Almost all political parties in the House voted for a motion by MPs Evert-Jan Slootweg (CDA) and Attje Kuiken (PvdA).
The House of Representatives has called on the cabinet to work with provinces, municipalities and transport services on measures to improve the accessibility of regions and to prevent the current level of public transport from deteriorating further. Almost all political parties in the House voted for a motion by MPs Evert-Jan Slootweg (CDA) and Attje Kuiken (PvdA).
The Foodvalley Region, together with the province of Gelderland and five other Gelderland regions, was recently in the House of Representatives and again asked Members of Parliament and State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management) to pay attention to the importance of good public transport; that happened last November.
“Public transport in Gelderland is under great pressure. If nothing is done, a deficit of € 27 million awaits in 2027, which is mainly caused by increased fuel prices and personnel costs, for which the province is barely compensated by the government. This means that even more bus lines in cities, villages and rural areas will be canceled with major consequences for (vulnerable) residents, pupils, students, commuters and holidaymakers. It is putting increasing pressure on the quality of life in towns, villages and rural areas, while the number of residents and entrepreneurs continues to increase; in the coming years we will build 104.000 new homes in Gelderland. If the accessibility of the regions decreases, this will have direct consequences for economic development and therefore for the broad prosperity of our country's largest province, Gelderland.”
call
Food Valley Region, the province of Gelderland and five other Gelderland regions recently called on the government to invest in public transport as an essential condition for sustainable accessibility of the regions. MPs Evert-Jan Slootweg (CDA) and Attje Kuiken (PvdA) submitted a motion for this – during the discussion of the Spring Memorandum – and called on the government to “work on concrete measures for 2024 in coordination with provinces, municipalities and transport services and 2025 to maintain and improve the region's accessibility and to do everything possible to prevent the current level of public transport from decreasing further, and to investigate options for coverage for plans with a financial burden.” The motion was passed yesterday with a very large majority.
Happy
Alderman Engbert Stroobosscher in the regional board responsible for the mobility portfolio is very pleased with this widely accepted motion.
“The accessibility of Regio Foodvalley – also by public transport – is under pressure. If we want to be able to build 100.000 new homes together with the Green Metropolitan Region of Arnhem-Nijmegen, the government must also step in and contribute to structural solutions for sustainable accessibility of the region. Also with public transport. I am pleased that almost the entire House has supported the call from the CDA and the PvdA and I look forward to the talks that the State Secretary will have with the provinces and municipalities. As Region Foodvalley, we are happy to participate in this together with the provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht and other regions. After all, it is a joint task.”
