It is quieter in the evenings and at night in the potential curfew hours than before the corona crisis, but still significantly busier than during the first corona wave.
There is more traffic in the evening and at night than during last spring’s lockdown. This is evident from data from the National Road Traffic Data Portal (NDW) and public transport chip card company Translink. During the day the difference with the first wave is even greater. On the road last week at the target ‘curfew hours’, between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., it was about a third busier than during week 14 of 2020, when the ‘intelligent lockdown’ started in the spring. This difference can be seen both during the week and at the weekend. This is evident from measurements by the NDW at two hundred locations spread across the country, mainly motorways.
The data concerns whole hours and is therefore just not in line with the times when the curfew should apply. That is from 8:30 pm to 4:30 am. The outgoing cabinet is expected to announce the introduction of the curfew on Wednesday. This would then take effect from Friday 22 January.
In public transport, the relative difference with the lockdown in the spring is even greater. During the week between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., an average of 74 percent more people checked in on trains, buses, trams, metros and ferries last week. This is evident from a comparison between last week and week 14 based on data from Translink. In the weekend you can even see a more than doubling.