I spent the last couple of days in the Netherlands....at Leiden.....doing the Haag and Rotterdam day excursions.
They've updated their ticket business in the Netherlands.....making it kinda interesting. You see....in the old days....you always had weird characters, pickpockets and nutcases around the train stations....no matter where you went in the Netherlands.
Now? You walk up to the front door of the train station and there's some machines to buy your paper ticket or load your chip-card. There's a clerk or two there for questions or other purchases. Then.....there's only way to enter the station....via some scanners and you flash your card (either one) across the scanner. No card? No entry, at least in principal. If you got inside the 'zone'.....some train station cop could ask for your ticket and see if you were supposed to be there.....no ticket? They'd either escort you out or ask more questions.
When you get to your destination.....you scan 'out'. There's another guy walking around beyond the train station and watching for people exiting and looking for anyone trying to skip the scanning process.
I have to admit.....it's really cleared out the train stations. The dopers.....the drunks....the pickpocket guys? They seem to have vacated entirely.
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