Peak Management for the Dutch Railways: Can Students be Banned from Rush Hour?

This thesis discusses the different possible policies in order to review the suggested policy from the NS to ban students from the rush hours (Bouwens, 2016). The passengers from the NS are facing overcrowded trains in the urban areas. The first part of the text is looking at theoretical support for peak management, strategic pricing and it looks at other countries. The second part is a case study about Rotterdam which shows the local process of decision making. The NS is trying to change the behavior of passengers and focuses on raising awareness to use different modes of transport. Pricing policies combined with loyalty programmes could be an easier solution than banning certain groups of customers.