Skip to main content

TomTom survey shows congestion worsening in 200 global cities

A survey of more than 200 major global cities shows that commuters in Istanbul experience the worst overall traffic congestion. The average 30-minute drive in Istanbul takes more than an hour during evening rush hour, leading to an extra 125 hours wasted stuck in traffic every year, according to the latest Traffic Index Survey from Tom Tom. However, in Los Angeles, a 30 minute commute in the evening rush hour will take 54 minutes, adding an extra 92 hours annually.
April 10, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A survey of more than 200 major global cities shows that commuters in Istanbul experience the worst overall traffic congestion.

The average 30-minute drive in Istanbul takes more than an hour during evening rush hour, leading to an extra 125 hours wasted stuck in traffic every year, according to the latest Traffic Index Survey from Tom Tom.

However, in Los Angeles, a 30 minute commute in the evening rush hour will take 54 minutes, adding an extra 92 hours annually.

This year 3972 TomTom has expanded its Traffic Index to 218 cities in 36 countries. For the first time, the index includes traffic information for China, Romania, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia and United Arab Emirates. The Traffic Index is based on data collected during 2014.

Overall ranking of most congested cities in 2014:

1.    Istanbul (Turkey)
2.    Mexico City
3.    Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
4.    Moscow
5.    Salvador (Brazil)
6.    Recife (Brazil)
7.    St. Petersburg (Russia)
8.    Bucharest (Romania)
9.    Warsaw (Poland)
10.    Los Angeles

Top ten cities with the worst evening rush hour:

1.    Istanbul
2.    Moscow
3.    St. Petersburg
4.    Mexico City
5.    Chongqing (China)
6.    Recife
7.    Bucharest
8.    Rio de Janeiro
9.    Shenzhen (China)
10.    Los Angeles

The survey also showed that traffic congestion in UK cities has worsened considerably over the past year, as World Highways had reported earlier. Average journeys in the UK last year took 29% longer than they would in free-flowing traffic – up from a 27% in 2013.

The only UK city where congestion had improved is Bristol, down from 32% to 29% per cent.

To find out more information on the Traffic Index, %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal click here Visit TomTom Page false http://www.tomtom.com/trafficindex false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • David Quarmby will be a keynote speaker at ERIC 2016 in Leeds
    July 26, 2016
    David Quarmby, one of the United Kingdom’s most influential and experienced highways and transport senior executives, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker at the European Roads Infrastructure Congress – ERIC 2016 - in the autumn. Quarmby has had a long career in policy, planning, management and research in UK transport, with 39 years’ board-level experience in government, public agencies and the private sector, including London Transport and the retail food giant Sainsbury’s. Most recently he has b
  • IRF Launches New Website for World Road Statistics
    April 6, 2017
    The International Road Federation Geneva Programme Centre (IRF Geneva) has been publishing the IRF World Road Statistics (WRS), the most complete and authoritative source of data for the international road, traffic and inland transport sectors for over 50 years. For 2017, IRF Geneva is pleased to announce the launch of a new website (www.worldroadstatistics.org) dedicated to the World Road Statistics. This new website provides all the information about the WRS including the methodology; contents of sections
  • Deadline for submitting European Transport Conference 2014 abstracts
    February 3, 2014
    Tomorrow is the deadline for submitting abstracts to the European Transport Conference (ETC) 2014. The ETC connects the worlds of research, consultancy, policy and practice. Attendance at ETC allows different groups to pose questions to fellow professionals and to assess what is possible in terms of delivery. Researchers are challenged by policy-makers; practitioners need to deliver on the ground what the policy-makers want. The Association for European Transport has identified for the 2014 Conference so
  • Manufacturing body CECE issues positive results
    March 12, 2015
    The European construction equipment manufacturer’s association, CECE, has released its strongly positive Economic Report for 2014. According to this report, equipment sales in the European market grew by 9% in 2014. However a flat sales growth is forecast for 2015. The report says that 2014 was a troubled, yet good, year for the European construction equipment industry. Sales on the European market grew by 9% compared to 2013, highlighting slight growth in construction. The European construction equipment m