Ticket price hikes unavoidable with €110 mil. cut to big city public transport

The Dutch government’s plans to cut 110 million euros in subsidies for public transport in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague will lead to higher ticket prices, the politicians in the affected cities and travelers’ organization Rover warn.

Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb fears that ticket prices for trams, metros, and buses in the three big cities could jump 11 percent as a result. He told Rijnmond that he knew the government was cutting subsidies to municipalities but did not expect public transport subsidies to be affected. He asked parliament to intervene.

“According to the transport regions, this will make public transport less accessible for vulnerable people on a tight budget. The Rotterdam-The Hague Metropolitan Region points out that hundreds of thousands of much-need homes will be built in the coming years. Good public transport is essential for the accessibility of these homes. If that is lacking, there will be far fewer homes,” said the Rotterdam mayor, who is stepping down next month.

“We still assume that there has been a mistake, and that is why we are lobbying parliament to correct that error,” Aboutaleb said. “We do not know exactly whether parliament knows, whether the coalition parties are aware of it, or whether this cut to public transport is really intended that way.”

According to Amsterdam alderman Melanie van der Horst, also the chair of the Amsterdam Transport Region, the subsidy cuts will result in cuts to the public transport network and significantly higher fares. She pointed out to NH Radio that in recent years, the GVB was only able to prevent a drastically reduced timetable because the government provided millions last year. These investments will now largely be reversed.

Van der Horst is particularly concerned about the consequences for people who live in Amsterdam’s Nieuw-West and Zuidoost districts, and people living outside the city. “For them, the center of Amsterdam must remain accessible.”

Travelers organization Rover is also concerned. Public transport will become less accessible next year due to these budget cuts and a 6 percent ticket price hike at NS. “A 6 percent increase is, of course, better than 12 percent, but it is still a lot,” a spokesperson for Rover told ANP. “And in combination with the cutbacks in the big cities, I am very concerned. The government should actually try to get more people to use public transport, not fewer.”

The travelers' organization also called it “illogical” to cut back on public transport while also pushing for the construction of more homes.