A bus lock in Breda was converted into a cycle path less than a year ago. Yet a bus lock is coming back there. Local residents are dumbfounded. “I don’t understand this,” sighs the 37-year-old Björn.
“It was a complete surprise,” Björn continues. “Who comes up with this? I don’t get anything. We can’t bring anything against it,” the local resident knows. “It is less than ten months since everything has been grown!”
In the spring of 2024, the old bus lock on Topaasstraat in Breda was converted into a bicycle transit. Due to the new timetable of carrier Arriva, that bus lock must return. Residents recently received a letter with the plans.
Cracks
“Nobody wants this! This is not going on,” says 73-year-old Daan Heeren resolutely. He went to a residents’ evening. “We used to have cracks in the walls due to heavy buses and freight traffic. And many other residents too.”
He takes a folder with newspaper clippings and photos. According to him, no buses have been running through the old lock for at least ten to twenty years. It would have been closed for years with a concrete block. Until a cycle path was made of it last year. “They spent four weeks doing that,” adds Björn.
New plans
The municipality provides more explanation in the letter. Shortly after the conversion, carrier Arriva would have presented new plans. They also remain the transport company from 2025 to 2035. “This means that line 1 will ride through the Topaasstraat again in two directions. This makes us forced to convert the bicycle trait, which last year, again into a Bussluis”, “,”, writes the local authority.
According to the municipality, other alternatives would not be an option. That would not fit in the timetable or not be good for road safety. The municipality of Breda did not respond to additional questions from Omroep Brabant on Monday afternoon.
In the meantime, residents fear the worst. Daan: “We have nothing to say. Our neck hairs stood up. We will have a bus here every 15 minutes.” He hopes that the municipality will change his mind.
