The GVB will reduce the timetable in the first half of next year. Fewer trips will be made, which saves money. The transport company has to cut costs because of the much lower number of travelers.
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This is evident from a letter sent this week by the Amsterdam Transport Region, a joint venture between Amsterdam and surrounding municipalities about transport. According to director Sharon Dijksma, who is also alderman for Transport in Amsterdam, public transport is ‘really very difficult’.
North / South line
It is not yet known what the new timetable will look like exactly. It is clear, however, that the number of journeys on the North / South line is going from ten to eight per hour. Other ‘very frequent lines’ will also be limited during the day, but at least six trips per hour will remain. The number of trips of ‘semi-frequent lines’ can also go down, but will not be less than four per hour.
Furthermore, on weekday nights, the night lines are largely no longer used. During the weekend this goes to once an hour. Whether public transport will be able to run as usual again in the summer of next year is still the question. Transport companies are asked to scale up ‘flexibly’ if the demand for transport increases again.
To care
The change of the timetable was discussed tonight during a meeting of the Amsterdam Transport Region. Jan-Bert Vroege of D66 and Zeeger Ernsting of GroenLinks indicated that they were concerned about the scrapping of the night lines, because they are also used by people who work at night. Dijksma replied that the GVB tries to take these employees into account and that it mainly concerns journeys to entertainment areas.
Dijksma also approached that the transport companies are missing out on ‘large amounts’ this year. For the time being, it seems that there will be no forced redundancies, although that also depends on the duration of the corona crisis. The government also gives extra subsidy. However, that amount is not enough to get out of trouble and the timetable may therefore be adjusted. Dijksma: ‘Because it has to come from somewhere, there is simply no other way.’
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