengers were able to use neighbouring parking facilities.
There are also over 328,000 unsupervised parking spaces (2023: 328,000) and 10,400 bicycle lockers at stations (2023: 10,400).
We offer passengers free bicycle parking for the first 24 hours in 87 facilities (2023: 88). At many stations, we use digital signs to point out free spaces in the parking facilities. Passengers can use their public transport smart card to check in and out of these facilities. Customer satisfaction with the bicycle parking facilities is high: 7.8 for staffed bike facilities and 7.4 for unstaffed facilities.
New check-in and check-out zone
In 2024, we continued to roll out new check-in and check-out zones in staffed bicycle parking facilities from thirteen to fifteen locations. This service is new at the parking facilities at Utrecht Vaartsche Rijn and Ede-Wageningen stations. Several factors have led to a delay in the roll-out of the new check-in and check-out zones at Arnhem Central and Utrecht Central. At Arnhem Central, it has proved more difficult than expected to implement the zones, plus other work at that location has been delayed. At Utrecht Central, we postponed installation as a result of the temporary closure of the Jaarbeursplein facility due to construction problems. The closure of this large parking facility led us to delay the introduction of new check-in and check-out zones in the De Knoop bicycle parking facility on the Jaarbeurs side of Utrecht Central for the time being. This will avoid the further loss of available bicycle parking spaces at this location.
Fiets & Service
Fiets & Service is a service chain for bicycle repairs, parts and accessories. There are 34 Fiets & Service repair points in all, at 30 stations (2023: 34). The opening of the new Ede-Wageningen station on 23 February 2024 saw Fiets & Service relocate to the new bicycle parking facility. The total number of repairs at all Fiets & Service shops increased by almost 9% compared to 2023. The Fiets & Service Jaarbeursplein Utrecht was closed for an extended period at the end of 2024 due to construction problems in the bicycle parking facility.
Public transport bicycle
In 2024, passengers made 5.9 million trips (2023: 5.9 million) on public transport bicycles. In all, around 22,000 public transport bicycles were available at 282 locations throughout the country at the end of 2024. Customer satisfaction remains high at 7.6. This figure cannot be compared to last year's figure due to a new measurement method (the same applies to other services).
15 years at NS
In 2024, we celebrated 15 years of the NS public transport bicycle with a public campaign. Artist Daniël Roozendaal designed a unique art print for each province, printed on five public transport bicycles for each province. Public transport bicycle fans had a chance to win one of these art prints by sharing their public transport bike adventures. Around 5,000 fans took part in the competition.
We completed the procurement process for the fourth-generation public transport bicycle in 2024. NS expects to purchase 5,000 new public transport bicycles from the selected manufacturer in 2025.
A second life for public transport bicycles
We repair public transport bicycles in house to get them back on the road quickly. If this is no longer possible, circular bike builder Roetz ensures that the bicycle is disassembled and fully reassembled. In 2024, 1,030 old bicycles were dismantled and refurbished into 635 new public transport bicycles. As part of this process, 60% of the components were reused.
New locks
In recent years, we have developed new smart locks for public transport bicycles that are opened using personal public transport smart cards; the rental starts instantly, without the intervention of an NS employee. The further roll-out of the public transport bicycle smart lock in 2024 means that almost 70% of the total fleet will have the new electric lock.
New unstaffed distribution point
In 2024, we built new, unstaffed public transport bicycle outlets at 45 stations. This brought the total to 93. Overall, we are replacing 225 existing distribution points. As part of this project, we will also create 35 new public transport bicycle locations at train stations. One of these was rolled out in 2024.
Public transport ebikes
The electric public transport bicycle (public transport ebike) was trialled at Driebergen-Zeist, Arnhem, Maastricht and Groningen in 2024. A total of 30 public transport e-bikes are available at each of these stations. NS ran this pilot to find out whether ebikes are a valuable and feasible addition to our public transport bicycle offering. In 2024, 31,593 journeys were made (2023: 30,242). Average customer satisfaction in 2024 was 7.2.
Car parking
In 2024, more than 2.2 million passengers used a regulated P+R facility (2023: 2.1 million). These are paid car parks with a barrier. Particularly in the regions outside the Randstad conurbation, where many people travel to the station by car, P+R facilities are of considerable value in facilitating the car-train combination. User satisfaction in 2024 with our free P+R was 7.5.