THE HAGUE, Wednesday - The cabinet is holding four trials of free public transport for the over 65s, Transport State Secretary Tineke Huizinga announced yesterday.

The trials will be in Rotterdam, the Arnhem-Nijmegen region, the Maastricht region and the Alkmaar region. The minister is contributing 1.5 million euros to the experiments, to run from 1 June to 31 December.

The trials are intended to show whether free transport leads to increased mobility and more social contacts among the over 65s. Public transport will only be free outside the rush-hours.