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The passion with which the travel assistant in Utrecht Central helped a traveler caught my attention.

The travel assistant takes people with a disability to the bus, tram or metro stop, the official taxi rank or to the train at the station. Everyone is welcome at NS, including people with disabilities. NS considers it important to offer customers with a disability an equivalent journey.

Are you traveling with a physical disability and do you need help with boarding, transferring and disembarking? Or do you have a visual impairment and need someone to guide you through the station? Then you can use NS Travel Assistance for free.

Not all stories about NS these days are negative. The passion with which the travel assistant in Utrecht Central helped a traveler caught my attention. Even if you have a disability, NS wants you to travel by train as smoothly as possible. And unfortunately that is not always possible at the moment, so extra attention is necessary.

to work

As a travel assistant, for example, you offer assistance with getting travelers in a wheelchair or scooter to board or disembark. You do this with the help of a bridge or ramp (which travelers can use to drive in or out of the train). But it can also happen that you help a traveler with a visual impairment to find their way around the station. If it appeals to you, then go to work at the NS.

NS employees are really sorry to hear that people with disabilities feel disadvantaged. A situation that is currently caused by staff shortages, overcrowded trains during rush hours and ride cancellations. In theory, the NS bids at approximately 160 stations travel assistance and also hires part-time travel assistants through external parties. But they are also struggling with staff shortages just as hard as NS.

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NS employees are really sorry to hear that people with disabilities feel disadvantaged.

Because it is often complicated to organize a trip for people with a disability, unfortunately they no longer travel by train. Since 2016, the UN Convention on Handicap also applies in the Netherlands. It states that the government must take all possible measures to guarantee the personal mobility of people with disabilities.

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