NS and the sector partners are creating socio-economic impact by providing mobility and by giving people the opportunity to travel from A to B for work, study or recreation, thereby contributing to the economy. Travelling by train also helps connect people and promotes social inclusiveness. The importance of mobility in the Netherlands has been valued by the Kennis Instituut Mobiliteit (a mobility knowledge centre) at €76 billion. Of that amount, €8,128 million can be attributed to NS (€7,776 million in 2018).
As passengers cannot spend their time in the way they wish, the door-to-door travel time results in social costs. This applies above all to time lost due to delays and to time spent in overcrowded trains (for example due to a lack of seating). This negative impact of travelling was €6,045 million in 2019 (€5,745 million in 2018). The increase in our negative impact was due to the fact that people travelled more by train. The impact of time spent travelling in crowded trains has improved substantially thanks to measures taken to deal with overcrowding. For example, we are now deploying more trains. In short, the impact analysis shows that ‘time is money’: for a more positive impact, the time spent on the entire journey needs to be shorter, and passengers should be able to spend time in the train efficiently and comfortably.