The transport task does not seem to fit well with the goals that Foodvalley has set itself. That is the conclusion of Alderman Hans van Daalen for the ChristenUnie in Barneveld. The province of Gelderland decided a few years ago to hand over the Regiotaxi to the municipalities with effect from 1 January 2017. At the time, it was decided to place transport under regional partnerships. The municipality of Barneveld is now taking over bureau Valleihopper.

“It was logical at that time to transfer the transport to Foodvalley. That was already an existing legal entity, so that was the shortest blow. In retrospect, we have to say that this was not the best choice. ”, Says van Daalen record in the Barneveld newspaper.

Retain valley hopper

The name Valleihopper will be retained for demand-driven transport. Until last school year, student transport also ran under that flag, under the direction of Regio Foodvalley. Student transport has now been divided into clusters. Barneveld works together with the municipalities of Nijkerk, Renswoude and Scherpenzeel.

At the time, the province of Gelderland, together with the Gelderland regions, chose to have the Gelderland regional taxi transport arranged by the government closest to the citizen from 1 January 2017. On December 21, 2016, Deputy Conny Bieze handed over the symbolic key of the Regiotaxi to Alderman Hans van Daalen as representative of Regio FoodValley. 

student transport failed completely

Previously, the municipalities jointly carried out student transport under the new name Valleihopper. Until then, transport was arranged by the individual municipalities. With this change, a new transport system was immediately introduced and the arrival of a control center that took care of the planning, while contracted taxi companies only arranged the transport. This project failed completely. Afterwards, independent research showed that all parties had underestimated the impact of the changes, the use of a control center and the cooperation with taxi companies that only operated and that there was no joint approach for the influx of student transport.

Pupil transport for Barneveld children who go to special education was transferred to the taxi company Munckhof Taxi from Horst after the summer holidays 2020. The company won the joint tender from the municipalities of Barneveld, Nijkerk, Renswoude and Scherpenzeel. This is a five-year contract, until the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

Also read: Pupil transport cannot simply be combined