Not as much of a problem as thought
Residents of rural areas in the Netherlands are not at all dissatisfied with the accessibility of facilities. An important condition is that they can use their own car. However, public transport in rural areas is under pressure.
Residents of the countryside hardly experience any problems with the accessibility of facilities such as work, school and shops. This is evident from a report by the Knowledge Institute for Mobility Policy (KiM) that will be published on Monday. While politicians in The Hague are fully debating the declining public transport in the region, the vast majority of residents say they experience little or no accessibility problems. An important reason is that everything is fine with the car. Car ownership in rural areas is high.
On a scale of 1 to 7, rural residents give their region a score of 6 or slightly lower, according to the study. In short, residents are quite satisfied and it hardly differs from the satisfaction among residents of urban areas. “The differences in perception are much smaller than expected”, researchers Peter Jorritsma, Olaf Jonkeren and Lizet Krabbenborg observe.
Owning your own car therefore ensures good accessibility in rural areas. According to the researchers, public transport may need a different layout. Determining a minimum offer of public transport could offer solace. “Small-scale public transport, taxis and small vans (tailor-made transport) can play a role in this in addition to and instead of regular public transport.” Furthermore, many rural people seem to own an electric bicycle and the construction of fast bicycle routes can further improve the connection with urban areas.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl