Amsterdam public transport company uses Chippendales to promote new ticket system

Amsterdam, Aug. 14, 2009 — Amsterdam’s public transport firm GVB is using Chippendales in a promotional campaign for its new, chip-based ticket system.

The four male strippers are among 600 extra workers GVB is using to alert passengers to the fact that, staring August 27, the only valid ticket on the city’s underground metro line will be the new OV-Chipcard (PT Smart Card).

The PT Smart Card will eventually be introduced in all of Amsterdam, and later throughout the Netherlands.

In a reference to the pending demise of the public transport company’s old ticket system, the so-called ‘strip card,’ the Chippendales are wearing shirts with the text, “I no longer strip.”

The strip card, however, will remain valid in the city’s buses and trams until the new smart cards are introduced there as well.

When that will be is not clear, as the new system is still not functioning without fault.

That said, the PT Smart Cards can already by used in buses and trams as well, and people who buy their tickets when boarding will be purchasing a smart card.

The GVB has used the introduction of the smart card to raise the price of a single trip from €1,60 to €2.60, and that of a two-hour card from €2.40 to €5.00 — leading many travelers to complain that while the Chippendales will not be stripping, it is the company’s customers who are being stripped.

Original content © Copyright 2009 DutchAmsterdam.nl [Read what that actually means]

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More about these tags / keywords: Chippendales • GVB • OV Chipkaart • PT Smart Card • Public Transport

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