If you go through the coalition agreements that have been concluded since 2010, you will notice that the fine-meshed nature of the public transport network has not been a main theme for a very long time. Only in 2018 did men talk about the loss of fine-grainedness in the suburbs and men suggested the ‘mobility as a service’ concept as a solution.

It is not surprising that this was included in the coalition agreement. 2018 is the year in which the North/South line opened and the GVB officially switched from the spider web model to the herringbone model. An intricate public transport network was no longer the starting point. Travelers travel as concentrated as possible by metro.

In the suburbs, the fine mesh of the public transport network was massacred. So likely that Nieuw-West stopped and the district had to do without public transport lines such as tram line 14. It was a continuation of the decline that had already been used before. For example, bus line 192 disappeared earlier and since 2015 there is no longer any form of public transport in the Eendracht district.

Consequences in New West

For many residents of Nieuw-West, life has changed radically due to the changes. The walking distance to a stop has increased, which means that many people, including the elderly, are limited in their opportunities to meet friends and family.

The travel time between neighborhoods in Nieuw-West has also increased. While buses in the past provided a direct connection between De Aker and Geuzenveld, nowadays you have to change trains twice and travel for 45 minutes.

We can keep it short with regard to night transport: there is no night transport in Nieuw-West during the week. If you use the route planner at 1 am, you will often see that it is better to wait until the morning. Cycling to Station Lelylaan or Station Sloterdijk also makes no sense, because there are no cars there at night.

Financial problems

How can it come this far? The core of the answer lies with the Amsterdam Transport Region. This is the public transport authority of our region and the client of, among others, the GVB. The current discount was issued in 2014.

When the agreed arrangements were made, there were financial problems. So savings had to be made. There was talk of ‘snaking lines’ being replaced by ‘straight, fast lines’ and tram and bus services to provide where most travelers are. The results speak for themselves.

The demolition threatened to gain momentum last year. Due to the outcome of the financial problems, the GVB threatened to scale down the offer by another 30 percent. According to traffic alderman Melanie Van der Horst (D66), this would mainly affect public transport in the suburbs. A horror image. Men manage to prevent this massacre in the nick of time.

However, the condition is that public transport must continue on its own from 2024. If we take into account the fact that not all travelers have returned after corona, this means that the public transport network will remain extremely safe for the time being and that there is no prospect of its expansion.

Extra attention for suburbs

The fact that there is a major problem with the fine-meshed nature of public transport in the suburbs now seems to be well understood by Amsterdam politicians. The Amsterdam Agreement states that the public transport network must become more intricate and that extra attention must be drawn to the suburbs. However, no further explanation has been given. Everything depends on what happens at the transport region in the starting period.

The new agreement for public transport in Amsterdam will be issued at the end of 2024 and talks will start this year. The big question is whether it will work this time. If that doesn’t work out and we get the same kind of agreement as that of 2014, Nieuw-West is probably in for another period of misery.

In that case, it is time to think about the future of the transport region. For example, setting up transport region elections. The inhabitants of the region can vote on the basis of what the parties want in terms of mobility.

Elections are getting a more concrete character. This will be incorporated into policy that is more in line with the wishes of citizens. A step in the right direction in the fight against low attendances and distrust in politics.
Tanay Bilgin is group representative of Forum for Democracy in Amsterdam.