The risk that people will commit fraud with the new public transport smart card is not enough reason to keep the paper ticket system, transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen said on Friday.

The minister had halted the scrapping of paper tickets in Zuid-Holland province because of revelations about how easy it is to travel for free using doctored smart cards.
‘Considering the total turnover from public transport is over €2bn a year and the maximum lost by fraud is estimated at €9m, then fraud is manageable for both the smart card operators and transport firms,’ the minister said in a statement.
The smart card – ov-chipkaart – has already replaced paper tickets on buses, trams and the metro in the Amsterdam and Rotterdam metropolitan regions.