Periodekort: It's harder to pronounce than it looks.

29 June 2012

Starting out in Copenhagen, I was already familiar with the klippekort (a 10-trip pass), since I had used it last time I was visiting the city. I had done my research before arriving, and knew that I had to purchase the 2-zoner. Actually, the 2-zoner is the minimum amount of zones you need to purchase anyway for any travel on the DSB system (the public transportation system... by bus, metro, s-train...). I was lucky enough to be located on zone 2, so it stretched my kroner by traveling. If you don't have a klippekort, you can purchase a one-way ticket on the bus for 24 Kr., which is about $4 USD. A lot? Yes. So if you plan on staying in Copenhagen for two days or more, I recommend getting it. It costs 145 Kr., about $25 USD. At least it's convenient enough that you can buy transportation tickets at every 7-11 in Copenhagen.


But I was buying a 2-zoner klippekort every 5 days without a bike... that starts to add up.

The day before leaving for my Sweden-Finland study tour, I went out to the DSB office at the central station with a passport-type photo plus my passport to purchase a month pass (periodekort). It was going to save me a lot of money rather than spending 145 Kr. every 10 trips. I had already bought 4 klippekorts and knew that I had to save more kroner than buying a klippekort every 5 days or so. The best part about the periodekort is that you can choose the dates that it is valid for, with the minimum of 30 days of course. When it was my turn at the ticket window, it became really difficult to ask for what I wanted because (1) the women behind the glass barely spoke English and (2) the word periodekort isn't easy to pronounce as it looks.

Period-card
Period-kort
Periode-cart
Peh-riah-deh-koh-t
Peir-oh-deh-kehrt

I resorted to describing how it looks like and what it does, and finally, after some embarrassment and frustration, the lady behind the glass figured it out. "Month Pass!". Yes... thank you. 346 Kr. later (about $60 USD), I got my periodekort. It would come out to a little over 11 Kr. a ride/trip (~$1.90 USD), rather than the 14.50 Kr. (~$2.40 USD) I was paying with my 2-zoner klippekort. Oh the savings!

Obviously not my personal periodekort...

So I finally walked out of the central station with my periodkort pass in a nifty blue vinyl case valid from the time that I returned from my study tour until my departure date from Copenhagen. Perfect. Even with a bicycle on hand upon my return from my studytour, this pass would come very much in handy. No limits on public transportation within 2-zones! I no longer had to stress about my timestamp or how many klips I had left. Wonderful.

Note: for DIS students, if you are living with DIS housing, dorms or apartments, DIS provides you your periodekort for the duration of your studies in Copenhagen. If you opt out of DIS housing like I did, make sure you get one! You can easily go to http://www.dsb.dk/ and order yours online, or go to the central station and attempt to order one as well.