In practice you will use your WUR card to pay. The card itself won’t carry a balance, instead it will be linked to a virtual wallet. You’ll put money in your eWallet by transferring money to it from your own account using iDeal or Paypal.
Facilities & Services thinks that a personal eWallet is the best way to replace the chipknip. ‘Returning to cash payment, for instance, wasn’t an option for us,’ says Annet de Haas, head of Location Facilities. ‘It leads to vandalism and means the product dispensers have to be emptied of cash.’ As for the new payment systems being introduced by banks, there’s still too much uncertainty surrounding them, believes De Haas. > Returning to cash payment wasn’t an option for us — Annet de Haas, head of Location Facilities
In two weeks’ time, the new all-in-one printer, scanner and copier machines will be installed – complete with the payment system – in Forum and Orion. The Leeuwenborch is likely to follow a week later. According to the current schedule, the coffee dispensers will switch in mid to late May.
Students using the new system will have to make sure they don’t spend money needlessly on transaction fees. iDeal charges 60 cents per transfer to the eWallet; PayPal’s fee is 35 cents plus 3.9 per cent of the transfer amount. To compensate for these additional fees, Facilities & Services is reducing its printing rates.
The eWallet can be topped up via the link on MyPortal, or the QR code generator that will soon be hanging next to the multifunctional printers.