The number of cars in the Netherlands is increasing at a rapid pace, traffic jams are becoming longer and heavier just as quickly Car

It is not often that so many extra cars hit the road in one year. Trade association Bovag reports, based on figures from the National Road Transport Agency, that 370,000 new cars were sold last year. 254,000 cars entered the country via import. 280,000 cars were exported. And 164,000 passenger cars were scrapped. A big net plus of exactly 180,585 cars. To illustrate: put them one after the other and you have a traffic jam from Utrecht to the Dordogne.

The increase is remarkable, in recent years ‘only’ around 100,000 cars were added per year. There appears to be a possibility of catching up after cars were poorly available due to corona and the high demand for computer chips. The Netherlands was already European champion with the number of cars per square kilometer and the country is slowly filling up with car tin. Ten years ago, the Netherlands had 8.2 million passenger cars and before 2030 we will be the country of 10 million cars.

“The number and importance of cars is increasing, especially outside the Randstad,” says Chiel van Lent of the ANWB. “Facilities disappear and people become dependent on the car.” For example, if medical facilities or shops disappear and public transport also decreases, then the car is the only alternative for many people.

The ANWB is concerned about traffic jams in the coming years, because the existing capacity on the roads will decrease because a lot of maintenance is planned for bridges and asphalt. Due to the nitrogen problem, seventeen major projects to improve traffic flow have been halted indefinitely. “We do not need to add a lot of capacity, but the current bottlenecks, such as the Hoevelaken junction, do need to be resolved. The Netherlands can still handle the extra cars, but not in combination with postponed road works.”

Last year, the severity of traffic jams – length x duration of the traffic jam – was 17 percent higher than last year and also 6 percent higher than in 2019, the year before corona broke out.

Due to corona and the alleged risk of infection in public transport, the popularity of private cars increased enormously. Since the pandemic broke out at the beginning of 2020, 600,000 cars have been added in the Netherlands. This also set in motion a vicious circle: fewer passengers mean that the public transport supply decreases and the car becomes the only option. Public transport occupancy will not return to the 2019 level until 2028. This year, the car industry expects to once again sell 360,000 new cars.

Owning your own car remains popular. “People do not immediately sell that second car purchased during corona times,” says infrastructure professor Bert van Wee of TU Delft. “But we are still a long way from talking about a traffic jam, even if traffic jams increase by 50 percent. Traffic jams also hurt less. Many people can choose whether they travel during rush hour or not.”

“If you want to get people out of the car, you have to prepare a combination of vinegar and honey. So ban cars from areas, make cars more expensive, charge road pricing and ensure that the alternatives improve. Then there will be cautious people who say: I no longer need that car. But the majority will not give up their objections to public transport.”

Tertoolen can imagine the arguments of the inveterate motorist against public transport. “Otherwise you have to go to the station first; the train is overcrowded, delayed or not running at all. You have to change trains, travel to and from the station by bicycle or bus. Do you know what all that costs? Then you’d rather spend fifteen minutes or half an hour in a traffic jam, but in your own cocoon with your own music and the privacy to make calls. The car is an extension of your home.”