Don’t we all hate sitting in our cars waiting for traffic to get smoother. Year after year, traffic is getting worse in the major cities of the world, with vehicle density increasing multifold in the past decade. While the number of cars sold in India is way less than that in the United States, or China, Indians are the ones facing the worse traffic woes.
TomTom, a leading in-vehicle navigation company has released its annual Traffic Index, covering 416 cities across 57 countries on 6 continents. Now in its 9th year, the TomTom Traffic Index gives insights from both real-time and historical data and ranks urban congestion worldwide.
As per the data from TomTom, India is the worst-hit country suffering from traffic congestion. 4 out of 10 most congested cities are in India, including Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.
Bengaluru, the IT hub of India has the worst traffic in the world, with the traffic congestion as high as 71%. TomTom Traffic Index also revealed that 20th August, 2019 (Tuesday) was the worst day with 103% congestion, with 6th April, 2019 (Saturday), was the best day with 30% congestion. The report further deep dives into data and reveals that travelling after 8 PM on Friday could save you up to 5 hours per year. On an average 243 hours (10 days, 3 hours) are lost due to traffic congestion.
Following closely on the heels of Bengaluru is Manila, Philippines, with the similar 71% traffic congestion. Among the top five worst traffic affected cities are Mumbai and Pune from India at the fourth and fifth place respectively, while Bogota, Colombia is on third spot.
Delhi, the national capital of India is on the 8th spot, while Moscow (Russia), Lima (Peru), Istanbul (Turkey) and Jakarta (Indonesia) are on 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th spot respectively.
Mumbai recorded a 65% traffic congestion with 9th September, 2019 being the worst day. On an average, a Mumbaikar lost 209 hours in traffic congestion. Pune has 59% traffic congestion with 2nd August, 2019 being the worst day. 193 hours are lost due to congestion. Delhi, on the other hand, has 56% traffic congestion. 23rd October, 2019 was the worst day, while 190 hours are lost in traffic congestion.
Interestingly, among all the four Indian cities, Delhi has the most number of cars. Previous studies have concluded that Delhi has the best road conditions among the Metro cities of India.
If you are wondering what exactly the percentages mean, a 53% congestion level in Bangkok, for example, means that a trip will take 53% more time than it would during Bangkok’s baseline uncongested conditions.
TomTom calculates the baseline per city by analyzing free-flow travel times of all vehicles on the entire road network – recorded 24/7, 365 days a year. The report by Dutch navigation and mapping company ranks cities by the average time added to a trip. It also includes details on when congestion is heaviest and lightest, and how much time drivers wasted waiting for other drivers to get out of their way.
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