No car means longer travel time, especially outside city centers: Planning Office

Without a car, it is often very difficult to get to work or reach certain facilities. Especially outside the city centers, you often travel much longer by bike or public transport, researchers from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) concluded.

For example, three in ten elderly people would be unable to reach a hospital within 30 minutes if they did not own a car. Over a tenth would not be able to do it within 45 minutes.

For young people who go to school, the travel time is sometimes very long. One in ten young people needs more than 30 minutes by bike to get to their VMBO or VBO school. In HAVO and VWO, 17 percent cycle for more than half an hour to get to school. It often takes even longer by public transport, according to the PBL.

According to Jeroen Bastiaanssen, a transport policy researcher at the PBL, this study should enable governments to make better decisions. In practice, transport policy is currently too limited to combating traffic congestion and improving traffic flow.

And that means that the accessibility of all kinds of facilities, which should be considered vital, is being pushed into the background, the PBL said. “Accessibility is partly the result of political choices,’ said Bastiaanssen. Policymakers need to realize this more.