ACM clears acquisition of stake in HTM by Dutch Railways NS

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) today announced that Dutch Railways NS is allowed to acquire a 49% stake in HTM, the municipal public transport company in The Hague. All shares of HTM are currently owned by the city of The Hague. HTM operates tram and local bus services in The Hague.

NS and HTM currently do not compete with each other for the right to operate tram services in The Hague. The tram service contract had been directly awarded to HTM by the The Hague Region, the contracting authority. NS´ acquisition of HTM’s shares as such does not change the current situation. Since early 2013, the urban regional authorities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague (the three largest cities in the Netherlands) are free to decide for themselves whether or not they put out to tender the public transport contracts in their regions. In the case of The Hague, it means that the The Hague Region must make this decision no later than 2017. If it decided to put out to tender the tram services, public transport companies would be able to compete with each other for these tram services.

With regard to the local bus services in The Hague, HTM already teamed up with NS in the joint venture HTM Buzz. ACM cleared that joint venture in 2011. In effect, NS’ acquisition of 49% of the shares in HTM does not change that.

In addition, ACM assessed whether NS’ train services compete with HTM’s tram services in The Hague. This is not the case, since the two of them actually complement each other. Moreover, service for riders is not likely to deteriorate as a result of the acquisition, as the government has attached conditions thereto.