tram panic time - Amsterdam
 

I've read some comments about the difficulty of buying tram tickets, but my panic also is over knowing when you get off. Say I manage to buy the tickets and start riding. The directions say go 13 stops, but will they be noticeable? Are there big signs? Will I be able to recognize them? Will the tram actually stop at each stop? Will someone say the name of the stop and if so will I recognize it, not knowing Dutch? I know I'm goofy about this, but I always start to panic about over public transportation at this point in trip planning. Will it be as hard as I fear?

Find out the NAME of the stop where you need to get off. Use the "number of stops" as approximate. There's a good chance the tram itself will have a list of stops posted somewhere on a chart or something or maybe there will be one at the stop. (I haven't been on a tram in Amsterdam in years.)

Yes, it should be obvious you are at a stop. Modern trams will even show the stop on a reader board.

FYI, you might try looking on Google Street View to see if a photo of where you would get off is shown. That might at least help familiarize you with the look of the city at that spot.

And if you get off at the wrong stop - probably not the end of the world. Get your bearings, get back on the next tram. I've done that more than once in Europe. Not the end of the world.

<i>tram panic time - Amsterdam
Posted by: sallyky on Aug 19, 13 at 8:28pm
I've read some comments about the difficulty of buying tram tickets, but my panic also is over knowing when you get off.</i>

Panic not. See http://en.gvb.nl/pages/home.aspx and http://tinyurl.com/lvn7cxa to get advance information. If that fails ask anyone on the tram car for help. Everybody speaks English and is always happy to help a "Yank."

Last time I went, trams had recorded announcement of every stop. The usual drill is to announce the next in good time for someone who wants to get off there to press the stop button.

Of course, if you're not used to Dutch, you may be surprised that they don't all sound like you might expect from the spelling. But if you have a map to hand and can follow the route, even if you go too far, you can always get off and get one going back in the opposite direction.

I was in Amsterdam this summer. All the trams I went on had electronic signs announcing the next stop. They also had voice announcements, but I sometimes found it difficult to understand what the voice was saying.

At most tram stops they have information about the lines stopping there, with a list of the line's stops. If you're really worried about missing your stop, you can make a note of the name of the stop before the one you want to get off at.

I did have a problem, once, with a door that wouldn't open in the middle of a tram carriage. But, like Andrew said, just get off at the next stop and take another tram back.

If you buy an OV Chipkaart, don't forget to check in and out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I now feel ready to enjoy this trip.

Check out the GVB site. It may be simpler to get a multi-day pass than the OV-kaart (certainly you can get them from a machine in the GVB office immediately opposite the Central Station).

Amsterdam is very walkable - the city center is compact with most major sights within a compact few square-mile area - and walking lets you see many neat things in between the mega tourist sights - you may not even take a single tram IME if at all into walking.