Aggression in traffic is a common problem, including in public transport. In times of corona, the fuse of many people is probably even shorter than usual. The NS announced today that the number of incidents involving aggression last year increased by no less than twenty percent compared to 2020. Each incident is one too many, let alone an increase of twenty percent. Last year, there were no fewer than 2300 reports of incidents involving aggression between travelers. Unfortunately, NS employees also had to contend with both physical and verbal aggression. This happened no less than 744 times for last year, the year before this was 661 times. This is an increase of 83 incidents.
“We see that some travelers in Corona time have a shorter fuse, which fits in with a trend that we see more widely in society. Last year, more than 600.000 Dutch people traveled by train every day. In this complicated time, my colleagues are committed day and night to ensure that our travelers have a good journey. And with effect, because satisfaction with traveling by train has increased in recent years. We did see that in the course of the year there was 'ambiguity' about the corona measures among some of the travelers, which sometimes led to discussions. But we never want to and can never tolerate aggression, every incident is one too many. Shocking that this is happening, I want our travelers to have a pleasant journey and my colleagues to return home safely.”
The reasons for this type of aggression are diverse, from addressing travelers about not wearing face masks to not having a valid ticket. Last year, the NS had about 600.000 travelers, they are committed day and night to transport passengers safely and properly. It is a pity that in such a large group of travelers there are always people who somehow do not know how to behave and do not follow the rules. Since 2000, NS has been deploying Safety & Service employees, these are NS employees with boa authority. These employees had to act about 3 million times last year. A year earlier this was 2,5 million times. NS asks the Ministry of Justice & Security to expand the options for Security & Service employees so that travelers and employees can continue to travel and work safely.
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