It is less busy on Dutch roads since Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s urgent appeal last week to work from home if possible. This is evident from figures from Rijkswaterstaat on Thursday, which at the request of Nu.nl figured out.
“We see that it has become less busy on the road since last Monday,” says a spokesman for Rijkswaterstaat. The week after the press conference was 11 percent less busy on the road than in the same week last year, while the week before the call was still 8 percent. For a long time, according to Rijkswaterstaat, the road was less busy during rush hour, but not during the day. “Now it is less busy both during rush hour and during the day, commuting to and from work has decreased.”
The fact that people travel less on the road is also confirmed by the figures on the number of kilometers driven. “That was 14 percent less last week than last year, the week before it was 9 percent less,” says the spokesman for Rijkswaterstaat. A difference of 5 percentage points.
Only freight traffic increased
The number of journeys has decreased much less than you would think based on the decrease in traffic and the number of kilometers driven. At the beginning of March, an average of thirteen journeys per week were made by car, now it is 12.2. “At its low point in mid-March it was 7.2,” said the spokesman. The rides we still make today are mainly shorter rides.
Rijkswaterstaat also sees in the figures that cross-border traffic to Belgium and Germany is showing a downward trend. “That also counts in the overall decline.” Only freight traffic is increasing, by 14 percent compared to last year.