One quarter fewer car poolers

Every working day in 2002, 218 thousand of the cars on Dutch roads were shared by people commuting to and from work, transporting a total of half a million car poolers. Car sharing has decreased substantially since 1995.

Nearly half a million people in car sharing schemes

On an average weekday in 2002 some 2.8 million cars travelled between home and work. Nearly nine out of ten of these commuter cars contained only a driver.

One in thirteen cars contained a driver and one or more car sharers. Together these cars transported nearly half a million people, about 16 percent of all people driving to work.

Commuter cars, 2002

Fewer car-sharers

The number of cars shared by commuters decreased by more than 30 percent since 1995 to 218 thousand cars in 2002. In 1995 14 percent of cars commuting to and from work were shared. In 2002 this was only 8 percent.

The number of car sharers too has dropped: by 27 percent in the space of eight years, to nearly 500 thousand in 2002.

Car sharers, 1995-2002

The number of commuter cars increased by nearly 23 percent in the same period. The number of cars with only one person has therefore risen substantially.

Male drivers

Men drove nearly three-quarters of shared cars. Some 37 percent of passengers in 2002 were women. Most car share drivers and passengers work for at least 30 hours a week.

Hermine Molnár and Rico Konen