More than 1.5 million Dutch people have a motorcycle license, the largest number ever. The driving license is especially popular in Drenthe. BOVAG and data collector RDC report this. The figures also show that the 800,000th engine will be sold next month.
Motorcycling has become more popular, partly due to the lockdowns of recent years. In the last three years, 50,000 copies were added, while only 33,000 were sold in the five years before the pandemic.
According to BOVAG, this is because many Dutch people wanted to avoid public transport during the corona crisis, for fear of contamination. Another factor was that many people wanted to go out for a day during that period. They therefore often opted for a ride by motorcycle.
Last year, 15,527 motorcycles were sold. That number was greater than it has been in the past fifteen years. Sales were also high last month. As a result, there are now about 795,000 motorcycles in our country.
At 1,504,509, the number of motorcycle license holders is almost twice as large as the number of motorcycles. Most people with a motorcycle license live in South Holland: almost 260,000. There are also more than 200,000 people with such a driving license in Gelderland, North Brabant and North Holland.
In proportion to the number of inhabitants, motorcycling is the most popular in Drenthe. Nearly 60,000 Drenthes have a certificate to be allowed to drive a motorcycle, which amounts to 11.7 percent of all inhabitants. BOVAG suspects that this is partly due to the annual motorcycle race on the TT circuit in Assen.
After two canceled editions, the Motorbeurs in Utrecht will start on Thursday. The fair has been around for over 35 years and was visited by about 90,000 motorcycle enthusiasts before corona.
