Amsterdam public transport to be scaled down from this summer: report

Amsterdam public transport company GVB is planning some far-reaching changes. From the summer, the GVB wants to reduce the number of trams, buses, and metros running. And next year, it will cut the number of routes, Parool reports based on a draft of the company’s still confidential Transport Plan 2023 and 2024. The Transport Region stressed that the document is a draft proposal and “everything can change.”

According to the plan, fewer trams will run through the city center in 2024. That will particularly affect the Lediseplein and the inner ring road Weteringschans, where GVB will cut the lines from three to two. According to the company, two lines are sufficient for the 25,000 people who use them every day if travelers also follow routes “outside the center.”

Tram lines 12 and 19 will disappear entirely from the city center. The 12, which currently runs between the Amstel Station and Central Station, will soon connect the Sloterdijk and Amstel Station. The GVB will also run an extra tram line to Zuid station.

Tram line 19, which runs from Diemen Sniep to Sloterdijk, will be scrapped entirely. Line 7, which now runs from Azartplein to Sloterparkbad, will continue to Diemen instead. The route to Sloterdijk that was served by line 19 will be taken over by line 12. According to GVB, this will affect about 7,000 travelers per working day.

Plans for the metro lines will see 42,000 people reach their destination faster, mainly because they’ll have to wait less long for the metro on the Noord-Zuid line. Another 36,000 travelers will have to wait longer on other lines.

According to GVB, taking a step back is “unfortunately necessary.” Occupancy of the Amsterdam trams, buses, and metros is still only 80 percent compared to before the coronavirus pandemic. And because Amsterdam public transport operators are paid almost entirely from ticket sales, the financial impact of the lower passenger numbers is quite devastating. The GVB also deals with higher costs due to inflation,e equipment, wage increases, and energy prices.

Thanks to national government support, public transport in Amsterdam could run as usual for the past years. But the condition for that support was that the public transport companies must be able to stand on their own feet from 2024. And that means cutting back for the GVB.

The company will continue to strive for a fine-meshed network with short walking distances for travelers to stops, GVB said. “But we have to look critically at the frequency of these lines and the necessity.” That could mean fewer trams, buses, and metros running before the second half of this year. “If it is too busy somewhere, we will shuffle the range instead of expand,” GVB said. “Adjusting frequencies is less impactful to the traveler than route changes.”