Arriva blog: cooperation has been key to addressing Covid-19 in the Netherlands

Quickly after the ‘intelligent lockdown’ was announced, the Dutch government set up a taskforce comprised of organisations from across the transport sector. Within this group decisions were made concerning the operational and financial consequences of the corona crisis on public transport. In my capacity of Chair of the Industry Body, I led the representation of the Regional Operators into this complex negotiation.

We worked together to develop solutions to a range of issues, particularly around how we could ensure the safety and wellbeing of our people and our customers on our networks. This included discussing the role of face coverings and how social distancing could work in practice. Keeping our customers and people safe continues to be our overriding focus.

Throughout the ‘intelligent lockdown’ we were required to keep running full services for key workers, including healthcare staff and supermarket employees. Together they made up around 10% of our normal level of passengers. So, our services remained available but, of course, revenues lagged.

In response to the problem, we agreed between us a compensation package of €1.5bn for public transport operators, which is being applied retrospectively from 1 March 2020 until the end of the year. Operators are given an ‘availability fee’ which means operators are compensated for being available during the intelligent lockdown.

Looking ahead, we hope this spirit of cooperation will continue as we work together to demonstrate the safety of public transport and welcome our passengers back onto Arriva’s bus and rail operations in the Netherlands.