public transport

Amsterdam will be raising parking rates in the whole city on April 1st. On Wednesday a majority of the Amsterdam city council voted for traffic alderman Sharon Dijksma's plans for the significant rate increase, the Telegraaf reports.

Arnhem Central Station was briefly evacuated on Wednesday morning after a fire alarm in the station went off. A manual fire alarm was pulled in the public transport terminal, a spokesperson for the fire brigade said to Omroep Gelderland.

As a precaution, NS decided to evacuate the entire station and halt train traffic to and from Arnhem. 

The fire department investigated and found no sign of fire. The building was declared safe around 10:30 a.m. and travelers were allowed to enter the station. Train traffic was restarted and was largely back on schedule around 11:15 a.m.

An increasing number of people who use public transit in the Netherlands are faced with violence like threats, assault, intimidation or robbery, according to a survey by CROW among 87 thousand public transit passengers, the Telegraaf reports.

In 2017 the number of such incidents on public transport increased slightly for the first time in five years. Last year 15.5 percent of passengers reported facing violence or aggression, compared to 13.5 percent in 2016. CROW could not give a definite explanation for the increase. 

As of Monday, smoking is prohibited on the seven GVB ferry lines operating in Amsterdam. The decision was handed down by the municipality of Amsterdam, and the public transit firm GVB was set to adjust its regulations and passenger announcements.

Until the end of 2017, smoking was allowed only on the rear portion of the ferry boats which often created confusion. On top of that, due to frequent crowding, non smokers can not always choose to place themselves in the non smoking sections.

Amsterdam municipal transport company GVB is starting the process of going cashless. From Tuesday travelers can no longer pay with cash on night buses, the first step in completely cashless public transit in the Dutch capital. GVB is working with other public transit companies in the region to achieve this goal, Het Parool reports.

The idea is to prevent robberies by not having any form of cash on public transit. This follows a series of attacks on bus drivers across the Netherlands last year. 

The Dutch government is making another 25 million euros available to secure unguarded railroad crossings throughout the country. This is on top of 10 million euros already dedicated to the purpose, State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure and Environment announced, according to BNR.

Some of the unguarded railway crossings will be closed, others will be equipped with booms or warning signs. Dijksma hopes to convince provinces and municipalities to also contribute money for this purpose.

A fault that brought subway traffic in Amsterdam to a standstill on Wednesday morning, is now mostly resolved. No movement was possible on subway lines 50, 51, 53 and 54 since around 8:45 a.m. Around 10:30 a.m. the subways started moving again, ANP reports.

Subway line 50, 53 and 54 are traveling according to schedule, according to municipal transport company GVB. Line 51 is traveling, but only to Spaklerweg for the time being.

The extra trains NS deploys during rush hour to help ease the pressure on overcrowded trains, are often late or do not show up at all, according to research done by newspaper AD and treinreiziger.nl based on ProRail figures. Travelers organization Rover calls this situation unacceptable.

Foggy weather on Wednesday morning could mean delays for flights to and from Schiphol, the airport said on Twitter. "Visibility and airport capacity are expected to remain reduced during the day", Schiphol wrote.

The next Dutch government should include a Minister for Mobility, who must focus on improving the connection in and between cities to prevent a further increase in traffic jams and accidents, according to a manifest set up by a coalition consisting of seven major public transporters and car companies, NOS reports. 

The new train timetables, combined with bad winter weather and delayed maintenance made for a record number of complaints directed at NS on Monday morning. The train transport company received about 700 complaints during the first morning rush hour after the implementation of the new timetables - the busiest morning rush hour ever on social media, according to NS, NU.nl reports.