Getting Around the Netherlands: What Locals Really Say

The relocation guides sell the Netherlands as a cycling-and-train utopia where you'll never need a car. Dutch-language sources tell a narrower story: public transport is real infrastructure, but it's the car that still wins most trips, and cost is the complaint that comes up again and again.

August 2026 · Researched via local Dutch and South Korean internet sources using LikeLoc · 28 Dutch sources · 29 South Korean sources

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Search "public transport in the Netherlands" in English and you get the postcard version: dense rail network, trams gliding through Amsterdam, bikes everywhere, no car required. It reads like a solved problem.

I searched "getting around by public transport as a resident" in Nederlands through local Dutch sources — and the picture locals paint is more mixed than the postcard.

The expat guides say "you won't need a car." Dutch sources say the car is still king — public transport accounts for only about 5 percent of daily trips.

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The guides say "you won't need a car." Locals say "we mostly still drive."

The English-language pitch isn't fabricated — the Netherlands genuinely has a dense, well-run rail and tram network, and Dutch sources confirm residents make real use of it: an average of 24 train journeys and 21 bus, tram, or metro trips per person in 2023, covering roughly 1,190 kilometers by train and 302 kilometers by other public transport over the year. Usage is meaningfully higher in the big cities than in rural areas, which is exactly what you'd expect from a hub-and-spoke rail system.

What the tidy version skips is that of the roughly three trips the average Dutch resident makes each day, only about 5 percent happen on public transport — the car remains the default. And the reasons aren't just habit: local sources report that 61 percent of the population thinks public transport costs too high, and 58 percent are concerned about aggression on trains and buses. For elderly residents and people with disabilities, accessibility is a live issue too — some experience public transport as a genuinely independent way to get around, others as an obstacle because of long waits or missing direct connections. There is real movement on the cost complaint: the government's new "Nederland Ticket," offering unlimited off-peak and weekend train travel for €49 a month, is aimed squarely at making the train competitive with the car again, alongside separate efforts to improve accessibility infrastructure and demand-responsive transport in less-served areas. Locals treat these as genuine improvements in progress, not a finished fix. For the fuller local picture, what locals in the Netherlands say about public transport goes deeper, and pairs well with the cost of living Dutch sources actually report and how safe daily life feels to residents before assuming "no car needed" is the whole story.

→ Explore the live Netherlands search on LikeLoc

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South Korea, for contrast

South Korea rarely comes up in English-language "best public transport" lists the way the Netherlands does, but Korean-language sources describe a system that residents actually rely on far more heavily — and rate more positively.

Korean sources describe a public transport system that's genuinely central to daily life: metropolitan-area residents spend about 64 minutes a day on public transport on average, and public transport's overall share of trips — 37.6 percent — is the highest in the OECD. Fares are cited as a real reason for that: a subway or bus ride in Seoul runs around 1,500–1,550 won, with transfer discounts built in, and integrated cards like the "Climate Companion Card" now offer unlimited travel across Seoul's public transport network. The friction locals do name is congestion — rush-hour crowding is a consistent complaint — and a rural-urban gap: outside the metropolitan area, routes are sparser and services run less frequently, and households that depend on public transport can still see monthly costs top 100,000 won, which is why fare-refund programs like the "Everyone's Card" exist. The throughline in Korean coverage is a system that's already doing its job well in cities and is actively being made cheaper, rather than a system playing catch-up on basic reliability.

→ Explore the live South Korea search on LikeLoc

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The relocation-guide gap, in one line

Both countries have real, functioning public transport systems — the guides aren't lying about either. What they flatten is how central that system actually is to daily life: Dutch sources describe a network residents like in theory but mostly don't use, sidelined by cost complaints and the enduring convenience of the car; Korean sources describe a network that's already the backbone of daily commuting and is getting cheaper, not just better. Anyone weighing "no car needed" as a reason to move is better served by that distinction than by a shared "great public transport" headline.

Selected sources

• Hoeveel wordt er met het openbaar vervoer gereisd? — "How much do people travel by public transport?" (CBS, the Dutch national statistics office)
• Hoe kijken de inwoners van Nederland tegen mobiliteit en bereikbaarheid aan — "How do Dutch residents view mobility and accessibility" (KiM, Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis)
• Mobiliteit & Openbaar vervoer — "Mobility & Public Transport" (ANBO-PCOB survey on cost and accessibility concerns)
• Nederlandticket 2026: dit weten we nu! — "Nederland Ticket 2026: what we know so far" (Goedkoop-Treinkaartje.nl, on the new €49 off-peak train pass)
• 'Nederland-ticket' moet reiziger vanaf vandaag de trein in trekken — "'Nederland Ticket' aims to get travelers onto the train starting today" (NOS, Dutch public broadcaster)
• 수도권 거주자, 하루 평균 64분 대중교통 이용 — "Metropolitan-area residents use public transport for an average of 64 minutes a day" (MBN Money)
• [팩트체크] 한국이 '대중교통 천국'이라는데…수치로 확인해보니 — "[Fact check] They say Korea is a 'public transport paradise'... checking the numbers" (Yonhap News Agency)
• 대한민국 모두를 위한 '모두의 카드'…전국 어디서나 교통자유 누린다 — "Korea's 'Everyone's Card,' for everyone... transport freedom anywhere in the country" (Korea Policy Briefing, government news service)
• 기후동행카드 소개 — "Introducing the Climate Companion Card" (Seoul Metropolitan Government)
• 지하철·버스 환승 할인 받는 법 — 외국인을 위한 서울 통합환승 — "How to get subway/bus transfer discounts — Seoul's integrated transfer system for foreigners" (Lacha, Seoul relocation guide)