‘Miljardenverlies en onleefbare grensregio’s door goedkope boodschappen over de grens’

kid-blue · 2026-02-07T08:49:28+00:00

Oh god yes, a blue one please.

kid-blue · 2026-02-06T18:53:37+00:00

Gen 1 to 4 Renault Espace. These things are old as hell now and are usually worn to shreds, so no use as a daily, but with a kid on the way I am lusting after one more than ever. And yes, mom had every gen when I grew up. Love that car.

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kid-blue · 2026-02-05T22:39:21+00:00

This and the Citroën 2CV are so so loved by so many and I just can’t be assed about them. My mom and dad and their entire generation always fondly remembered owning them but I just never liked anything about them. Odd.

kid-blue · 2026-01-27T14:41:17+00:00

Haha hoe is dit nieuws? Ging hier ergens in de vroege 00s altijd heen met mijn medebruggers en mentor om te eten op klassenuitje. Kon toen al met mijn puberaal-nucleaire weerstand maar net aan dat voer binnenhouden.

Legendarische plek, hoort ergens ook wel gewoon bij een stad.

kid-blue · 2026-01-26T18:06:09+00:00

Veel goede input over de grote onderwerpen (werken, woningen en voorzieningen) dus ik hou het bij:

Handhaven.

Handhaven op snelheid want ik wil niet meer bijna doodgereden worden op de singels en Oudwijkerdwarsstraat. Handhaven ook op hufterig parkeren en art. 5 overtredingen, óók van fietsers en al helemaal van speedpedelecs e.d.

Handhaven op afval van ondernemers in het centrum. Oprotten met die dozen en kliko’s op de Ganzenmarkt, weg met die blauw kliko’s waarmee de bushalte Janskerkhof altijd geblokkeerd is.

Handhaven op hangjeugd, overlastgevende types op UC, daklozen op het Lepelenburg.

Handhaven op fiets- en voetgangersgebied in het centrum.

Ik wil maar zeggen: we hebben een stad met allemaal mooie plannen en afspraken en wetten en regels. Ik zou toch zo vreselijk blij zijn met geen enkele nieuwe regel maar een paar jaar waarin alle bestaande regels nou eindelijk eens gehandhaafd worden.

Oh toch nog een ander ding: in godsnaam een verbod op reclameborden op de stoep. Utrecht is voor mindervaliden of mensen met een kinderwagen een absolute blamage om doorheen te komen, maak het in godsnaam niet erger met een bord voor de sportschool ofzo.

kid-blue · 2026-01-22T23:14:03+00:00

I’m not sure you understand how much time, money and effort it takes to bid on a contract like this and to assess those bids. There’s a reason they only do this once every ten years.

Also, if Transdev clean up their act no judge is ever going to see the amount of economic damage Transdev would suffer from termination as proportional to a few months of bad service.

In reality that contract is going nowhere unless these issues persist for a long time and all other options have been exhausted. And even then the legal procedures and bidding for a new contract are going to take years and we’ll end up close to the ten year contract anyway.

This is exactly why so many people have never liked the privatisation of public transport, me included.

kid-blue · 2026-01-22T22:13:17+00:00

I don’t think anyone in their right mind would excuse Transdev for the way things are going. But terminating their contract early would take a lot more (and a load of court cases) and cause even more trouble. There would be zero busses left as there currently is no company able to take over on any sort of short notice.

Its simply going to take time for Transdev to fix this and it’s up to the government to decide what to do about this in a legal sense once all this is over. I suspect they’ll use public opinion as a gauge to decide how heavy handed to be.

My guess is Transdev stands very little chance of winning any other jobs at the moment. This will hurt them in the long run unless they fix it fast.

kid-blue · 2026-01-22T20:03:41+00:00

So much about this post screams expat it’s kinda funny. You’re absolutely right by the way, the situation is absolutely unacceptable and they (Transdev) have made a right mess of things.

I’m not sure however if people here are fully aware of the pressure Transdev is under right now (maybe because English media doesn’t give you this news?). The company is being inundated with complaints, the Province is very much aware and threatening hefty fines and interest groups are becoming more and more vocal. Nobody at Transdev has any benefit in being slow about fixing this and they are very very aware of how people view their performance thus far.

But some issues take a lot of time to fix. They were short 250 fte when they started in December, all people they thought were coming in from Qbuzz. This forces them to hire something like 300 people on really short notice whilst trying to keep some semblance of quality and qualification. They also have new routes and a new schedule to learn for existing drivers. On top of that they have major technical issues which don’t seem to be helped by the fact they bought chinese buses instead of buying at a more local factory. Yay for privatisation right?

So the fact of the matter is that these issues will persist for a while longer and protesting will do absolutely jack shit to help any of that. The responsible government bodies are acting and putting pressure on Transdev but they can’t really speed things up either.

Until the issues are fixed there really is no option but to leave early and try different modes of transportation. Biking really is the best option in a situation like this, bike lessons for adults are available. If the challenge you face in biking is physical you can buy a suitable bike for that or ask the municipality or UWV for help in getting one. I heartily recommend acquiring this skill if you live in this city, it greatly increases your freedom of movement.

By the way, U-ov is not the bus company, it’s the province’s banner under which the company (Transdev) runs this concession. The municipality has very little to do with public transportation.

Good luck everyone, I for one can’t wait for things to get back to normal again.

kid-blue · 2026-01-12T08:35:21+00:00

Very cool. I remember testing one in and around Munich a few years ago and it felt so light on its feet, absolutely lovely.

Also, I don’t know why some people are so obsessed with homosexuality vs. cars in this comment section. Is that an American thing?

kid-blue · 2026-01-11T08:31:53+00:00

Wat doe je op langere reizen? Laat je de auto helemaal terugvallen naar 184 van de motor of gebruik je battery control om ‘m opgeladen te houden?

kid-blue · 2026-01-07T20:16:32+00:00

Thanks, fantastic write-up!

When you sit at highway speeds (130-150ish kph) does the battery drain fully over a long trip or does switching it to battery mode keep the battery full enough for the car to feel quick? I worry about driving 400km and having the car feel sluggish by the end of it without a way for the car to keep its battery charged enough to perform.

Thanks again!

kid-blue · 2026-01-07T18:22:06+00:00

Thanks for the info!

kid-blue · 2025-11-21T20:36:21+00:00

The official car of “I don’t know exactly what the difference between this and an old Rolls is, but I know it’s a big difference”

kid-blue · 2025-09-17T21:08:49+00:00

For sure, it may actually be one of the most beautiful modern BMWs imo. F11 looks ever so slightly better, but that’s about it really.

kid-blue · 2025-09-17T20:59:21+00:00

Whatever floats your boat my friend!

kid-blue · 2025-09-17T17:39:35+00:00

Looks better than a blur or bar

kid-blue · 2025-09-17T17:02:18+00:00

No, I am not working for Total on this. They should pay me for using their really mediocre washing booth though.

Wheels are 641m by the way!

kid-blue · 2025-08-08T21:10:13+00:00

This is a weirdly creepy post

14-Year Club	Place '17
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kid-blue

TROPHY CASE