Public transport strike: No buses, regional trains running in most of the Netherlands

A regional public transport strike will severely disrupt bus routes and regional train services across the Netherlands on Wednesday. Buses are running on schedule only in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. Travelers should anticipate delays and cancellations of buses and regional trains due to the strike.

Trade unions FNV and CNV announced on Friday that regional public transport workers would strike one day a week leading up to Christmas due to the collapse of collective labor talks. The first strike is today and affects Arriva, EBS, Qbuzz, Keolis, and Transdev, which operates under brands like Connexxion and Hermes.

On Tuesday, the regional public transport companies could not yet predict the impact of the strike, saying much would depend on how many people show up for work. “Not everyone wants to strike,” a Keolis spokesperson said to RTL Nieuws.

On Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for Arriva said that no trains are running in the province of Limburg, but most of the buses will run on schedule. About 15 percent of buses will run in Noord-Brabant. The company expects no service disruptions on regional lines in Groningen and Friesland.

EBS advised passengers to anticipate “significant service cancellations or delays.”

In the Rotterdam region, buses operated by RET will not run, though trams and metros will operate as usual. Transdev operates public transport in Utrecht and couldn’t yet say how much of its services would be running on Wednesday.

The GVB in Amsterdam and HTM in The Hague do not fall under the regional public transport collective agreement, so won’t be affected by the strike. The same goes for NS.

Trade unions CNV and FNV organized this and upcoming strikes after a breakdown in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The old one expired on July 1. The trade unions want “socially responsible schedules” for public transport workers and a wage increase of 9.5 percent spread over two years. They also want a good arrangement for older workers, fully paid parental leave for nine weeks, and a scheme for the tax-efficient repayment of student debt.

“We will organize a day of action every week in the coming period. We will only announce the timing and the nature of these actions shortly beforehand,” CNV negotiator Niels Rook told RTL Nieuws, adding that union members “will not let themselves be sabotaged by employers who draw up emergency schedules at the last minute.”