The share of employees still owning a company is steadily increasing in Belgium, according a new survey carried out with 40,000 companies.
Although cycling has become more popular for travel between home and work over the last year, employees still want to hold on to their cars.
"The coronavirus has increased the popularity of cycling tenfold, but the car remains in the lead. This is not necessarily bad news, because even after the coronavirus [pandemic], we will cover fewer kilometres for our home-to-work trips thanks to the success of the teleworking," Olivier Marcq, mobility expert at Acerta, said.
In 2020, one in three workers cycled to work, sometimes in combination with another form of transportation, and 14.6% took the bicycle every time they had to get to work. Compared to 2019, bicycle usage increased by 9.1%. The health crisis, more and better cycling infrastructure, and the use of more electric bicycles are the main factors behind the rise.
However, the car still remains the primary mode of commuting between home and work. One in five Belgian private sector employees has a company car. This represents a 5.5% increase compared to 2019 and 25% more than five years ago.
Almost 8 in 10 (78%) home-to-work trips in 2020 were made (at least in part) with a private or company car.
The number of kilometres travelled by car has however dropped considerably due to the health crisis and the fact that more people telework.
The mobility survey shows that public transport has decreased considerably: 8.1% of Belgian workers from the private sector sometimes take the train, tram and/or bus and 6% do so always. In both cases, this is a slight decrease compared to the previous year.
The Brussels Times
