Originally Posted by
sdsearch
I dont know about those particular smaller cities in Germany that are being discussed in that thread, but I've run nto a number of (usually larger) cities both in the US and Europe where you may not be able to buy individual tickets with a credit card but at certain locations you can buy passes of one sort or another for the local transportation system with a credit card.
Actually in Germany you can buy individual tickets with CC also, provided you buy it at the office where the clerks usually know how to run the US-issued cards versus at the window where the card reader is mounted outside. I have done so with the mag cards.
I notice that the clerk at the office would take a look of the card to determine where the mag tape is located, then insert it with a correct direction - apparently it is the end of the mag tape that stores the vital information. Inserted it the wrong end, the card would fail.
I can also buy individual tickets in Amsterdam with CC, except there would be a 0.50 euro surcharge. NL is a CC unfriendly nation. Their grocery stores do not take CC at all, versus in Russia, even a very small store would take CC. In general, Western Europe is more a cash-based society than Eastern Europe - that is a big surprise we have found during our month long trip last Summer. All the Baltic countries, Eastern Blocks and Russia, we can pay with CC on virtually any purchases, while we could not pay with CC even at some chain restaurants in Germany.