Up to 270,000 households will struggle in transport during energy transition

The TNO research institute reports that 113,000 and 270,000 households in the Netherlands will struggle in transport in the energy transition. These people may struggle to adapt to the energy transition because they need more money to buy an electric car.

Researchers say that vulnerable people are usually single-parent families or single-person households that live on the outskirts of a city far away from public transport. People from lower-income households who either need more money for petrol or who have poor access to public transport will have difficulty traveling to work and visiting friends and family. According to the researchers, this could lead to unemployment, worsening health, or loneliness.

Between 73,000 and 175,000 people do not have enough money and live somewhere with limited access to public transport. That is why they are particularly vulnerable, according to TNO. The exact number of people in this situation depends not only on income but also on current fuel prices.

TNO predicts that vulnerable households will lose more money in the coming years due to the use of their own car. This is partly due to higher environmental taxes on fossil fuels, such as petrol, and ecological zones in some municipalities.

The group tends to use 40 percent more fuel than the average Dutch household with a car, but the researchers were unable to explain why they drive more. Vulnerable people spend between 10 and 12 percent of their income on fuel, while people in the Netherlands spend an average of 4.5 percent on fuel.

The Cabinet must take action, or the inequality in mobility accessibility will only get bigger, TNO claims. The researchers think the Cabinet should invest more in public transport, ensuring better tram and subway connections to the outskirts of the cities.

The Cabinet implemented several measures to use less fossil fuel in the last few years, including subsidies for electric cars. However, these measures are generic and mainly aid people with a higher income. Instead, measures should better target at-risk households, says senior researcher Peter Mulder.

"You can limit a subsidy for higher incomes. You only get the subsidy if you have a certain low-income level. Above that, you are expected to pay for something yourself."