From today, business travelers can not only plan and book their train journey via the NS app, but also arrange parking.
NS is launching a new service that allows motorists to easily find, reserve and pay for parking spaces using the same app that is already used for train travel and shared transport. With this, NS is taking an important step in offering a complete travel experience from door to door.
According to Ivo Steffens, Director of Commerce & IT at NS, the new service meets the needs of many travellers. “When you think of NS, you think of trains. But many of our travellers are choice travellers: they sometimes travel by car and sometimes by train. To make their journey as easy as possible, we now offer everything in one app: parking, train travel and shared transport,” says Steffens.
research
A survey by market research agency MWM2 among 775 respondents shows that combining parking services with train travel makes the train more attractive. Of the non-train travelers surveyed who are interested in parking via the NS app, 38% indicated that they would consider taking the train more often. NS hopes to appeal to a new target group and further expand their mobility services with this.
"When you think of NS, you naturally think of trains. But many of our travellers are choice travellers: they sometimes travel by car and sometimes by train. To make their journey as easy as possible, we now offer everything in one app: parking, train travel and shared transport."
The new parking service is easy to use. Users of the NS app can open a map by clicking on the 'in the area' button, showing the nearest parking zones with rates. After selecting a parking zone, the traveller starts parking via the app. The costs are rounded off to the minute and added to the monthly NS invoice. According to Steffens, this saves a lot of administrative work: "No more fiddling with separate receipts. Everything is on one invoice."
The service is currently only available to business travellers with an NS Business Card. Soon, customers with an NS Flex subscription will also be able to use the parking facilities. A transaction fee of €0,25 will be charged for each parking session, but registration of license plates will remain free.
Parking via the NS app focuses on the convenience of parking on the street, but NS already has plans to expand the offer to parking garages. The new service is an addition to the existing P+R services, which are especially popular with travelers who leave their car at a station to continue their journey by train. The NS app offers more flexibility for travelers who also want to park at other locations.
door to door
NS has been committed to improving the entire travel experience for some time now. With parking services, train travel and shared transport, NS offers an integrated solution for travellers. For example, customers can park their car at 270 P+R locations at stations to take the train. NS also works with shared transport partners such as Greenwheels, TIER and Check. This makes it possible to use electric shared bicycles and shared scooters, and 160 electric shared cars from Greenwheels are available at more than 2.800 stations. The OV-fiets also remains a popular part of the NS service, with 22.500 bicycles at 288 locations and 120 electric variants at four locations.
With the launch of the parking service, NS shows that it looks beyond the train alone. The goal is a seamless integration of all means of transport, so that passengers can travel from door to door as smoothly as possible. This ties in with NS's ambition to make mobility in the Netherlands smarter, more sustainable and more customer-friendly.
