Time to find other ways to explore and commute in the Netherlands than the regional public transport, at least for this week.
From today onwards, regional public transport staff from Arriva, Keolis, and Qbuzz will strike for five days straight.
While the affected areas aren’t known yet, it’s expected that fewer to zero buses will run outside the major cities. This also includes trains operated by companies other than NS.
The twist in the coming strike is that you never know which bus is about to depart, and which one will decide to strike instead. Fun, right?
Will be felt in Limburg, Twente and the Achterhoek
If you live in one of these three regions, it’s quite likely that the strike will have an effect on your coming week, as the employee’s union FNV reports.
But, since the CNV union also plans to join the strike, there is a good chance that it will have an impact on smaller towns in the rest of the Netherlands in general.
Plan last minute
According to a spokesperson from transport company Keolis, employees should not be asked in advance whether or not they are going to strike, NU.nl reports.
“That’s why we advise travellers to see what is possible just before their trip. Of course, we find this very annoying.”
So for now, if you plan to use regional transport, the best thing that you can do is to simply plan your trip right before you leave home.
This way you can see where you need to find alternative ways to arrive at your destination, and it will even give some extra excitement factor for your usual commute. Yeyy! 🥳
Guess what! No agreement
The main cause behind the strike is that there is still no answer to the proposal made by CNV‘s (Christian National Union) trade union employees.
READ MORE: Maps of the Netherlands: 9 maps to understand the Dutch landscape
The FNV (Workers’ union) spoke in a press release yesterday, saying that it takes “great willingness to strike.”
“Engineers, conductors and drivers of regional lines […] are on strike,” they add.
What alternative methods are you thinking of instead of the regional public transport for this week? Tell us in the comments!