In recent months, we have been reporting on the problems caused by asylum-seekers in the Netherlands while riding buses to and from the asylum center at Ter Apel, a small town where many refugees have been sent. Many of them are from so-called "safe countries" which are not at war, but from which many are asking for asylum. Many bus drivers have been subjected to abuse from refugees.
Now the local authorities and the carriers have attempted to substitute train travel for asylum-seekers over bus travel. Still, station and train personnel are suffering abuse at the hands of non-paying refugees.
In the below article from the Dutch outlet, RTV Oost, translated by Fousesquawk, the Dutch Rail agency and the carrier company Arriva are pleading for the national government to step in and provide a solution.
Caption beneath photo: Leonie Bosselaar on the increasing trouble from (people from) "safe countries"
Transport companies pull emergency brake due to asylum-seekers
Transport companies Arriva and the Dutch Railways are urging the government to take action. According to the companies, residents of asylum centers are causing trouble and endangering the safety of railway workers.
It has especially been a problem in the past months in and around the Zwolle station. The carriers fear that the nuisance will be an increasingly bigger problem if the authorities take no action.
Trouble from the asylum-seekers from the so-called "safe countries" has been a problem for some time primarily concentrated on the Emmen-Zwolle track line . To rid the nuisance from the train(s), a bus line was subsequently opened specially for (refugees from) "safe countries" that can be used to reach the asylum center in Ter Apel. There is no need to buy a ticket on that line.
Special bus line canceled
But the special bus line was hardly used, Arriva reports: "The bus rode three times a day from Zwolle to Ter Apel. An average of 5-7 passengers made use of this bus per day, spread over the three (trips). There were also days in which there were no passengers. Because there was hardly any to no use, in consultation with the Justice and Security Ministry, the municipality of Emmen and Arriva decided to cancel it."
Caption beneath photo: Trouble caused by lack of transport ticket
No ticket
In itself, a logical decision, Arriva believes. But both transport companies reproach the government for not first taking new measures. Now people again have to take the train and must be in possession of a ticket.
"What we see is that often the people from the asylum-seekers center have no ticket and are stuck at the station at Zwolle. If they are approached, situations can arise that can become ugly," says Leonie Bosselaar, from the Dutch Railways.
This often results in spitting and name-calling, but it can also get further out-of-hand. According to Dutch Railways and Arriva, the lack of such a train ticket or the money to buy it is mainly the problem. "As carriers, you have to deal with it, and our appeal to the government is to intervene."
Caption beneath photo: Police increasingly at and around the Zwolle station
Government must provide a solution quickly
The carriers want the government to provide a solution "up front". Bosselaar: "Then we can prevent annoyance to other passengers on the train and at the station."
According to spokesperson Bosselaar, it is a societal problem, in which not only the carriers, but the police, for example, have to (get involved.
Arriva reports: "Insults, intimidation, spitting incidents; our personnel are regularly exposed to this here. Something has to be done about this. This is a societal problem in which we feel that this must be solved by the government."
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