Has the Ome Piet ferry closed permanently?

Not permanently at this stage. The current skippers made their provisionally final crossings on 11 October 2026 and no successors have yet been found. The ferry and mobile cabin will remain in place for now while talks with the municipality and the search for new volunteers continue.

Where did the Ome Piet ferry sail?

Ome Piet crossed the Ringvaart between Nieuwemeerdijk in Badhoevedorp and the Amsterdamse Bos, close to the Meerzicht pancake restaurant. The cycle and foot ferry saved users a detour of several kilometres. The crossing itself took only a few minutes.

Why did Ome Piet's skippers stop?

Erik Hoogenboom and Martin Brekelmans stopped after sixteen seasons as volunteers. The service required their time every weekend from mid-April to mid-October, and Martin turns eighty in 2027. Despite a long search, no new team has been found to take over the operation.

Does Ome Piet's closure affect the GVB IJ ferries?

No. Ome Piet is a privately run volunteer ferry across the Ringvaart and is not part of GVB or the IJ ferry network. The Amsterdam GVB ferry timetables do not change as a result; always check current GVB travel information for those services.

Ome Piet ferry provisionally closed after sixteen seasons

The Ome Piet ferry has provisionally closed between Badhoevedorp and the Amsterdamse Bos. After sixteen seasons, no successors have been found for its volunteer skippers.

The Ome Piet ferry has provisionally closed between Badhoevedorp and the Amsterdamse Bos after its two volunteer skippers completed their last scheduled afternoon on Sunday 11 October 2026. Erik Hoogenboom and Martin Brekelmans kept the small link sailing for sixteen seasons, but no successors have been found despite a long search. The cycle and foot ferry crossed the Ringvaart in a few minutes from Nieuwemeerdijk to the woodland side near the Meerzicht pancake restaurant. Regular users now provisionally lose a short recreational route and face a detour of several kilometres. This story does not concern the Amsterdam GVB ferries on the IJ, but it does involve a valued ferry link on the edge of Amsterdam.

Why the Ome Piet ferry has provisionally closed

Hoogenboom and Brekelmans launched the present service in 2010 and sailed at weekends and on selected public holidays from mid-April until mid-October. Their work was voluntary, yet operating throughout the season demanded a fixed commitment from the skippers and the people supporting them ashore. Martin Brekelmans is 79 and turns eighty next year, while both men had already decided that sixteen seasons would be enough for them. They spent a considerable period looking for people willing to take over and offered practical help to any new volunteers. With no replacement team in place for the final weekend, the crossings on 11 October became the service's last sailings for now.

A short crossing with a long local history

The name Ome Piet refers to Piet Eilander, who once carried people, bicycles and even horses across at roughly the same location. The present skippers revived the route after a neighbourhood barbecue in 2009 and started sailing one year later. From Nieuwemeerdijk the ferry covered only a short distance across the Ringvaart to the Amsterdamse Bos. Users nevertheless said the crossing saved cyclists and walkers a detour of several kilometres and sometimes about twenty minutes. On a local scale, it played the same connecting role that the larger ferries serve between Amsterdam Noord and the rest of the city.

A restart of Ome Piet remains possible

The word provisionally matters because neither the ferry nor its mobile cabin is being removed yet. Veerponten.nl reports that talks with the municipality are still planned about continuation and possible ways to recruit new volunteers. Haarlemmermeer municipality previously said it wanted to organise an information meeting for residents and organisations interested in the link. The outcome is not fixed, and there is currently no confirmed timetable for the 2027 season. If a restart is agreed, that decision deserves a separate update in our ferry news.

No change to the GVB IJ ferries

Ome Piet is a privately organised volunteer service rather than a GVB route, even though one end of its crossing is in the Amsterdamse Bos. Its provisional closure therefore changes none of the departure times, fares or routes on the IJ or North Sea Canal ferries. The scale is also very different, as Ome Piet mainly served recreational cyclists and walkers at weekends while GVB carries large passenger flows every day. Those volumes can be seen in our Amsterdam ferry statistics, without diminishing the local value of a small crossing. Anyone planning a GVB trip can continue checking current departures through the usual ferry apps.

A volunteer shortage is not GVB's skipper shortage

Ome Piet needs a new group of volunteers willing to continue the entire private initiative. That differs from the professional skipper shortage affecting GVB ferries, where qualified crew are required to operate a large public timetable. Both cases do show that a ferry connection depends not only on a vessel and two landings, but above all on people who can be available consistently. For Ome Piet the next step is therefore not a revised sailing time but the recruitment of successors and a workable organisation for another season. Until then, cyclists and walkers around the Ringvaart should plan to use the route over land.

Pont is not an official GVB product and is not affiliated with GVB, the Ome Piet ferry, the Amsterdamse Bos or the municipalities involved. We summarise public reporting by NH Nieuws and Veerponten.nl and public route information to explain the consequences for travellers. As of 16 October 2026, only the retirement of the current skippers and the absence of successors have been confirmed. No permanent closure has been decided because talks and the volunteer search could still lead to a restart. Always check current information from the operator before travelling and use official GVB departure information for the GVB ferries.