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For years, the industry has not actively promoted its work.

The bus breaks down, trains do not run as expected, you have to wait endlessly for a free employee, at the Primera you end up in a long line at the cash register and the kitchen of a lunchroom on the boulevard only opens at 18.00 p.m. due to a lack of a cook. The shortage of staff is felt everywhere. 

Bus drivers retiring, few young people entering the sector and the summer holidays are just around the corner. These are all factors that concern transport companies. The staff shortages in the transport sector also lead to frustration among passengers, both with the bus companies and with target group transport.

a few euros

In Rotterdam there is even a real musical chair dance going on between taxi companies that lure staff with a few euros more. Short-sighted, because a month later those very same employees have left for an extra euro. Producers of stickers do golden business with the text “colleagues wanted”. You see them on vans in student transport, taxis, contractors, couriers, speed cameras, and so on. The tension in the transport market is tough. This problem arose mainly because the economy is doing well. As companies grow and simultaneously look for employees, the shortage increases.

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"It's busy. We even sell no at times."

There is, of course, a reason why there is so much shortage in the transport sector. It's busy, it's going well and everyone wants to travel again. According to general manager John Hage, the last minute requests are unreal. There are so many. Everything in his company has been running for months on end with a driver corps that has grown from 230 drivers last year to 300 at the moment. They have had difficult years, but there is a wonderful organization with a wonderful flexible attitude that society desperately needs. 

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"Really clever with how much resilience this has been put in place in a short time. And that also in a period that was very difficult for the industry."

However, there are major concerns when filling the grids. At primary school De Suikerspin from Tienen, the planned school trip for the 180 students of the kindergarten and the first grade to fall into the water after a sudden cancellation of the bus transport because the bus driver had become ill. The replacement pool of occasional drivers has been drastically reduced.

upgrade sector

The Netherlands has plenty of buses. Nevertheless, school trips cannot take place, train replacement transport is difficult to get going and company outings are cancelled. There is a serious shortage of drivers for coaches. The sector has work, the profession is not attractive enough for young people. Owner Pouw van Besseling Travel puts out hand in your own bosom too

“For years, the industry has not actively promoted our work. Not among young people, but also not among people who could possibly cause lateral entry, such as people in the construction industry with joint problems. Our profession is ideal for the end of your career: the physical load is small, it is a social profession and your working hours are planable and flexible.”

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