Haarlem must remain attractive, healthy and easily accessible. But the city must also grow by building new homes. To achieve all this, the municipality is committed to, among other things, better bus connections. That turns out to be a puzzle that is not so easy to solve.
Haarlem has quite a few ambitions: the city must become greener and car use must reduce.
At the same time, many new homes have to be built and the city continues to grow, while there is little room for more bricks. Moreover: how do all those Haarlem residents get from home to work or school and back again? Better bus transport is one of the solutions.
The difficult thing is that the municipality does not fully control public transport itself. It is dependent on carriers such as Connexxion, the province and other municipalities in the region. The province and transport region of Amsterdam are the real clients of bus transport.
Approximately 10,000 new-build homes should be added in Haarlem in the coming years. At the same time, the mayor and aldermen do not want the number of cars to grow, in order to encourage the use of bicycles and public transport.
Nuisance buses
But that is not that simple. For example, residents of the center suffer from a lot of inconvenience due to the large buses that drive to and from the train station. The buses also pose a danger to pedestrians and cyclists in the center. That is why the plan was made to no longer allow the large double-deckers to drive via Stationsplein. Cyclists and pedestrians should be given more space on that square in the future.
New stops for the bus line between Amsterdam and IJmuiden should be created on the north side of the station. The kiss & ride lanes must then be moved. The current above-ground bicycle shed must be located underground and easily accessible by bicycle from Haarlem-Noord.
New South
There should also be a new bus station: the Nieuw-Zuid public transport interchange at Europaweg and Schipholweg. By having more regional bus lines stop there, fewer large buses will have to drive to and from the train station in the future. Sufficient bicycle parking spaces must be provided at the new bus station. Schalkwijk shopping center has a small bus station.
The role of Haarlem-Spaarnwoude station will increase in the future due to the arrival of many new homes in Oostpoort, the municipality predicts. The bus station is therefore being redesigned and the cycling routes in the area are being improved.
Bus line 2
If it is up to the municipality, the route of a number of bus lines will be adjusted. For example, for road safety it is better to have line 2 run via Verspronckweg and Kleverlaan. Instead of the current route, through Velserstraat. This bus line can also serve Spaarne College, instead of line 7. That connection would not be profitable, because traveling with a student card yields less money for the carrier.
The plans of the mayor and aldermen for bus transport in Haarlem will be discussed in the council committee in March.