OV-Chip card: User adoption short after abolition of the previous transport system in The Hague

This research is based on the adoption of the OV-Chip card in the city of The Hague and surroundings. The OV-Chip card is a required RFID tagged smart card, that should be used for travelling by public transport in the Netherlands. The OV-Chip card system is in the phase of being implemented in the Netherlands and The Hague is third major area (after Rotterdam and Amsterdam) that abolished the previous transport tickets (‘strippenkaart’) and switched to this new system. In this research the factors that influence OV-Chip card adoption are explored. Firstly, literature review is performed on adoption models/theories and past researches on the implementation of the OV-Chip card system. Simultaneously, we observed customers and employees during our job at the service desk of HTM (the biggest public transport organization that serves in The Hague area). Hereafter, a research model is developed and hypotheses are formulated. The hypotheses are tested by information that is collected from (potential) users by making use of questionnaires. To analyze our dataset, SEM technique Partial-Least-Squares is been used. The results support that external influence, subjective norm, relative advantage, compatibility, perceived ease of use, trust, perceived usefulness, voluntariness and intention to use have a significant effect on OV-Chip card adoption in The Hague. Perceived behavioral control and observability represent insignificant effects. Furthermore, in this research we searched for moderating effects. The variables race, gender, age, type of card used, experience and frequency of use have a significant moderating effect on the causal relationships.