There are many reasons why we find ourselves crammed shoulder to shoulder with strangers at 7 AM on a stuffy yet freezing NS train: it’s cheaper than taking the car (right?), it’s easy (questionable), and it will get you to work faster — or so we thought.
Turns out, we were wrong about that last one.
According to research by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, you’d actually get to work faster if you just sat in your car during rush hour traffic.
Dutch public transport is actually getting worse
One important reason for the research was to ask the following question: has accessibility in the Netherlands increased or decreased in recent years due to changes in public transport?
The answer? Tough tits: it’s getting worse (that wasn’t quite their wording.)
What they actually said was the following:
“Our research shows: the car is always faster. Even during rush hour. From all over the Netherlands, facilities and jobs are considerably less accessible by public transport or bicycle than by car.”
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But why?
The reason for this decrease in accessibility is simple, albeit frustrating.
“Since 2012, public transport has been cut back in many parts of the Netherlands. This cutback has led to reduced accessibility of facilities and jobs,” the research found.
Another fun finding? “This applies in particular to hospital locations.”
The study found that 30% of elderly people who must take public transport cannot reach a hospital within 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, 12% are unable to reach a hospital within 45 minutes.
However, it’s worth noting that the closing of facilities in smaller town centres has also contributed to these stats.
What can be done to fix this?
The research calls for better political choices to be made when it comes to public transport in the Netherlands.
According to Jeroen Bastiaansen, transport policy researcher at PBL, “investing in the public transport and cycling network is obvious, especially in places where many people have been affected by the reduced accessibility.”
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He recommends making “better use of locations near urban centres and around public transport hubs for facilities and employment,” as well as planning housing construction near these locations.
Will the government listen? Let’s keep an eye on the news while we sit knee to knee with each other on our hour-long commutes.
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