The traffic jam problem in the Netherlands seems to have largely disappeared because people work from home much more often as a result of the corona virus. This is the conclusion of traffic experts in the AD.
“And not just whole days, even several hours a day,” says Erik Verhoef, professor of transport economics at the VU. In recent years, the number of congestion on Dutch roads has grown sharply. But they have virtually disappeared since the first lockdown.
The Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management concludes in the latest analyzes that traffic jams are only caused by road works and accidents. “The pandemic shows what computer models have been predicting for some time, but which could never be scientifically substantiated: that congestion with less traffic will not only decrease a little, but even decrease exponentially”, says Ruud Hornman, professor of smart mobility at the Hogeschool Breda.
How strong that effect of working from home is became clear at the end of August when the number of cars on the roads was almost the same as normal again. The traffic jams stayed away. “This was because people travel more often outside rush hour,” says traffic psychologist Gerard Tertoolen. And that is because people no longer have to be on time for work, because they can start the working day from home.