Persuasion, not coercion
'In terms of the success of a development project of this kind, it is crucial for there to be a clear owner of the project during the concept phase. So that is the South Holland provincial authority.' Joost Schrijnen, director of Space and Mobility explains: 'We feel responsible for the idea as a whole: not just for the mobility side but also for urbanisation issues. You can't get a project like this off the ground using coercion; you have to make enormous investments in persuading people. But everybody recognises the problems and they come across them every day. That is what you depend on when you try to achieve a mental shift in as many as one hundred negotiating partners.'

'Quality is the main key to steering. If we can't achieve improvements in public transport services, we've no chance. The high frequency, the perfect quality of the surroundings, clean and high-quality trains and stations; these are all essential elements. Look at the metro systems in Paris in Switzerland: that's what they have to offer. And something like this places demands on central government too. In other countries, a lot of investment goes into access to the metropolises. The Dutch government sees access to the Randstad as a less urgent issue. At one time, everybody seemed to wash their hands of the mobility problems in the Randstad. The South Holland provincial authority has stepped very firmly into that gap.'