The municipality of Breda is adapting transport for special education students, but the elderly are seeing their regional taxi limited as a result, while carrier Connexxion is facing a fine.
The municipality of Breda has decided to make a drastic change in its transport policy. Drivers who until recently served the elderly population are now being called in to address the persistent problems within student transport. This decision follows months of uncertainty for 47 special education students who remain without transportation, in addition to reports of frequent delays and missing rides.
Despite the November 1 deadline set for carrier Connexxion to resolve the issues, a structural solution has not been achieved. In response, the municipality not only intervened but also imposed a substantial fine on the carrier, although the exact amount remains unknown. Councilor Arjen van Drunen has expressed his deep concern about the persistent shortcomings in the transport system.
"These problems have been going on for so long that we have to use unorthodox measures."
According to Omroep Brabant the municipality of Breda will use drivers who normally only drive elderly people to take children from special education to school. The recent measure means that elderly people must limit their usual use of regional taxis during the morning hours. Exceptions are made for urgent matters, such as medical appointments and important personal events. This step is seen by the councilor as unorthodox but necessary to ensure that children have access to education.
Connexxion, on the other hand, faces the challenging task of navigating between the imposed sanctions and maintaining their services.
The same measure was used in Rotterdam at the time when a capacity shortage affected the carrier Trevvel and they also failed to organize student transport there. With a motion, the political party 50PLUS wanted to ensure that restrictions on the transport of the elderly were not an issue. “vital to prevent elderly people from becoming less mobile and loneliness from occurring,” was the statement. The motion became rejected and they resumed the order of the day.
new employees
The municipality is keeping further measures open, including possibly using another transport company to improve services. This offers Connexxion the opportunity to get their affairs in order and invest in recruiting new employees, which is not an easy task. Connexxion itself responds that the team is surprised by the threat of a fine and emphasizes that they are working hard to strengthen the personnel team, for which a specialized recruiter has even been appointed.
The carrier recognizes the importance of reliable and caring transport for this sensitive group and regrets that they cannot meet expectations at this time. The challenges are attributed to a larger, national problem of staff shortages that affect the sector.
