Dutch global location technology creator TomTom has reported that London is the slowest major city in the world for traffic for the second year in a row.
TomTom’s Traffic Index 2023 surveyed 387 cities across metrics including congestion, average travel time, the impact of rush hour and the environmental impact of congestion in cities. The survey also tracked the cost of driving.
This is the second year in a row that London has been at the top of this list, an average 10km (6.21-mile) journey in 2023 taking 37 minutes and 20 seconds – one minute slower than the previous year.
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What’s more, the average driver who commutes 10km in the morning and 10km in the evening, at peak times, spends one hour and 28 minutes in traffic every day, losing approximately 38 minutes per day to extra congestion.
In 2022, the average speed of motor vehicles in London’s city centre during peak hours was just 9mph. The report also estimates that the annual cost of driving a petrol vehicle in rush hours in London is £733.
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However, London is also poorly designed for cars compared to other similarly dense cities. Even in optimal conditions, it still takes drivers in London about 25 minutes to complete the 10 km trip, the longest journey time of any city in the world.
In other words, traffic costs London drivers more than 12 minutes every 10 km (6.21 mi), on average.
As London takes the top spot, Dublin, Ireland; Toronto, Canada; Milan, Italy and Lima, Peru take the second, third, fourth and fifth spots, respectively, when ranked by the average time it takes to drive 10 km across each city.
Achievements and innovations in traffic management will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
