Travelers who take the bus in Waterland, Purmerend or Volendam know that it can fail at any time. According to transport company EBS, the problem is a shortage of drivers. The carrier has now pulled out all the stops to get more drivers, but the problem will not be solved in the coming months.
It is half past eight in the morning when travelers are waiting for the bus in Broek in Waterland. Many buses to Amsterdam stop here. It becomes painfully clear here how many are already delayed: a waiting man sees on the sign that a bus is not coming at all and another drove on because it was too full.
Sorry
“First of all, sorry, it is very annoying,” says EBS spokesperson Jasper Vermeer. “We hope for a little more patience and understanding from the traveler.”
Transport company EBS knows the problems well and has a painful but honest answer. “We see that we will still have this problem in the coming months.” Drivers are being trained, but the carrier also sees that another group is retiring. “There is no one solution, but we are pulling out all the stops. We have also started recruiting directly ourselves and we give colleagues a bonus if they help new people find work for us.”
No magic wand
Another problem is the approaching autumn. More employees then report sick. Jasper Vermeer of EBS says that he often consults with the client, the Amsterdam transport region, but that they also realize that EBS ‘does not have a magic wand’ with which to solve the problems. In the meantime, travelers would do well to take canceled buses into account.
The buses in the region are currently still running according to the summer schedule, but that will change in October. In December, the buses do not go further than Amsterdam North and no longer to the central station. That should reduce the pressure.