Civil servants should start work late to avoid a shortage of seats on the train, according to an MP for the liberal democratic party D66.

Stientje van Veldhoven has called on the Dutch government not to let officials hold meetings before 10am, according to the Telegraaf.

‘Unorthodox measures are needed to ensure people aren’t spilling out of the doors of trains,’ she reportedly said. ‘The lower house could avoid meeting before 10am, and perhaps this could also apply to ministries and other government agencies?’

Buses

In addition, more public servants should work from home or take the bus instead of the train to relieve the load, especially on the routes between Utrecht and The Hague, she said. An estimated 20% of rush hour passengers are civil servants and Veldhoven told the paper there is currently a glaringly obvious shortage of seats, especially in the rush hour.

This is, the Telegraaf says, because train operator NS has ordered new trains to replace the familiar yellow-and-blue Mat ’64 models ‘too late’, there are reportedly 5,000 fewer seats and passenger numbers are up as the economy improves.

NS recently announced a package of measures to reduce overcrowding, including buses on busy routes, using all reserve trains, and investing €8.5m in alleviating the problem.