TomTom Traffic Index shows most cities are becoming more congested

According to the latest annual traffic figures released by Tom Tom, average speed in 228 of the 387 cities analysed (across 55 countries), decreased compared to 2022.

In 82 cities average speed remain unchanged, while only 77 enjoyed shorter journey times than in the previous year.

The centre of London was the slowest to drive through, with an average speed of 15 mph, while Dublin is the most congested city at peak times, with daily commuters having lost 153 hours to traffic (based on a 10km trip driven twice a day at rush hour). In both those cities, travel times for a six mile journey increased by over a minute.

London is also the city in which motorists have lost the most time due to traffic congestion. The average 10km journey through traffic takes 12 minutes and 31 seconds longer than were there no traffic at all.

The TomTom Traffic Index is based on data from over 600 million in-car navigation systems and smartphones. For each city (both the city center and the wider metropolitan area), TomTom calculates the average travel time per kilometer from the time it took to cover the millions of kilometers driven across the network in the year 2023.

The data goes deep. Choosing AQN’s nearest city, Manchester as an example we find that in 2023:

• Manchester ranked as the 29th most congested city of those included in the research.
• 3oth November was the worst day to be driving in Manchester, when the average time to travel six miles was 28 minutes 40 seconds.
• Average travel time increased by 20 seconds over 2022
• The cost of driving a petrol car at rush hour in Manchester was £545
• The average time lost driving in rush hour Manchester traffic was 85 hours
• A  petrol car will emit 1,962lb of CO2 while in Manchester’s rush hour traffic, it would require 89 trees to absorb that amount.

See the statistics for other cities here

Peter Schäfer, Vice President of Traffic at TomTom said: ‘With more than half of the world’s population living in urban areas, traffic congestion and its economic, ecological and health consequences have become a problem that needs to be urgently addressed.

‘Planning the future of urban areas is essential to ongoing traffic management. Large urban areas are harnessing Big Data to plan infrastructure and development that will alleviate traffic congestion. Analysis of historical traffic data can help growing cities map more efficient road systems and plan better zoning using location intelligence. Effective implementation of planning measures such as the implementation of LEZs to reduce air pollution will benefit from data from connected cars.’