Your bag has not paid for a seat: NS enforces new rules

Train passengers will no longer be allowed to put their bags on the seat next to them, even when the train is quiet, under a rule change announced by Dutch rail operator NS.

Current rules only require passengers to move their bags if someone wants to sit down. NS is now amending its conditions of carriage so that seats cannot be occupied by luggage at all: bags must go on your lap or in the luggage rack, the company told rail consumer platform Locov, broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday.

Seats blocked by bags are a growing problem, according to NS, and rank among passengers’ top three irritations, Daan Zieren, director of travellers’ organisation Rove, told NOS. “People increasingly pretend not to notice how busy it is, by staring out of the window, for example,” he said.

NS says more passengers no longer dare to ask others to move their bags, pointing to shorter fuses and rising aggression generally. Conductors will remind passengers of the new rule but will not hand out fines, a spokesman said, and posters are going up in trains instead.

Rover backs the change but wants clarity on enforcement, comparing it to silent carriages, where large window stickers and social pressure eventually did the job.