Last year, there were 2,4 million cars on Dutch roads during the morning rush hour and nearly 2,8 million during the evening rush hour, according to the latest figures published by Statistics Netherlands.
Carpooling is less common during the morning rush hour, when many car passengers are children. While the evening rush hour is busier overall than the morning, in general, the peak of both car and public transport traffic in the evening is spread out over a longer time period.
Those who use public transport tend to leave home earlier than those who travel by car. The busiest hour on trains, buses, the metro, or trams is between 7am and 8am, whereas on the roads the peak is shifted to around 8am, because motorists have an average travel time of 30 minutes during rush hour while for those using public transport this is nearly 60 minutes.
Residents of the provinces of North and South Holland, Utrecht, and Flevoland are twice as likely to take public transport in the morning than those in other provinces (10% vs. 5%).
Limburg has the highest proportion of drivers on the road during rush hour at 42%, while North Holland has the lowest at about 30% as well as the highest percentage of people travelling by foot, bike, scooter, or public transport.
South Holland has the highest total number of motorists during the morning and evening rush hours, followed by the provinces of North Brabant, North Holland, and Gelderland.
Not surprisingly, retirees are the least likely to drive during rush hour. Over 80% of drivers on the road during rush hour are travelling between work and home, while retirees do 60% of their driving during the daytime outside of rush hour. Meanwhile, students are the group most likely to do their driving at night.