State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven (I&W) responded on Saturday morning in MAX's Goedemorgen Nederland program moderately positive to the plans of Bus transport Netherlands (BVN) presented on Friday evening to assist the public transport companies in the restart from 1 June.
“I will definitely take it with me. Everyone has to think about how we keep the Netherlands mobile. High school students can cycle eight kilometers. Maybe the coach will come into view for longer distances. But that is up to the public transport companies. I will certainly put the proposal from the coach sector on the table there. After all, we see each other every week. ”
In the program, Van Veldhoven indicated that the key question in the coming period is “How are we going to travel again? With all the measures we now need more space for this and we are already seeing that it is getting busier. Passengers and transporters must work out this together. The Netherlands is not without the country to have a piece of paper with you if you want to be on the street. ” In particular, she mentioned the positive side of the 'crisis spirit' “which you fortunately see more and more often.”
About the critical remarks made by RIVM director Van Dissel with regard to the face mask obligation in public transport, Van Veldhoven thought “that this is understandable from his perspective. The mask does not replace distance. But that meter and a half cannot be used everywhere in public transport. We have listened to Van Dissel for weeks and are now able to do more because we have kept our distance. ” She promised to come into public transport “well before 1 June” with the mouth mask obligation directive.
The State Secretary outlined how intensive discussions had been held with the public transport sector in the past week. Including compensation for lost income. “It was a bizarre week. We have worked incredibly hard. Everybody. It is a vital sector for our country. We have to use 10% to 40% in a short time. That is quite a job. We have agreed that the carriers will use more equipment, that students may not travel during rush hour and that public transport will continue to be used for necessary journeys. It is still important to avoid rush hour. ”
“The intention is to transport more people in a safe way. We are happy to leave it to the professionals to determine which measures are needed, whether that is a reservation or something else. It is important that we adhere to the basic rules and keep our distance. ” Van Veldhoven underlined that there will be another check after June 1 - on tickets and masks. This will be done partly by conductors and partly by BOAs. How this happens in practice, according to the state secretary to the carriers, "where it is not the intention that they should sit in the police seat."
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