New timetables threaten to cut off the villages of Zuidvelde and Een from public transport. If it is up to the Noordenveld city council, this will be stopped. Tonight she adopted a motion to urge the public transport agency for a better timetable.
For Christel Pijpker (PvdA/GroenLinks) this is impossible. As a resident of Een, she sees how important the bus connection is in the village. “My daughters both use it. They will soon have to count on twenty minutes extra cycling time and will only be in Groningen after an hour and a half of travel.”
“I grew up in Langelo myself and I know what it is like to have little public transport in the village,” continues Pijpker. “But soon there will be nothing at all in Een. I think that is very serious.”
Pijpker points out that students are living at home longer, because of the shortage on the housing market. “And in our village more young families have recently come to live. For them there just has to be a bus connection.”
Alderman Robert Meijer (VVD) indicates that he will have a meeting with the public transport office tomorrow. “Because this situation surprises me. We have heard through the media that these bus stops would be cancelled, while it is good practice to first inform those involved. So we are going to work with this motion and see it as a boost .”
The reason that the public transport agency is canceling the stops is because they are ‘not profitable’. Pijpker sends shivers down her spine when she hears that term. “Not profitable, that’s the message that the countryside gets. I think that’s pretty serious. It just means that the western part of our municipality no longer has public transport.”
The council may support the motion, but Pijpker wonders whether it will make sense. “I know that major cuts have to be made and that it will be difficult,” she says. “But I hope they will listen. I would like to invest in public transport at this time.”