You carry passengers in the Netherlands, so planning, booking and travelling have to work for everyone. Here is what to do
Airlines, rail and bus operators, ferry and cruise lines and the platforms that sell their tickets fall under the European Accessibility Act, with the ILT as regulator. On this page: which parts of the journey are in scope, how the ILT handles reports from passengers, and how we audit your website, app and e-tickets so a passenger with a disability can plan, book and travel.
What the ILT looks at
The digital side of the journey
The ILT describes digital accessibility in passenger transport as: a passenger can plan, book and make a journey without difficulty. Concretely it names websites and apps with travel information, digital ticketing that works with a screen reader, and display screens and announcements at stations and in vehicles. The legal basis is Directive 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act, which lists services related to passenger transport by air, bus, rail and water among the services that must be accessible.
Who this concerns
- Airlines and airports selling tickets and check-in online
- Rail and bus operators with journey planners, apps and e-tickets
- Ferry and cruise operators with online booking
- Booking platforms that sell these services to consumers
Reports from passengers, and findings sent to the carrier
A passenger who runs into a problem is asked to contact the carrier first. If that does not solve it, the passenger can file a report with the ILT through its online form. The ILT then checks the service and tells the carrier where it does not comply. Services that were already running before 28 June 2025 have a transition period for products that already existed, until 28 June 2030; a website or app you maintain today has no transition period.
Two things supervised elsewhere
- Ticket machines and check-in terminals are products under the EAA; the RDI supervises them. Terminals in use on 28 June 2025 may stay until the end of their economic life, at most twenty years.
- A webshop that sells travel goods rather than transport falls under the ACM.
Where transport websites and apps break for passengers
We test the whole route, from searching a journey to holding a ticket, on the website and in the app. That means the journey planner and its results with a screen reader, the date picker and the seat map with the keyboard alone, the payment step, the time limit on a booking or check-in, and the e-ticket and confirmation documents. Each of those can stop a passenger before the journey starts.
What you get
- A report per component, not per WCAG criterion
- A user story per finding, from the passenger’s point of view
- Screenshots and code examples where they help
- A separate report for the website and for each app platform
How we work with a carrier
- 1
Scope the journey
In a 30-minute call we go through your channels: website, iOS and Android app, e-ticket documents. You get a quote within two working days. A website audit costs from approximately €2,250 to around €5,100 excl. VAT depending on size; an app audit costs €2,150 per platform.
- 2
Audit by hand
A senior auditor plans, books and checks in with a screen reader, the keyboard and zoom, on real devices for the app. A second auditor reviews the work and every report is checked by three people before delivery.
- 3
Retest before the ILT asks
After your fixes we retest per finding and record what is solved, so a report from a passenger meets a documented answer rather than a promise.
Frequently asked questions
Does the EAA apply to a foreign airline or ferry operator selling to passengers in the Netherlands?
The directive lists passenger transport services among the services that must be accessible, and the Dutch regulators describe the obligation by the service and by the customer being a consumer. Whether your company, registered elsewhere, is in scope for the Dutch market is a legal question; have it checked. If you sell tickets to consumers in the Netherlands, we would assume it applies until counsel says otherwise.
Is the timetable screen at the station part of this?
The ILT names display screens and announcements at stations and in vehicles as part of digital accessibility in passenger transport. We audit websites, apps and documents; for physical displays we can advise, but the audit work we do is on the digital channels.
Our e-tickets are PDFs. Do they count?
Yes. An e-ticket is part of the service, and a PDF that is a scanned image or has no reading order cannot be read by a screen reader. We check the ticket and confirmation documents as part of the audit.
Where can I read the ILT's own page?
On the ILT page digital accessibility in transport (in Dutch), which also holds the reporting form for passengers.
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