THE Netherlands passed legislation allowing provincial governments to establish their own public transport operators on November 4. The new act, sponsored by MPs Haptamu de Hoop and Olger van Dijk, passed through the Dutch Parliament, despite opposition from the outgoing government.
It allows provinces to operate public transport, including local rail services on lines that are not included in the Main Line Network (HRN) concession currently directly granted to Netherlands Railways (NS) by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure.
The new legislation is, together with the HRN award, an exception to the basic rule in the Netherlands that concessions for public transport are only granted following an open tender. A provincial government which elects to establish its own public transport operator can then directly award services to that operator. However, a concession granted by the regional public transport authority is still required.
The new law is designed to allow provincial governments to step in and run services in situations where tenders result in no bidders. It is unclear which, if any, provincial governments will establish local operators in the way permitted by the new legislation.
