The collapse of the government means Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague must put local public transport services out to tender after all, caretaker transport minister Camiel Eurlings said on Wednesday.

Draft legislation which would have allowed the cities to keep public transport in their own hands has been declared controversial and has now been dropped following the cabinet’s collapse.
This means current laws on public transport tendering remain in force, and the cities must invite bids from private firms to operate bus and tram services by 2012, Eurlings said.
‘The consquences are huge and undesirable,’ Hans Luiten, in charge of public transport in the greater Amsterdam region told the Financieele Dagblad.
The city voted in a referendum years ago to keep public transport in council hands.
But in The Hague, outgoing transport executive Peter Smit told the paper ‘a crucial mistake from the past is being rectified’.