Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Cuts to one of Norway's most popular train routes, issues with Vipps and working rights violations found in 50 percent of workplaces, plus other news on Thursday.
Vy to cut trains between Bergen and Oslo
Train operator Vy has proposed cutting the number of daily departures on the Bergen line from six to four.
The change will occur after the summer when Vy expects the number of travellers to decrease. The operator said that the pandemic had changed people's travel habits, and fewer people were using the service.
"We envision that we will gradually increase to the level we had before the pandemic, but the foundation is not there yet," communications manager at Vy, Åge-Christoffer Lundeby, told public broadcaster NRK.
Problems with Vipps
Payment service Vipps was down on Thursday morning. The app is used to transfer money between users.
"Houston, we have a problem," a message on the app reads when users try and log in.
The company also acknowledged problems with the service on Thursday morning.
"Vipps is experiencing problems with logging in, and this affects all users. We are working to solve the problem and will send an update as soon as we know more," the firm wrote on its website.
However, by 08:50am the service was operational again.
50 percent of workplaces inspected this summer violate workers' rights
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions has said that during its yearly summer checks, 50 percent of the 4,395 workplaces it reviewed this year.
"The violations particularly concern problems around camera surveillance, that one does not receive sufficient training, unpredictable duty lists, lack of information about safety representatives and violations of overtime rules," Sindre Hornnes from LO said in a press release.
This correlates to an increase in violations compared to 2021, when violations were found in 45.8 percent of the workplaces it checked.
Norwegians shopping less after the pandemic
During the pandemic, Norwegians were shopping considerably more, but this trend has now reversed, and more money is being spent on festivals and restaurants than in stores, business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports.
"There is a clear shift in shopping trends now that we are not sitting at home as much as during the pandemic," Ine Oftedahl from the data department at DNB said.
Spending on home and hobbies was the category of purchases which saw the biggest drop according to the bank. In addition, card use in these categories dropped by almost 20 percent compared to summer 2020.
"During the pandemic, we saw a sharp increase in the consumption of goods and a sharp decrease in the consumption of services. After reopening, service consumption has naturally picked up again. People are at festivals and restaurants and prioritise nightlife," Chief economist Marius Gonsholt Hov at Handelsbanken told DN.
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Vy to cut trains between Bergen and Oslo
Train operator Vy has proposed cutting the number of daily departures on the Bergen line from six to four.
The change will occur after the summer when Vy expects the number of travellers to decrease. The operator said that the pandemic had changed people's travel habits, and fewer people were using the service.
"We envision that we will gradually increase to the level we had before the pandemic, but the foundation is not there yet," communications manager at Vy, Åge-Christoffer Lundeby, told public broadcaster NRK.
Problems with Vipps
Payment service Vipps was down on Thursday morning. The app is used to transfer money between users.
"Houston, we have a problem," a message on the app reads when users try and log in.
The company also acknowledged problems with the service on Thursday morning.
"Vipps is experiencing problems with logging in, and this affects all users. We are working to solve the problem and will send an update as soon as we know more," the firm wrote on its website.
However, by 08:50am the service was operational again.
50 percent of workplaces inspected this summer violate workers' rights
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions has said that during its yearly summer checks, 50 percent of the 4,395 workplaces it reviewed this year.
"The violations particularly concern problems around camera surveillance, that one does not receive sufficient training, unpredictable duty lists, lack of information about safety representatives and violations of overtime rules," Sindre Hornnes from LO said in a press release.
This correlates to an increase in violations compared to 2021, when violations were found in 45.8 percent of the workplaces it checked.
Norwegians shopping less after the pandemic
During the pandemic, Norwegians were shopping considerably more, but this trend has now reversed, and more money is being spent on festivals and restaurants than in stores, business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports.
"There is a clear shift in shopping trends now that we are not sitting at home as much as during the pandemic," Ine Oftedahl from the data department at DNB said.
Spending on home and hobbies was the category of purchases which saw the biggest drop according to the bank. In addition, card use in these categories dropped by almost 20 percent compared to summer 2020.
"During the pandemic, we saw a sharp increase in the consumption of goods and a sharp decrease in the consumption of services. After reopening, service consumption has naturally picked up again. People are at festivals and restaurants and prioritise nightlife," Chief economist Marius Gonsholt Hov at Handelsbanken told DN.
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