The petition for the preservation of the Zaanferry in its current form, has been signed several hundred times so far. The ferry service runs from Amsterdam Central to Wormerveer, but is forced to stop at the end of September. The new coalition of the municipality of Zaanstad is withdrawing the subsidy. A shame, says the initiator of the petition Pablo Kuipers.
“I think the Zaanferry is really of value for the Zaan region,” he says. “In previous years, the turnout was low, but that had a clear reason: corona.” He himself is a regular customer. That’s how he got to know the owners. “I live across from the jetty. We regularly go to Amsterdam and then this is a nice alternative to the bus or train. For me the train is not even much faster. It’s just relaxed, a bit of slowing down.”
40 euro subsidy per card
The municipality of Zaanstad finds it too expensive to maintain the ferry service in its current form. Every year, about 180,000 euros in subsidy goes to it. In view of the visitor numbers in recent years, this makes the service expensive: according to the municipality, about 40 euros in subsidy per card goes to it.
The owners of the Zaanferry don’t think that’s entirely fair. “It’s a bit of a distorted picture,” Vincent Lee says. “If they had waited until the end of this year and then looked, it would have painted a very different picture.” He explains: “This is our fifth year. The first two years we had to build up, we also had two electric boats built for the Zaanferry. Then came corona and we were forced to lay still a lot. This fifth year started well for us, it’s pretty busy. So we were surprised when we were told to stop.”
About 5,000 tickets were sold last year, which has already been achieved in the three months that the Zaanferry sails this year. It is expected that at least ten thousand tickets will be sold. Returns are also counted as one ticket in that count.
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Timetable
Kuipers: “Perhaps it is also possible to reconsider how you are going to subsidize it. They are now bound to a timetable that they have to sail.” Lee adds: “Four days a week sailing back and forth with two boats, without subsidy that is actually not feasible. Even when it rains we have to sail, but then of course very few people come.”
Lee is not without plans. He no longer assumes that the decision will be reversed. After September, he will again focus on parties and celebrations, as he already did before he started with the Zaanferry. “We’ll have to keep going.”