You don’t have to tell NS boss Wouter Koolmees that it is busy on the train. Coupes are ‘packed’ in the morning, and that only gets worse. His solution: from 2026, significantly higher rates during rush hours on busy routes and cheaper tickets outside. “No one voluntarily adjusts his behavior,” says Koolmees in an interview with de Volkskrant on Saturday.
In December, NS scaled down the timetable even further, because the transport figures lagged behind compared to the years before the corona crisis. Koolmees: ,,That worked quite well for a few months. Until the end of May. Now we have many short and busy trains again. This is due, for example, to a shortage of mechanics and planners. In addition, work is being done on the track in many places. They are not excuses, just explanations. We are doing everything we can to solve it.”
Next September, the carrier will rebuild the timetable ‘step by step’. Nevertheless, we will not soon return to the old level, according to the CEO. “Travel behavior has changed since corona. A large part of the Netherlands works from home a few days a week. As a result, we have more than 20 percent fewer travelers on weekdays than before corona. Tuesday and Thursday it is extremely busy, especially in the morning. Then it’s fitting and measuring. On Monday and Wednesday it is relatively quiet. Friday all the way.”
discourage travelers
The peaks in the crowds must be combated, according to Koolmees, by discouraging travelers from taking the train at that time. “Because the occupancy is less than 30 percent throughout the day. We therefore move warm air for large parts of the day. That costs a lot of money and has to be earned back through the train ticket. If that rush hour becomes even busier in the future, fares will go up again and train travel will become unaffordable. That is undesirable.”
So NS wants to introduce tariff differentiation as a solution. This means that traveling on a busy train will become more expensive and cheaper on a quiet train. The price will then differ per time and per route. Rail passengers now pay the same standard fare everywhere during rush hours, and trains can be discounted during off-peak hours. It is not yet known how much more expensive the train ticket will be during rush hour. Koolmees: “I don’t want to mention hard numbers, we are still at the beginning of the discussion, also with politicians.”
It is, however, a price increase of tens of percent. “But on balance we will not earn any money from it, it will be budget neutral,” said the NS CEO. “What we earn with the rush-hour charge leads to discounts on other routes.” Koolmees hopes that the rush-hour tax can take effect from 2026. “But that is still part of the negotiation.”
Wouter Koolmees, CEO NS © NS/Arenda Oomen
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2023-07-01 07:43:22
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