public transit

After a nationwide 24-hour long strike on Tuesday, public transit employees are back at work. The transit companies managed to restart their services without major issues.

NS reports no strike-related faults or delays on its website. The only delays reported have to do with planned track maintenance on the Leeuwarden-Meppel route, which will last until Sunday. 

The public transit strike left train stations throughout the Netherlands largely deserted on Tuesday morning. People gathered in the stations were largely tourists who did not know about the strike.

Tourists Rachel, Angie, and Acqua were caught by surprise when they arrived at Amsterdam Central Station. They have a hotel booked in Rotterdam. A volunteer from Red Cross explained the strike to them.

Due to a nationwide public transit strike in the Netherlands on Tuesday, Dutch had to make alternative arrangements to get to work, school or university. Schiphol CEO Dick Benschop decided to spend the night at the airport, instead of risking not being able to reach it on Tuesday. 

A nationwide public transit strike means that more people are taking the car to work on Tuesday and an extremely busy morning rush hour is expected. By 7:30 a.m. there were already 300 kilometers of traffic jams on Dutch roads. "It is twice as busy on the roads as usual around this time", the ANWB said, NU.nl reports.

With a nationwide public transit strike scheduled for Tuesday, Dutch are looking for other ways to get around tomorrow. Carpool- and ride sharing hashtags are already trending on social media. If you want to offer or request a ride, look for hashtags like  #liftaangeboden, #meerijden #carpool, #carpoolen, #samenrijden, #liftnodig, #treinstaking, #ovstaking.

Trains must continue to take passengers to and from Schiphol Airport during a national public transit strike scheduled for Tuesday, a court in the Netherlands ruled on Sunday. Though buses, subways and trams will grind to a halt, the transportation unions were ordered to ensure that at least four trains per hour will run each way between Amsterdam Centraal and Schiphol.

A number of Dutch universities and colleges plan to continue with their exams and lectures as usual on Tuesday, despite a nationwide strike in public transport. National students' union LSVb is furious that students may be forced to miss important lectures or exams through something that is completely out of their control. "We think it's really absurd", a spokesperson for LSVb said to NOS.

The police, Dutch mayors and various large companies issued a joint call on the Dutch government to ban firecrackers and rockets. They want to uphold the tradition of lighting your own fireworks over New Year's, but only with "safe decorative fireworks", they said in a full-page advertisement that will soon appear in national newspapers, RTL Nieuws reports.

A massive 24-hour strike by public transportation workers was scheduled by trade union FNV. The labor protest will affect the national railway firm NS, as well as public transit in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Den Haag, the three biggest cities in the Netherlands, FNV revealed on Wednesday.

The strike is set for May 28, and could include regional transportation workers as well, though that will be announced in the future. The labour union also called on workers in other sectors to strike on May 29.

Residents of and visitors to Amsterdam may have to take an alternative route when moving about the city on King's Day today. Parts of the city are blocked off to car traffic, and public transit in the capital are running on adjusted schedules and alternative routes. 

The Netherlands will implement its burka ban, officially called the Partial Ban On Face Covering Clothing Act, on August 1st. From that day on no face covering clothing may be worn in education, in government buildings, in healthcare and on public transit, AD reports.