Strike on Monday SWB warning strike causes full roads in Bonn
People in and around Bonn have to be prepared for further warning strikes today, Monday, 27 February. The service sector union Verdi called on all public sector employees to take part in an all-day warning strike.
Today’s strike has caused considerable restrictions in public transport. The Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) and the Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe (KVB) are also affected. According to SWB, the strike was due to start at 3 a.m. on Monday.
Many commuters will be looking for alternative routes to get to work, college or university. For example, the S-Bahns operated by DB Regio are not affected by the strike. In and around Bonn, this includes the S23, which connects Bonn with Alfter, Meckenheim, Rheinbach and Euskirchen. Nevertheless, the platform at Bonn's main station was only modestly full at 8.11 a.m., as GA editor Andreas Baumann observed.
Some bus lines of the Stadtwerke Bonn Bus und Bahn (SWB) and the Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RSVG), which are operated by subcontractors, are also running on Monday. Both transport companies have published strike timetables on their respective websites. You can find the strike timetables of SWB and RSVG here.
The two largest airports in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf, are also affected. In addition, the Komba trade union has called on employees of the city of Bonn and the Stadtwerke Bonn to take part in an all-day warning strike on Monday. Kitas are also affected.
At Cologne/Bonn airport, the announced warning strikes started at 6 am. Large sections of the airport staff are taking part in the strike action, which is expected to last until 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The security staff at the personnel and goods checkpoints had already stopped work on Sunday evening at around 10 pm. This strike is expected to last until 11.59 pm on Monday. There are now no regular passenger flights.
Originally, a total of 136 passenger flights (69 take-offs, 67 landings) were scheduled for Cologne/Bonn for the 24-hour strike period. As already reported, 134 of them will not take place. You will find the full list here. Airlines had informed passengers in advance about the cancellations. Passengers affected are requested to contact their airline or travel agent. According to the airport, the terminals are almost empty except for a few travellers on Monday morning. Originally, a total of around 15,000 travellers were expected to arrive in Cologne/Bonn on Monday.
The warning strike of the Bonn public utility company caused traffic jams on Monday morning. You can find an overview of current traffic jams in Bonn and the region here.
