The number of cars in the Netherlands has grown larger than ever in 2023. This results in an increase in traffic jams and parking pressure. At the same time, there are many developments in alternative forms of mobility to help achieve our goals for a more ‘green’ society. Monit Data looks at how these trends can be seen in our 2023 data.
The number of cars registered in the Netherlands is growing at a rapid pace. That was the headline of an article last week in the Algemeen Dagblad, one of the largest national Dutch newspapers (link to article, Dutch language only)
This increase naturally has its consequences. Traffic jams are growing both in length and numbers. We also see parking pressure increasing again. These figures are already even higher than 2019, the last ‘normal’ year before the global pandemic, and the rise of working from home.
The growth in the use of private cars is also at odds with the goals for a more ‘green’ society. To help achieve this goal we need to further develop alternative forms of mobility such as shared cars, bicycles, public transport, MaaS and more. A more liveable environment also raises a question what to do with the car in the limited public space we need to share. Especially in a densely populated country such as the Netherlands. In nearly all cities and municipalities there is therefore a very active discussion about what the policies for mobility and parking should be. For example, Amsterdam wants to remove 10,000 spots by 2025, many newly developed residential areas have fewer or no parking spaces included, and parking allocations standards for visitors are also being re-evaluated.
Monit Data looks at the numbers
With data analysis at our core, we at Monit Data are naturally curious how we see these various social developments in mobility reflected in our data. We have analysed some key parking data from 2023 for cars and bicycles from our Parking Monitor and VTAG services.
In 2023 there was a 9% growth to more than 63 million transactions processed by Monit. With a 98% share the on- and off-street car parking as processed in our Parking Monitor was the clear majority in the total number of transactions.
Car parking transactions itself grew steadily by 8% compared to 2022. This growth can be explained by a number of related developments; an increase in the use of the car now that after the pandemic we are again spending more time outdoors for both our work and privately, the growing number of cars, and perceived health risks that have led to a reduced use of public transport that has not recovered yet.
Parking behavior after corona does show differences. In the regions outside the Randstad, the densely populated economic heart of the Netherlands, the recovery appears to be slower. Business parking subscriptions have also not yet returned to 2019 levels. Read more about this in our article ‘Parking after Corona‘.
The rise of alternative forms of mobility is also visible however in our data. In the Netherlands the bicycle is increasingly becoming a fully-fledged part of the modern mobility mix. Integrating bicycles into parking policies and planning is therefore an ongoing topic in many cities and municipalities. Moving bicycle parking from randomly on the street to managed facilities is one of the main developments in this area.
First started in the larger cities, managed bicycle parking facilities are now spreading further in the Netherlands. Data from Monit shows a strong growth of 62% in processed transactions for bicycle parking in managed facilities. Part of this comes from organic growth due to more transactions per parking facility. But we also see growth because more cities are now opening managed parking facilities and have chosen to use VTAG, our integrated solution for digital bicycle parking management.
Doing more with data
Whereas processed transactions can be seen as the ‘raw material’ for our data analyses, generated reports are the valuable end result.
The fact that Monit users are increasingly doing more with data can be seen in the number of reports that have been generated. This grew by 15% to almost 22 thousand, which is in relative terms more growth than the underlying transactions.
This growth and increased use of data use is made possible with the Monit Data model. Because we collect data from various parking systems and transform it into a uniform model, this creates many possibilities. New combinations and analytics of this collected parking data can be easily created. This gives our users access to ever more tailor-made insights and reports to help them with parking policies and management.
As with processed transactions, with 79% on- and off-street car parking also had the largest share in the generated reports. At 8% growth over 2022, these car parking reports are on the same stable growth trend as the number of transactions.
But the major growth in reporting is from the new alternative forms of mobility, as well as those following from new Monit services. The Netherlands is one of the leading countries in the transition to electric mobility, with a high share of EV’s in newly registered cars. In our Parking Monitor software suite we recently introduced an EV module for complete insight into all aspects of EV charging for a city or municipality. With 78% growth in reports, the transition to electrification of the car is also unmistakably present here.
The growth of bicycle parking in managed facilities also results in an increase in these reports. Here we saw a strong increase of 84%.
Earlier we mentioned the new insights that Monit Data can create by collecting and uniforming diverse data. A success story here in 2023 was parking occupancy measurements with the scan car, with a 292% increase in generated reports. By using the data from a scan car that is already active in many cities for enforcement purposes, existing geographical data, and a smart algorithm, we are able to perform reliable parking occupancy analyses. And this both at more regular intervals and at a lower costs than traditional manual measurements.
Continued growth in 2024
The challenges that follow from the growth of 2023 will continue in the coming years. The number of cars in the Netherlands will grow further to an estimated 10 million in 2023. At the same time, a more ‘green’ and liveable environment is increasingly a priority in our country. Solutions for mobility therefore will remain a dynamic mix of the private car and alternative forms.
This will place many, and often contradictory, demands on policymakers for mobility and parking. At Monit Data we are convinced that to make the right decisions for these policies, as well as for financial and operational management, you have to start with clear data-driven insights.
