The lockdowns left a heavy mark on the travel behavior of Dutch people last year. The number of kilometers traveled in 2020 decreased by a third compared to the previous year. Statistics Netherlands reports that the Dutch traveled 147 billion kilometers on foot, by bicycle, car, train or other means of transport last year. That was 211 billion in 2019.
The decline in mobility started when the corona measures came into effect, such as the advice to work from home and the closure of industries such as the catering industry. For relaxation, the Dutch went for more walks or driving in circles. With all that walking, we covered 1.5 billion kilometers more on foot last year than in 2019.
Public transport saw the largest decrease in the number of travel kilometers. Train passengers traveled 60 percent fewer kilometers, while the reduction in travel kilometers for bus, tram and metro was 54 percent.
Especially in the first lockdown (from mid-March to the end of April 2020), the Dutch traveled less. The average distance traveled per person decreased by 60 percent to about 12 kilometers per day compared to the week before the first lockdown. When the lockdown was lifted, the number of kilometers traveled immediately increased again.
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