On social media, people reacted furiously to images of a driver of Regiotaxi Utrecht who helps a needy woman in a taxi in a rather impatient way. Although there is little evidence of 'helping' in this case.
"Come on ma'am, the road is flat. Come on! ”The man shouts, clapping his hands frequently and nervously. "Yes, we still have more work to do," he explains his nervous behavior. "Other drivers had long since left."
This story is of course not an isolated one and although this behavior of the drivers is by no means justifiable, the core of the matter is the regulations that we have come up with together. It has to become increasingly cheaper and quality is not possible without investing in people.
On behalf of Regiotaxi Utrecht, the taxi company concerned carries out the Collective Demand-dependent Transport assignment and arranges this with partial taxis in this province. In itself a familiar picture of what we find everywhere in the Netherlands when implementing this form of transport.
Within this form of transport, 'strict' rules of the game apply, such as the maximum waiting time for the customer when they are not ready. In most cases, the taxi driver can drive on when the waiting time is more than five minutes. Other travelers who are already on the bus are therefore waiting.
Other travelers also suffer because their taxi shows up late
Combined transport in most cases consists of a route of two to four combined travelers that must be transported within the 'standards'. When there is a delay within the route, the other travelers are also victims of this because their taxi shows up too late.
It is not uncommon for social media to report that Mrs. Janssen had to wait too long for her taxi. The regional press and opposition parties in local politics are happy to intervene to question the quality of the carrier. In this case, it was a supermarket employee who would rather film than help her smoking colleague to accompany the customer to the taxi.
Without justifying the behavior in this matter, it is best to think carefully about the regulations and requirements we impose on transport companies. Perhaps this behavior could be a cause of our regulations and a driver who executes these rules, in terms of waiting time, as expected.
Arno Janssen, general manager of this taxi company, says he is 'very shocked'. “We are deeply ashamed. The behavior is disrespectful and completely unacceptable. We contacted the family of the woman in question and apologized. ”
National politics are interfering with the incident
In a response, the PVV says that care and elderly transport is under pressure. Companies go bankrupt or divest care transport with serious consequences. The #PVV asks parliamentary questions!
