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The public transport company makes a similar assessment. “If the strike is followed up properly, the nuisance will be greatest on the city networks”, says Astrid Hulhoven, spokeswoman for De Lijn.
Check website or app
The public transport company advises travelers to check in advance whether their tram or bus is coming. This can be done via the De Lijn app or via the website to search for the stop where you want to board. “That is the easiest way to get real-time information about the trams or buses that stop at their stop”, says Hulhoven.
Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) asks the private bus operators who are responsible for the reinforcement rides to carry out these rides today, even if the regular bus does not show up. “This means that there will only be coaches in various places to give travelers the opportunity to get around,” she said in a statement. Since 5 October, these private operators have been deployed during the school peak hours. It currently concerns an additional 185 buses.
Customized transport
The 24-hour strike at De Lijn is a result of the plans of the Flemish government to have “customized transport” – the dial-a-bus exchange and student transport – arranged by a private player by 2022. The unions fear that as a result fifty employees involved in this planning will have to make the switch to a private company, where they will not receive any guarantees of job security.
“We hope to be able to give a signal with this strike,” says union secretary Van Der Herten. “We expect the employer to look for ways to retrain the employees involved. There are plenty of opportunities to re-fish them within De Lijn.”
“Strike totally irresponsible”
However, the management of the public transport company is not set up with the 24-hour strike. “Striking is totally irresponsible in this time in which De Lijn has to compete with the private sector,” said Director General Roger Kesteloot in a statement. “The unions are thus putting the future of De Lijn as a whole at risk.”
Minister Peeters regrets the action. She points out that the operation of De Lijn is currently the subject of a benchmark study, a comparative study of public transport in similar regions. “This benchmark will be decisive in determining whether De Lijn can continue to function as an internal operator in a future-oriented way,” she points out.
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