Arriva in the Netherlands

Arriva is one of the largest bus operators in the Netherlands. Having entered the Dutch transport market in the late 1990s, Arriva is also the country’s largest private rail operator with 60 per cent of the liberalised market.

– Nextbike, Arriva’s bicycle-sharing system in Maastricht was so successful that a new pilot was launched in Dordrecht in September 2017. The trial will run until December 2018. The new shared system helps to strengthen and complement existing public transport

– In December 2016, Arriva began operating a fleet of 250 new buses and 46 trains in the Dutch province of Limburg, which includes a cross-border service to Germany and Belgium. The new buses and trains are being introduced in phases over the contract.

– Arriva is the best performing rail operator in the country with a 97 per cent average punctuality rating

– The Ministry of Transport’s survey of 90,000 public transport users ranked Arriva highest for bus services

– In July 2017, Arriva won the bid to operate the regional rail transport in the north of the Netherlands for another 15 years. The contract has a value of 1.6 billion euros and includes cross-border transport linking the provinces of Groningen and Fryslan with Lower Saxony. Arriva has been operating the ‘Northern Lines’ since 2005. The new contract runs from 2020 to 2035

BusArriva entered the Dutch bus market in 1998 and has since grown to become one of the largest operators in the country. Outside of the major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, the bus market is at a mature stage in the liberalisation process, with eleven regional transport authorities obliged to organise public transport into concessions. These are periodically put out to tender and typically focus on quality and the environment in addition to price. Contracts tend to be net costs and an average of eight years’ duration.

RailArriva entered the market in 1999 and is now the largest private rail operator in the Netherlands. With 60 per cent of the liberalised market, Arriva is the sole provider of rail services to Friesland and Groningen, South Holland, Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe and Limburg.

Very little of the Dutch rail market has been competitively tendered and only around 6 per cent of the market is operated by the private sector. Regional transport authorities have responsibility for rail services in their areas and contract conditions differ widely between them. In general, contracts are net cost and typically 15 years in length.

October 2017

Key successes in the Netherlands

1,320 buses

13 waterbuses

150 train sets

4,780 employees

95m bus kilometres operated annually

15m train kilometres operated annually

Train

Leeuwarden

Amsterdam

Groningen

s-Hertogenbosch

Amhem

The Netherlands

For more information about Arriva in the Netherlands contact the Corporate Communications department: communicatie@arriva.nl

Bus

Employees

Water bus

Train