The Hague city council is in talks with transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen about delaying the compulsory contracting out of public transport services, transport executive Peter Smit told a noisy city hall meeting on Thursday

Schultz van Haegen wants to force The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam to put their public transport contracts out to tender in 2012. All three cities oppose the plan.
Schultz van Haegen reportedly plans to cut transport ministry grants to the three cities by €120m, the amount of money she says they could save by contracting services out to other companies.