I take a 20 minute train to work, and when I first started I was surprised at how quiet it was. Having lived in London and Edinburgh also it shocked me as to how quiet the public transport was. This could also be because its Friesland and not Amsterdam perhaps.

Dutch workers love to cycle to work, they are much more healthy than workers here in the United Kingdom who just sit on a bus or train and never exercise at all, you don't see many Dutch men looking as if they a pregnant as you do in the U.K.

15 minutes on my bike and I'm at my great job! This lifestyle is what I really love about living here - I cannot image wanting a car here, what a waste and bad for the little bit of environment that NL has left. I hope people here will re-think getting a car as a sign of progress or a status symbol type of thing. Seems quite counter to any sort of clean and decent future for the young folks coming up after us.

5% take the train,6 out of 10 (60%) drive,
one in four (25%) bike to work.
That accounts for 90%, where are the others?

Donaugh: maybe they work at home, or live above their shop. Good math though.

the remaining 10% might go by bus, tram or metro - or even walk.

Donaugh - Perhaps they use the trams or buses or maybe even walk to work.

AIMorr - Not everyone here works in the same city they live in. If I were to cycle to work, I'd have to set off a good 2-3 hours earlier than I already do (my daily commute by train is about 55 minutes each way).

@Donaugh: Walk? Get driven by a chauffeur? Work from home?

@Donaugh: I know lots of friends who walk to work, while I mostly work from home as a self employed research consultant and trainer. That should close the circle right?

Cycling to work is very commendable. Inflicting body odour or excessive scent upon colleagues is not.

@Donaugh: the remaining 10% use buses, ferries, motorbikes (bromfietsen and scooters are counted as normal bikes) or walk.

People working from home are not counted as they don't "commute".

The long train commute is explainable: those who take trains are usually those taking long trips that are impossible to take by bike, and expensive for driving everyday. I have a bunch of co-workers commuting 100km (one-way) daily by train.

@Bill: I have no problem with those who chose to cycle to work (except the few ones who come sweating or the ladies who come with bad makeup and don't fix it before entering the office). However, I'm against any self-righteousness of cyclists that think they are "better than 'thou" because of their choice of transportation.

I call BS. I don't think these statistics are accurate. If only 5% were using the trains...why would the trains be so busy. I am not sure who there sample size was.

I love the figure "6 out 10 drive".
was this supposed to be the country where evrybody rides a bike and nobody has a car?

I work from home when ever possible and when I got to the office I cycle & take the train. Door to door about 30 min. Would not even imagine having a car in Amsterdam, doesn't make sense to me.

@AImoor

Hmm...i am Dutch and i live in Brighton. Ive seen more pot bellied men in Utrecht than i have in Brighton. The other issue with the Netherlands is that people are crammed in like Sardines so why take the train when you wont be able to breathe???? The countryside is also infamous in the Netherlands for being rubbish so i dont care how i get to work there,im not going to see anything i like...