Given the strike call from the FNV trade union to thousands of bus drivers and tram drivers in regional transport and a call from the FNV and CNV to employees of regional carriers who also drive trains, today’s schedule is cheese full of holes. For the traveler, figuring out what is and what isn’t is a mystery.
The strike call comes after the stalemate in consultations between trade unions and employers. According to these employers, in previous strikes a third of regional transportation was out.
“With significant regional differences: in some regions 100 percent of buses, trams and trains were running, in others only 40 percent,” said a spokesperson for the Public Transport Employers’ Association (VWOV).
There will be no strikes on NS trains and in urban transport in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, because these employees have their own collective labor agreements. Collective regional transport covers thirteen thousand people who work on a bus or tram. More than a thousand more fall under the Intermodal Collective Agreement, which also includes regional trains.
Carrier Keolis advises travelers to look for other modes of transportation. Areva also calls on people to choose an alternative mode of transportation. “It will only become clear at the last minute whether or not flights have been canceled due to the strike. If that is the case, it will be processed as quickly as possible across all travel planners and applications.”
Qbuzz says fewer buses are running in Groningen and Drenthe because of the strike.