Lower governments warn of a quarter less public transport in 2023

If the cabinet does not also come up with money for public transport for next year, the bus, tram, metro and train will run “much less”. That warning comes from the provinces and the transport regions of Amsterdam and Rotterdam-The Hague.

On Thursday, the cabinet reported that carriers can still claim compensation from the government throughout the year to absorb the financial consequences of the corona crisis. The support was supposed to end in September, but has now been extended to the end of the year. However, no additional money has been earmarked for 2023.

But according to the lower authorities, this is really necessary to maintain public transport. They report that the number of public transport travelers is increasing again, but “ticket sales are not expected to return to the old level until 2025”. No extra money for next year could lead to 20 to 30 percent less public transport.

Vital sector

“We have agreed with the cabinet to hold each other in this crisis. After all, public transport was and is a vital sector,” write the Groningen deputy Fleur Gräper-van Koolwijk and the Amsterdam alderman Egbert de Vries. “We have earmarked resources to maintain public transport during corona. The cabinet around 2.5 billion, provinces and regions about 500 million. That now threatens to be wasted money.”

The NS already announced on Thursday that it expects “it may take years before the passenger numbers from before corona are back”. The railway company therefore wants to continue discussions with the cabinet about “a structural solution”.

State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure) already called the extension of the corona support until the end of this year an “exceptional decision”, since there are no longer any corona measures.