Dutch use public transport less for commute, more on weekends since pandemic

Since the coronavirus pandemic, people in the Netherlands have been using public transport less for their weekday commute to and from work and school, and more for moving around on the weekend, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported based on check-in figures for the first half of 2025. Netherlands residents are still using trains, buses, trams, and metros less than before the pandemic.

In the first half of this year, there were 607 million check-ins on public transport, almost 1 percent less than the same period in 2024. Compared to the first half of 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic, the total number of check-ins decreased by 6.8 percent.

On weekdays, there were a total of 491 million check-ins on public transport in the first half of 2025. That’s 1.7 percent less than in the same period in 2024 and 10.8 percent lower than in 2019.

Netherlands residents used public transport 116 million times on weekends during the first half of this year, an increase of 2.3 percent compared to a year earlier. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, the number of weekend check-ins increased by 15.1 percent.

In the first half of this year, the number of check-ins was higher on both Saturdays and Sundays than in the same period in 2024 and 2019. On weekdays, Mondays had more check-ins on average (+1.7 percent) than in 2024, and the rest of the weekdays had fewer. Fridays saw the largest decrease compared to the first half of 2024 (-2.7 percent).

Weekday traffic still mostly occurs during the rush hours. In the first half of 2025, the morning rush hour between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. had an average of 367,000 check-ins, 2.1 percent less than in 2024 and 17.3 percent less than in 2019. The evening rush hour between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. had an average of 355,000 check-ins in the first half of 2025, -1.4 percent compared to 2024 and -14.5 percent compared to the first half of 2019.