Klaus protests shortage of transit card readers with cardboard signs

A pensioner has made cardboard signs to protest a shortage of check-in and check-out readers for Denmark’s Basiskort transit card, DR reports. Klaus Bahl Andersen, from Hellerup, says he often has to walk a long way to find a reader.

The yellow readers are used with the Basiskort, which replaced the Rejsekort. Andersen hopes his makeshift signs will prompt transport operators to install more readers, though the signs cannot be used to check in or out.

After he shared the idea in a Facebook group, his post received more than 200 supportive comments by the following day. Some users described having to walk long distances on platforms, including one person who said they had been using crutches after ankle surgery.

Louise Kambjerre Scheel, a senior adviser at Ældre Sagen, said there were too few readers and that some were poorly placed. For people with health problems, she said, this could make it difficult to use public transport.

Diana Stentoft, chair of the Danish Association of the Blind, also criticised the setup, saying it made travel harder for people who do not switch to digital services and may already face additional challenges.

Rejsekort and Rejseplan A/S developed the Basiskort, while transport operators are responsible for the number and placement of readers. Sara Dam Arvanaghi, a team leader at Hovedstadens Letbane, said there were fewer readers because fewer passengers use the Basiskort than used the physical Rejsekort. She said about 10 per cent use the card, while the rest use digital options.

Arvanaghi said feedback was welcome and that more readers were planned at stations where passengers have to walk too far. DSB said in a written response that it was reviewing the number of readers as their final locations are decided, and that plans were in place to install 40 more.