Connexxion

Due to a national strike in regional public transit, virtually no city- or regional buses will run from today. Some regional trains could also fall out. NS trains, and public transit in Amsterdam and The Hague are unaffected. Rotterdam is partly affected.

A nationwide strike in regional public transit previously announced to start on Monday, has been postponed until Wednesday, June 27th. This is to give mediators more time to come to a solution in the deadlocked collective bargaining agreement talks between unions and employers, union CNV said, AD reports.

Public transportation in the Netherlands was seriously disrupted Thursday morning after regional transit workers walked off the job at 4 a.m. in a one-day strike. The labour action is meant to call attention to what the workers have called unreasonable work pressure, and a pay raise that is capped 40 percent lower than what the bus drivers and train conductors wanted.

Dutch labor union FNV has announced a massive regional transit strike scheduled to take place on Thursday that will shut down many public transportation routes including tram lines in Utrecht. The planned action is because workers could not get guarantees to reduce job stress, and a proposed salary increase is smaller than demanded.

The police arrested a man carrying a sword from a Connexxion bus in Den Helder on Monday night, a community police officer said on Twitter.

The bus driver called the police because the man was misbehaving. Officers removed him from the bus.  It later turned out that he left his sword on the bus. He was arrested.

"Other than that we had a quiet Christmas", officer Rolf Regtop said on Twitter. 

Former State Secretary Security and Justice Fred Teeven is working part time as a bus driver for Connexxion, the public transit company confirmed to NU.nl.

"I do driver work part-time and have just finished my introductory course", Teeven said to the Telegraaf on Thursday. "I always wanted to be an international truck driver, but when the chance arose to sit on the bus for a day and a half a week in my own region, I immediately became enthusiastic."

Two people were killed in a workplace accident at Almere public transit company Connexxion on Thursday, the Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate confirmed, RTL Nieuws reports.

The accident happened at a workshop. The two employees were working on a bus that was on a lifting bridge. The bus fell and crushed the employees. How this happened is still unclear.

The Inspectorate is investigating what happened.

According to Omroep Flevoland, the investigation is expected to take three months. Until the report is complete, no further announcements will be made. 

NS, public transporters, unions and government parties teamed up to set up an actioin plan aimed at reducing violent incidents on public transport. The intention is to reduce the number of incidents by 20 percent by 2018, according to the Telegraaf.

The plan includes improving the share of information about perpetrators, extra surveillance and extra security staff with additional powers, according to the newspaper.

The Public Prosecutor demanded prison sentences of up to 3 years against two men suspected of robbing a Connexxion bus in Almere at knife point in June. In the Lelystad court on Wednesday one suspect chose to remain silent and the other one denied involvement in the robbery

A Connexxion bus driver was summarily dismissed after he assaulted a female passenger in Almere on Thursday, a spokesperson for the public transport company said

The police arrested two men in Almere on suspicion of vandalism on Connexxion buses on two separate occasions. The public transporter has been the target of a series of vandalism incidents in Almere for some time.