This week, the Dutch got less in a car, train, bus, tram, metro or on a ferry. In doing so, they appear to be responding to the cabinet’s urgent request to work from home where possible and to travel less. This is evident from figures from public transport chip card company Translink and the National Road Traffic Data Database (NDW).
It gets quieter every week on the road. This week, an average of 524 cars passed a busy traffic point on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:00. Last week there were 559 and the week before 584. The NDW bases this on measurements at two hundred locations across the country, mainly motorways.
Last Monday, travelers boarded public transport 1.9 million times. For the first time since the end of August, the number of check-ins dipped below 2 million on a weekday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the number of check-ins was again below this limit. This means that about 60 percent fewer Dutch people boarded a train, bus, tram, metro or ferry compared to the same day in 2019.
The location data that Google records also shows that people stay at home more often. People went to the office less last week than a week earlier. They also went out less. They were less visible in places such as restaurants, shopping centers and cinemas. This week the catering is closed from Thursday.