Getting in and out

Stops

A bus or tram stop is always nearby in Amsterdam. On top of the abri (shelter) sits a yellow square box with an H (halte) on it. On the side of the box is shown which zone this stop is located in and what the destination is of all trams and/or buses visiting this stop.

Amstelveen has combined stops of both regular tram (nr. 5) and sneltram. Board the sneltram at the elevated part of the stop and tram 5 at the lower part of the stop.

Getting in

Since tram and bus do not by definition halt at every stop you should raise your hand when the vehicle appears to let it's driver know you want to get on. You can board a bus at the front door. The lowest step on both buses and trams blocks the closing of the doors. So always make sure to move on.

Boarding a tram is a little more complicated, because some trams have a conductor on board, and some don't. How to board the different tram types is described below.

Boarding a tram with a conductor should be done at the door where the conductot sits, which is the second door from behind on newer model trams, and the last door on most model older trams. To make things easier, every door that you should not use for boading has a signs that says so plus an arrow pointing at the entrance door. You can also get in at the front door. When you get in the driver or conductor will want to see your ticket.

You can board a tram without a conductor at all doors. On these older trams, you will find a button to open the doors next to every door. Once inside, you'll find a ticket stamping machine near the entrance door. Make sure to stamp your ticket as soon as you get in, so asw to avoid a (hefty) fine. If you're unsure how to stamp the ticket, get in at the front door (or walk to the front after getting in) and let the driver stamp the ticket for you. Off course, you can also ask someone close by to help you, but whatever you do, avoid riding without your ticket stamped.

On the other hand, don't stamp if you did so recently. Once stamped, the ticket is valid for all tranfers that you make within the zones that yopu may travel in for a certain period of time. For further explanaition, see the tickets page.

Getting out

To get off press one of the 'stop' buttons that are placed throughout the vehicle. Then a red sign lights up in the front of the vehicle, indicating bus or tram will halt at the next stop. In some tram and bus types the doors are not automatically opened, to open the door press the button next to the door.

Metro and sneltram

The metro and sneltram do halt at every stop. Open the doors with the button on or next to the door. A ding-dong sound indicates that the doors are closing. On metros you must stamp your ticket before getting on the platform.

Wheelchairs

The accessibility of buses and trams for wheelchairs has greatly improved in recent years, but not all routes have low floor vehicles at all hours. In the timetable, a capitol letter A shows the vehicles that are not accessible. However, sometimes vehicles are rerouted or replaced, so -until all older vehicles are taken out of order- it is always possible to encounter a non-accessible vehicle even when it does not show in the timetable.

Metro and sneltram vehicles are better fit to people in a wheelchair: all platforms can reached by elevator or faint slope, the vehicle doors are wider and boarding the vehicles is at platform level.