Public transportation here is relatively expensive. In Paris you can buy a book of 10 tickets for about $12. One ticket will take you from one side of Paris to the other. And it is simple to follow the visual instructions even if you don't speak French. In Amsterdam, however, it is very difficult to use public transportation let alone find a transport map. Also, here you pay by kilometer traveled. And buying a ticket is a real challenge. Ticket plans can only be purchased at certain designated places. And it is very difficult to find out where these are located!!!
There is little published information about the public transportation system and believe me, it is well hidden. There are at least 8 or 9 different plans to choose from. However, we have still not found any information on most of them. After asking and asking, we were advised to buy a “chip card”. But no one mentioned that the machine that dispensed them would only accept European chip credit cards. So, Ed's chip credit card got chewed up as he followed the instructions to push it further into the machine. Fortunately, we found someone working for the railroad who helped us sort out the problem. So, we now have laminated “chip cards” which allow us to ride all means of transportation throughout the country and the first installment only cost nearly 100 euros.
