hvv Prepaid Card

Clients can use the hvv Prepaid Card to buy the main tickets, e.g. single, day, 9 am group and supplementary tickets. The tickets you buy with the hvv Prepaid Card and which are stored on it are valid on all buses and trains in the hvv area.  

The 16 most frequently bought tickets are displayed on the PVS devices (the terminals for verifying and buying tickets on the buses) to select from: 

• at the new neuen, upright Hochbahn ticket machines (self-service terminals) and 
• from the PVS (verification and sales system) devices on the Hochbahn, vhh.mobility, KViP and RMVB buses

N.B.: In future, it is planned to adapt the S-Bahn and regional train ticket machines as well as those of Metronom to take the hvv Prepaid Card as well.

Please hold your hvv Prepaid Card about 1 cm away from the terminal and wait until a tick on the display confirms your successful purchase. You don’t need an extra paper receipt, so that none will be printed. The remaining credit balance on your hvv Prepaid Card after your purchase will be displayed on the terminal.

You can read out your tickets on the hvv Prepaid Card at any time at one of the new Hochbahn ticket machines (self-service terminals), DB, S-Bahn and metronom ticket machines and in the hvv service centres and via hvv Card Info App and check their validity.

Yes, if  you need it, our bus drivers will still help you when you want to buy a ticket.

You can see here what the ticket overview on the terminals in our buses looks like:

Please click on the picture to enlarge.

Please click on the picture to enlarge.

Please click on the picture to enlarge.

Please click on the picture to enlarge.

• Get on at the front of the bus
• click "Fahrkarte kaufen" on the ticket device
• hold your hvv Prepaid Card in front of the scanner underneath the display until the ticket selection list appears
• select the ticket you want
• confirm your purchase by holding the hvv Prepaid Card in front of the scanner again and close. You don’t need an extra paper receipt, even if a ticket inspector comes, so that none will be printed.

Our tip: After you have held your hvv Prepaid Card against the card reader, the remaining credit balance on your card will be displayed.  

The hvv Prepaid Card can be repeatedly topped up with a new credit balance at the sales points.  

When you buy a ticket at a terminal on the bus with the hvv Prepaid Card, your successful purchase will be shown by a green tick on the display.  You don’t need an extra paper receipt, so that none will be printed. The remaining credit balance on your hvv Prepaid Card after your purchase will be displayed on the terminal. If a ticket inspector comes, they can check your right to travel on the ticket electronically.  

When you need to change buses or get on a new bus, you can check if your latest ticket is still valid by holding it against the terminal there again. A green tick on the display will tell you that a valid ticket is stored on the hvv Prepaid Card.

Display of what is stored on the card

To see what is stored on the card or your account, hold the hvv Prepaid Card in front of the contactless card reader of the ticket machine for about 6 seconds. Then your current credit balance and the tickets you have bought over the past 30 days will be shown.

Buying a new hvv Prepaid Card

To buy a new hvv Prepaid Card, press “hvv Prepaid Card“ on the menu bar at the left-hand side of the display. You can find this option in the middle part of the menu bar.  

After this, press the button “Karte kaufen“ at the right-hand side of the display. After choosing how much you wish to load up (5, 10, 20 or 50 euros), you can pay with your means of choice (cash, EC, Credit card, ApplePay, GooglePay) in the shopping cart. After you have successfully paid, you will receive your hvv Prepaid Card with the credit balance you have chosen in the issuing tray. After payment, a notice will appear on the display and, if you want it, a receipt as proof  that the card has been loaded up.  

Loading a credit balance onto a hvv Prepaid Card you already have

You need to hold the hvv Prepaid Card in front of the contactless card reader of the ticket machine for about 6 seconds. A window will then open in which you can choose the amount you want to load up (5, 10, 20 0r 50 euros). You can then take the hvv Prepaid Card away from the card reader. You can pay with your means of choice (cash, EC, credit card, ApplePay, GooglePay) in the shopping cart. If you load up the  hvv Prepaid Card by payment card, you need to take the hvv Prepaid Card away from the contactless card reader at this point. After payment, a notice will appear on the display and, if you want it, a receipt as proof  that the card has been loaded up.

The hvv Prepaid Card can be repeatedly topped up with a new credit balance.  

Buying a ticket with the hvv Prepaid Card

To buy a ticket, select a ticket as usual. This will then appear in the shopping cart and from that point on, it can be paid for using all available means of payment (including the hvv Prepaid Card). To do this, hold the card in front of the contactless card reader for about 6 seconds. After a successful payment with the hvv Prepaid Card the message “1 ticket has been bought and added on the Card“ will appear. In addition, your remaining credit balance will be shown.

General remarks

It is helpful to place the Card in the card holder of the contactless card reader (see photo). The time needed for reading out the Card may take several seconds depending on what process is being used (c. 6 seconds). In order to ensure a smooth purchase process, do not take the Card away from the card reader too soon.   

Please click on the picture to enlarge.

The card reading device is there to make it easier for the passenger to maintain the correct distance when they hold their hvv Prepaid Card against the ticket machine. This is necessary so that the Card can be correctly read by the machine, or the credit balance or the ticket they have chosen can be correctly registered. For this purpose the hvv Prepaid Card must additionally also be held I front of the card reader for about 6 seconds.

Yes, you can buy several tickets for different persons with a hvv Prepaid Card. When you buy tickets on a bus, just choose the next ticket after you have bought the first one and hold your hvv Prepaid Card in front of the card reader again.

You will now see a message that the Card has already been used. Please confirm this message by tipping on the button “Fahrkarte kaufen“ and then continue with your purchase.

Please click on the picture to enlarge.

The hvv Prepaid Card is like cash. If you lose your hvv Prepaid Card, then unfortunately you have lost the credit balance on it as well.

As with the Deutschlandticket, the Card will be checked electronically by the ticket inspector.

Repayment of the remaining credit balance on a hvv Prepaid Card is initially possible in the following hvv service centres:

• Ahrensburg
• Altona
• Barmbek
• Bergedorf
• Billstedt
• Blankenese
• Dammtor
• Elbgaustraße
• Fuhlsbüttel
• Harburg
• Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
• Johanniswall
• Jungfernstieg
• Neugraben
• Pinneberg
• Poppenbüttel
• Wandsbek Markt
• Wedel 

With the hvv Prepaid Card, unlike when you buy a ticket online from hvv, you don’t need to register a bank account (or a PayPal account) with us. A credit balance is loaded onto the Card at the beginning (=prepaid). That means that the Card and the credit balance on it are equivalent to cash.

Yes.

The relevant legislation prescribes that we must accept cash for our services and that this can be done at a sufficient number of places. The law does not require us to accept cash payment at all points of sale.

You still have the option of buying tickets with cash at the hvv ticket machines as well as in our service centres. 

With the ticket machines and the network of kiosks, supermarkets and petrol stations, there are more than 800 sales points where you load up the hvv Prepaid Card with cash, s that the legal requirement is even overfulfilled.