Taxi drivers not unhappy with public transit strike

While the nationwide public transit strike is annoying to most people, taxi drivers are smiling all the way. "Such a public transit strike can happen more often, according to us", a taxi driver at Amsterdam Central Station said to NOS. He expects a busy day. "We will see how many people we can help today."

Another taxi driver at Schiphol airport shared the same sentiment to NU.nl. "It is very busy today", the driver said at Departure Hall 1, where he just dropped off a passenger from Rotterdam. "I must also immediately take someone back to Rotterdam. If it was up to me, they can strike every day." 

An Uber driver at Amsterdam Central Station told the newspaper that tariffs are 2.5 times as high as usual on Tuesday. "In the center, Oost, Zuid, it is more expensive everywhere", he said. "That is good for drivers, but Uber also takes a large part of it."

In Den Bosch, on the other hand, taxi drivers are dealing with a very quiet morning. It seems many people in that city decided to stay home today. "It looks like a Sunday morning", one driver said to NOS. 

The strike on Tuesday means that most trains, buses, trams and ferries are at a standstill. Though there are buses running here and there. Line 346 in Haarlem is up and running. The bus driver told NH Nieuws that deciding whether or not to work today was a dilemma for him. "You want to go with the strikers, but also come across as reliable. I know that many people need the bus."

Transport company Syntus told NOS that some buses are running in Overijssel, Gelderland and Utrecht on Tuesday morning. This is also the case with Keolis, which is active in the same provinces as Syntus. A number of allGo buses are also active in Flevoland.