WMO carrier Maasstad Regie Centrale (MRC) will cease transporting its eight hundred clients in Amstelveen and Aalsmeer as of 1 November. According to the Amstelveen alderman for Care and Social Support, Marijn van Ballegooijen, the carrier will even stop altogether, even in its home port of Rotterdam.
MRC does not want to confirm this yet, because the company says it wants to inform its drivers first. The carrier says it will come up with a statement tomorrow. NH Nieuws has, however, now seen an email in which the company informs clients about the decision.
Alderman of Ballegooijen lets media partners ON! and RTV Amstelveen managed to be surprised by the carrier’s decision. “We were unpleasantly surprised. That they stop, but also the short term in which they stop working.” In July, the municipality told NH Nieuws that things were going in the right direction again with the carrier, which has been under fire for some time. The MRC was also optimistic. The way up had been found again, the management team claimed.
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Since MRC has provided WMO transport in Amstelveen, complaints have been pouring in to the municipality. Most complaints are about the long waiting times. Van Ballegooijen tapped MRC hard on the fingers several times. He even put the carrier in July a fine of 2,000 euros for every month that things were not in order.
Deep through the dust
The carrier went deep in the dust. “We recognize the complaints about transport that currently does not have the service level that we want to provide ourselves,” a spokesperson told NH Nieuws in April. “We are very sorry about that, because we certainly consider ourselves capable of delivering that quality based on our many years of experience.”
MRC gave a shortage of drivers due to the corona period as the reason for the poor service. As a result of the fine, the company promised to train more drivers in an improvement plan.
“We certainly consider ourselves capable of delivering that quality based on our many years of experience”
Nevertheless, the municipality had not foreseen MRC’s decision. On July 12, Van Ballegooijen decided that MRC would not be fined again, because he saw enough improvements. The number of complaints had then decreased from 40 per week to around 10 per week, the municipality informed NH Nieuws on request. And the punctuality percentage – the extent to which the company succeeds in collecting and dropping off clients at the agreed times – also went in the right direction, according to the municipality.
‘Relieved’
Lonneke Bikker from Amstelveen admits to being relieved after hearing the news. “It was almost impossible to get worse than bad, so I hope things are going better now.” The woman has had two-sided breast cancer and is therefore dependent on WMO transport. Her 84-year-old mother also uses it. Both often have to wait for the taxi and therefore even miss medical appointments.
Lonneke says on Sunday that she has submitted a complaint to both the carrier and the alderman. “I had ordered a taxi on Sunday to go with my father to my mother, who was temporarily in a nursing home, taxi was much too late, driver told us he had two rides at that time, one in Hillegom and one in Westwijk. ” NH Nieuws made the report below with Lonneke in April.
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WMO taxi makes clients wait for hours – NH Nieuws
What now?
Van Ballegooijen says that he quickly knocked on the door of another WMO carrier. He wants to take over the transport in Amstelveen and Aalsmeer, so that it will probably not come to a standstill. According to the alderman, the other carrier also wants to take over the 17 drivers from MRC who work in the region. “I am really hopeful that it will be arranged before November 1st,” said van Ballegooijen. He does not want to reveal the name of the carrier yet, because the contract has not yet been signed.
The commission expects that the new contract will be more expensive than the contract with MRC. This is due to inflation, higher wage costs, higher fuel costs and extra investments in sustainable transport. She expects to be able to cough up the costs this year.
The alderman is investigating whether the extra costs resulting from the break with MRC can be recovered from the carrier. “But our first priority is to find a new carrier for our 800 users.”