The special shuttle bus that runs between Emmen station and the asylum seeker center in Ter Apel is no longer free. This is what outgoing Minister Mona Keijzer (Asylum, BBB) wrote to the House of Representatives today. Ticket sales had stopped due to nuisance from defaulters.
Keijzer visited Ter Apel this week and repeatedly found free transport undesirable. “This position has now also been made known to the municipality of Westerwolde, and contact has been made today so that the shuttle buses can be paid for again, while we continue to focus on safety,” Keijzer said in the letter to Parliament.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Asylum clarifies that it has been agreed today with the municipality of Westerwolde that payment for the shuttle bus will have to be made again, but that this is not possible immediately. “From an organizational point of view, it may take a few days before it is arranged,” he says.
The municipalities of Emmen and Westerwolde, which includes Ter Apel, recently decided to make the shuttle bus free. The hope was that asylum seekers would no longer use the regular bus line 73 to Ter Apel. Defaulters from the asylum seekers’ center regularly cause nuisance on both the shuttle bus and line 73.