The Dutch cabinet is considering bringing in a discount travel card to cut the cost of public transport for people on low incomes.

Up to 900,000 people could be eligible to use the card on trains, buses, trams and metro lines, infrastructure minister Barry Madlener and junior transport minister Chris Jansen said in a letter to parliament.

The ministers have commissioned a study into the potential effect of discounted travel for the half a million people living on or below subsistence level, as well as another 400,000 who are earning slightly more than the threshold.

The scheme would be funded by diverting €157.5 million from the government’s climate change fund and accessing another €152.5 million in European funding. Local authorities have also said they would be prepared to contribute to the cost.

Hatte van Woude, chair of the public transport sector group OV-NL, said transport operators supported the idea, but criticised the government for cutting their budgets.

“It’s made public transport more expensive and lines have been scrapped,” she said, adding that in order to fund the discount scheme, “ticket prices will have to be raised for other passengers or there will be fewer lines and stops.”