Paying for public transport in ports

[Margarita!]

Hello.  We will be cruising the Baltic next month and have planned our own one day 'excursions' in Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm.

Most will involve public transport including buses.    We are wondering if we will need local currency to purchase a ticket for a bus trip or will our Mastercard suffice?

Cheers.

 

[Desdichado62]

In Stockholm you can't pay onboard the buses so you will have to buy tickets/travel card
before you get on the buses. Your mastercard will be sufficient since we mostly
use card or mobile payment anyway.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Desdichado62

[Danish viking]

In Copenhagen you need cash in the bus, but not more than a 100 or 200 note. 

 

At Oceankaj its possible to buy tickets at the information booth between terminal 1 and 2.

[cadreamer]

Do I need a chip and PIN credit card in Stockholm and Copenhagen? We do not usually have these from the US. If needed and I don't have chip and PIN do I find  a kiosk or window with a person selling tix? I am guessing there are long lines to do this with cruise ships in the city. Would you recommend just buying a 24 hour card for convenience? Where do I find those without a chip and PIN? I will be taking the ship bus from Nynashamm with drop off at theTrain station. Thank you very much.

[JP Medina]

12 hours ago, Danish viking said:

In Copenhagen you need cash in the bus, but not more than a 100 or 200 note. 

 

At Oceankaj its possible to buy tickets at the information booth between terminal 1 and 2.

Hello DV!

We will be docking at Oceankaj April at around 8, so in your experience, which of these options would be the smartest about transport? We have booked a walking tour from downtown at 11am.

A)HoHo Bus, easy, but not well organised as I read.....In my research HoHo buses state that their service from Oceankaj start at 11, a bit late don´t you think?

B)Hire a couple of bikes (DW and I), must be fun! Is that easy??? Maybe going to the Little Mermaid spot and keep going downtown to drop´em, go to the walking tour, have lunch and figure out how to go back.

C)Share a Cab walk downtown and do the same back.

D)Transport day pass, around 12 Euro, BUT start figuring out how to travel the city.

 

Any other???

TIA!!!!

 

 

[Danish viking]

9 hours ago, cadreamer said:

Do I need a chip and PIN credit card in Stockholm and Copenhagen? We do not usually have these from the US. If needed and I don't have chip and PIN do I find  a kiosk or window with a person selling tix? I am guessing there are long lines to do this with cruise ships in the city. Would you recommend just buying a 24 hour card for convenience? Where do I find those without a chip and PIN? I will be taking the ship bus from Nynashamm with drop off at theTrain station. Thank you very much.

If you want to be sure you can get a 24 hour ticket on your phone for Copenhagen. 

 

https://dinoffentligetransport.dk/find-og-koeb-billet/periodebilletter/city-pass-english/

 

 

But I'm suspecting that places that have lots of visitors are able to take the non pin cards but else the above solution would be better. 

 

Remember that americans has almost as many visitors as the British and is now the 6th largest contributer of tourists to Denmark and I think that most of these comes to Copenhagen. 

 

So tourist sites are well aware that americans has some special credit cards. 

 

I work in a big chain store and our machines are able to use both the swipe fuction and the signature option and we are not located in a tourist area

 

But small kiosks and ships are maybe not able to help you because they pay more to the provider if they will be able to accept more than the usual Visa Dankort, Visa and Mastercard. 

Edited April 9, 2019 by Danish viking

[Danish viking]

6 hours ago, JP Medina said:

Hello DV!

We will be docking at Oceankaj April at around 8, so in your experience, which of these options would be the smartest about transport? We have booked a walking tour from downtown at 11am.

A)HoHo Bus, easy, but not well organised as I read.....In my research HoHo buses state that their service from Oceankaj start at 11, a bit late don´t you think?

B)Hire a couple of bikes (DW and I), must be fun! Is that easy??? Maybe going to the Little Mermaid spot and keep going downtown to drop´em, go to the walking tour, have lunch and figure out how to go back.

C)Share a Cab walk downtown and do the same back.

D)Transport day pass, around 12 Euro, BUT start figuring out how to travel the city.

 

Any other???

TIA!!!!

 

 

A) I am not sure how these busses runs, but yes 11 seems very late, have you visited their websites? 

As I understand they run a shuttle between Oceankaj and The Little Mermaid and the you change to the regular lines from there.

It might have changed but this is what other member has reported.

 

B) I'm not from Copenhagen and when I visit the town all the bikers scares me 🙂

Not really but there are many unwriten laws when biking in Copenhagen and they are not afraid to tell you if you do something wrong. 

Also they drive very fast, remember they are commuters. 

 

So if you are an unexperienced biker it won't probably be a solution and its also a long trip from Oceankaj and the first part is in a industrial area with many trucks etc. 

 

But if I haven't scared you of trying it then its possible to rent these city bikes at Oceankaj. 

 

C) nothing to worry about here except for the price 🙂

 

D) that is very easy to do, go to my Wonderful Copenhagen thread for information. 

 

[kaisatsu]

In Oslo, the easiest option is to buy tickets in advance. Single tickets are good for an hour from when you activate them (by swiping on a machine onboard a buS, tram, or ferry or before boarding at a train or metro station). 24-hour passes are roughly the same price as three single tickets.

 

I believe ticket machines (at stations and some tram stops) require chip and pin cards, but you can buy tickets and passes from any kiosk/convenience store (7-11, Narvesen, Deli de Luca, Mix, etc) which will typically be able to process a magnetic-strip or chip-and-sign card. If you dock at the main cruise pier alongside Akershus Fortress, there is a 7-11 right behind the city hall (two-towered brick building on the harbor front facing the ship).

 

Tickets can be purchased from the driver on buses, but it carries a hefty surcharge and requires cash, so it is not recommended.

 

(FYI - Last time I was in Stockholm, we just bought tickets from the closest convenience store.)

[JP Medina]

9 hours ago, Danish viking said:

A) I am not sure how these busses runs, but yes 11 seems very late, have you visited their websites? 

As I understand they run a shuttle between Oceankaj and The Little Mermaid and the you change to the regular lines from there.

It might have changed but this is what other member has reported.

 

B) I'm not from Copenhagen and when I visit the town all the bikers scares me 🙂

Not really but there are many unwriten laws when biking in Copenhagen and they are not afraid to tell you if you do something wrong. 

Also they drive very fast, remember they are commuters. 

 

So if you are an unexperienced biker it won't probably be a solution and its also a long trip from Oceankaj and the first part is in a industrial area with many trucks etc. 

 

But if I haven't scared you of trying it then its possible to rent these city bikes at Oceankaj. 

 

C) nothing to worry about here except for the price 🙂

 

D) that is very easy to do, go to my Wonderful Copenhagen thread for information. 

 

Many many Thanks,

I will go to that thread right away!!

[JP Medina]

6 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

In Oslo, the easiest option is to buy tickets in advance. Single tickets are good for an hour from when you activate them (by swiping on a machine onboard a buS, tram, or ferry or before boarding at a train or metro station). 24-hour passes are roughly the same price as three single tickets.

 

I believe ticket machines (at stations and some tram stops) require chip and pin cards, but you can buy tickets and passes from any kiosk/convenience store (7-11, Narvesen, Deli de Luca, Mix, etc) which will typically be able to process a magnetic-strip or chip-and-sign card. If you dock at the main cruise pier alongside Akershus Fortress, there is a 7-11 right behind the city hall (two-towered brick building on the harbor front facing the ship).

 

Tickets can be purchased from the driver on buses, but it carries a hefty surcharge and requires cash, so it is not recommended.

 

(FYI - Last time I was in Stockholm, we just bought tickets from the closest convenience store.)

Thanks, so I guess it is all very similar to Copenhagen

[Hezu]

In Helsinki there is the following ways to purchase the public transport tickets:

1. From bus drivers with cash payment and generally no bills larger than 20€ will be accepted (especially if you are buying just one single ticket) since otherwise the drivers would run out of change way too soon. This option also carries a small premium in the price. Note that tram drivers (or local train conductors) do no longer sell tickets.

2. By using HSL mobile phone app. The payment will be charged from your credit card (or for Finnish phone subscriptions via phone bill) and obviously you need a working Internet access to be able to use the app.

3. Advance tickets can be bought from various ticket machines, kiosks and other sales points. These accept credit cards, sometimes as the sole payment method. Sadly the map of sales points tells that for those who arrive on a cruise ship that docks at Hernesaari, there is no HSL ticket sales points in the vicinity.

4. There is also a travel card, a smart card that can be topped up in money that can be used to buy single tickets or store 14+ day ticket periods, but this is mainly aimed for those who live in the capital region.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Hezu

[kaisatsu]

FYI - Oslo also has a mobile ticket app (RuterBillett), but I’m not certain that it works with foreign cards. Might be worth a try if you have roaming-free cellular data access, but be prepared with a backup plan in case there are issues.

 

All travel within Oslo (including the entire T-bane metro) is in zone 1, so aside from the airport, that’s all most visitors need to worry about.

[Desdichado62]

There is an app for public transport in Stockholm as well but it has very poor reviews about various malfunctions.

[cadreamer]

So I will skip the app for transport in Stockholm.  If the cruise ship bus from Nynashamm  drops us at the train station where can I buy ticket for the bus to see the Vasa? I do not have a chip and  PIN card.Thanks. I  appreciate your help with this.

Edited April 10, 2019 by cadreamer
added info

[Margarita!]

Many thanks to all for your replies.  25 days to our cruise!  Cheers

[cft8]

In Oslo we bought tickets from the machine, I think we bought day passes. I am not sure if we made the wrong selections, but we were not able to buy two passes in one transaction and we also were not able to use the same card to buy the second ticket.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Danish viking]

That is because its impossible to make 2 purchases in a row with the same amount. 

That is some anti theft measures. 

[cft8]

That is because its impossible to make 2 purchases in a row with the same amount. 
That is some anti theft measures. 

That’s interesting and I hope we will remember next time. Luckily the tickets are inexpensive enough that the foreign transaction fee wasn’t significant since we only have one card with no fees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cadreamer]

Unfortunately my bank told me they only have chip and sign credit cards.. They do not offer chip and PIN. I have used my card successfully in Europe at restaurants etc. but I know there are kiosks (frequently transportation tix) available only to chip and PIN. IF anyone knows of a US bank offering chip and PIN credit cards I would love to hear about it. Thanks.

[Danish viking]

Ticket machines, toll boths, self service gas stations etc etc will require a pin code. 

[cft8]

Our USAA cards have chip-and-pin, but I know USAA isn’t available to everyone. The other card we used when we couldn’t buy two tickets with the same card in Oslo was a debit card. I’m reasonably sure my Citi card has a pin as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cadreamer]

Thanks.  I checked it out and discovered that Barclays uses chip and PIN. I will check Citi. Also  I was wondering if I can use a debit card with a PIN at the kiosks. Sounds like that worked for you.  I would be buying two tickets so good to know to have a second card. I appreciate your response.