(21 February 2017) – TomTom today released the results of the TomTom Traffic Index 2017, the annual report detailing the cities around the world with the most traffic congestion. Bucharest is Europe’s “winner” with drivers expecting to spend an average of 50% extra travel time stuck in traffic.
Mexico City once again takes the world’s top spot with drivers in the Mexican capital expecting to spend an average of 66% extra travel time stuck in traffic anytime of the day, and up to 101% in the evening peak periods versus a free flow, or uncongested, situation. Next in the global rankings are Bangkok (61%), Jakarta (58%), Chongqing (52%) and Bucharest (50%), making up the top five most congested cities in the world.
In Europe, the 10 most congested cities (population over 800,000) in 2016 were: Bucharest (50% extra travel time), Moscow (44%), Saint-Petersburg (41%), London (40%), Marseille (40%), Rome (40%), Paris (38%), Brussels (38%), Manchester (38%) and Athens (37%).
The TomTom Traffic Index figures are based on speed measurements from the GPS navigation system producer’s historical traffic database. These speed measurements are used to calculate the travel times on individual road segments and entire networks.