Public transport strike from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.: No trains, buses, trams, metros running
Public transport throughout the Netherlands is severely disrupted throughout rush hour on Wednesday morning due to strikes against the government’s plans to cut social security benefits. No NS trains are running at all. The same applies to almost all city and regional trams, buses, and metros.
Amsterdam Central Station was almost abandoned at 6:00 a.m., with only a handful of passengers with luggage sitting on the benches, ANP reported. Travel information boards indicate the public transport strike, as do announcements over the loudspeaker. The tram stop outside the station is also deserted.
The ferries across the IJ from Amsterdam Central Station to Noord are still operating. The train ot Schiphol Airport is also still running.
Arriva said that it was “running what we can,” depending on how many employees participate in the strike. The transport operator’s website states that the bus between Leer and Groningen is running at least. Keolis, which operates in Midden-Nederland and Oost-Nederland, is also running on a few routes.
GVB in Amsterdam and RET in Rotterdam will only start up their timetables after the end of the strike. RET expects it will take until at least 11:00 a.m. before everything is running on schedule again.
Commuters were urged to work from home if they could, at least in the mornings. Check your travel planner before leaving for the station or stop.
Due to the public transport strike, more people are expected to travel to work by car today. The road users’ association ANWB does not expect any major issues. “We have noticed that it has gradually become a bit less busy over the past few weeks, because more people without school-age children are on vacation,” a spokesperson told NOS. Wednesday morning rush hours also tend to be quieter than other weekdays.
The strikes were called by trade unions FNV and CNV to protest against the Cabinet’s plans to save billions of euros through cuts to unemployment (WW), disability (WIA), and state pension (WOA) benefits.
According to the government, the reforms are needed to keep public finances healthy, resolve implementation problems, and get the labor market moving. According to trade unions, they disproportionately affect workers, also after the government’s concessions of scrapping plans to more rapidly increase the AOW age and abandoning key elements of the WIA and WW reforms.
On Tuesday, FNV said that more strikes would follow after the summer if the government did not abandon these cuts entirely, calling the cuts “disastrous” for everyone. “By dismantling the social safety net, this Cabinet is making the future of millions of Dutch people unnecessarily uncertain," said FNV Spoor representative Henri Janssen. "If the plans are not taken off the table, we certainly do not rule out striking again after the summer. And then a 24-hour strike is the obvious next step.”
Transport company Arriva really hopes it will not come to that. “It is not okay that public transport is being abused again,” spokesperson Nikkie Smit told Parool, referring to similar strikes in 2024 when the trade unions campaigned for early retirement schemes for people with physically taxing jobs. “This really has to stop, and we have made that clear to the unions as well.”
“It is frustrating. I feel really bad for our travellers,” NS CEO Wouter Koolmees said on the WNL show Goedemorgen Nederland. But he also understands the action. “I was a Minister myself and know how the polder works. Every now and then, a statement has to be made to reinforce demands.”
