The council executive responsible for public transport in the capital Eric Wiebes finds himself disagreeing with his own party. ‘That can’t be right’, he says in a letter to Trouw.

Amsterdam has 44 bus lines 25 of which will disappear. It has 16 tram lines. Three of those will no longer function. That is what Amsterdam’s public transport network will look like if the proposed governments cuts are to be implemented. The country needs to tighten its belt, Amsterdam included. But instead of bringing in dividends, cutting back on public transport is going to prove very expensive.
Impossibility
Amsterdam has been told to cut back public transport spending by € 75m a year when it is spending € 122m a year on running costs. We have been in talks with Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen to convince her of the impossibility of this task.
When Amsterdam city council announced in January that Amsterdam would have to do without 3 of its tram lines and 20 of its bus lines, the minister said we were exaggerating. But since then her own department has been doing its sums and the results turned out to be even worse: in stead of 20, 25 bus lines were for the chop. But even if these lines were to disappear and the council put up ticket prices by 15 percent, the target figure of € 75m would still not be achieved.
The cabinet needs to cut government spending by € 18bn, so much is clear. There is no money for frills and luxury. Our basic finances need to be in order. The Netherlands doesn’t want the problems Greece is having. The minister and I are members of the same party. We value proper financial management. Of course things can be handled more efficiently – a smarter transport network, more passengers per bus. And there is nothing wrong with asking how it can be that passengers pay less than half the costs of a ticket.
Jobs
In Amsterdam half a million people go to work each day. These are people working for ING, IBM, the AMC, the Zuidas, the port. We want more of those people, in Amsterdam and in the Netherlands.
When I worked in the private sector I learnt that it pays to cut your losses. But you have to cherish the things that bring in the money. I thought this cabinet wanted to support the economy: jobs for those who can work, a better deal for entrepreneurs and foreign companies.
Accessibility
Accessibility creates economic activity, economic activity creates growth and growth creates jobs. The Amsterdam region is the country’s most important economic power house. Growth is still stagnant in other regions but is beginning to recover in Amsterdam. That benefits the whole country.
The Amsterdam region welcomes three foreign companies a week. The multinationals on the Zuidas and companies like Endemol depend on good public transport for their employees. I say: let’s cut in order to grow. The cuts on public transport will generate growth. And it’s funny how things go: I am siding with the transport network employees against the cuts of ‘my’ cabinet. That can’t be right.
This is an unofficial translation