The provinces of Flevoland, Gelderland and Overijssel made the final decision last Tuesday to withdraw the award of a large public transport contract to carrier Keolis. The concession is being tendered again, causing the company to lose more than a quarter of its sales when the tender goes to another party. Keolis does not want to respond substantively to the matter and refers to a statement on the website where the carrier writes in a message:
“On 4 August, the Provincial Executive of Overijssel, Gelderland and Flevoland finally decided to withdraw the IJssel-Vecht contract. We respect this decision, but will use it in the coming days to study the consequences. ”
The Provincial Executive has also decided to have the emergency concession run by Keolis. When setting up the emergency concession, the provinces have indicated that they want to align as much as possible with the timetable that was already in preparation for the new concession, with the deployment of the new zero-emission buses. The provinces indicate that this means they deal responsibly with the interests of the personnel and deal sustainably with the equipment. The new concession is expected to start in December 2022.
financially heavy
The matter has been haunting the transport company for several weeks. In May, the company reported the suspicion that "irregularities" had occurred in the tendering process for the concessions. This happened in response to reports from Follow The Money that secret agreements, so-called side letters, had surfaced with bus suppliers BYD and Ginaf.
Also read: Questions for tender IJssel and Vecht region about Keolis
