TomTom, a company specialising in location technology and satellite navigation devices, has just released its 14th annual traffic index, ranking the world’s most congested cities based on their travel time, fuel costs and CO2 emissions.
This year’s edition features 500 cities across 62 countries on 6 continents, making it “the most robust and complete analysis ever made available to any observer,” the company says. The index uses unified metrics to rank cities based on their average travel time as well as congestion levels. It gives city-by-city information that can help urban planners and policymakers tackle traffic-related challenges and make informed decisions for a better tomorrow.
“The combination of population and economic growth is putting significant strain on our transportation networks,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Vice President of Traffic, TomTom. “Outdated infrastructure and inefficient road planning fail to keep pace with demand. Additionally, the surge in ecommerce has led to a rise in freight traffic, further complicating the situation. Without a shift towards more regulation and sustainable transportation options, we risk worsening congestion that impacts everyone in our cities.”
1. London remains worst in Europe
While London does not take the first spot in the global ranking anymore, it remains the most congested city in Europe, with an average speed of 18 km/h in the city. Yet the English capital is only 150th in the congestion ranking, which measures only the dynamic factors of slow speed.
Dublin retains its second position as the second most congested city in Europe, however Milan was kicked out of third place all the way down to 19th, with a reduction of 37 hours in the time lost per year during rush hours. In its place, Barcelona took second spot, followed by Bucharest, which retained its place, but it decreased in the world ranking from eighth to 22nd position, despite an added 20 seconds to the average travel time per 10 km.
2. Global trends
In 2024, 379 cities out of 500 (76%) saw their overall average speed decrease compared to 2023. Despite this decrease, average speeds under optimal conditions, characterized by free-flowing traffic, remained stable and even showed slight improvements in most cities. This suggests that the observed deterioration in average speeds is primarily driven by dynamic factors affecting congestion levels rather than changes in road infrastructure
Last year, Barranquilla in Colombia was the city with the lowest average speed, replacing London as the world’s slowest city in 2023. The average speed over the year was 16.6 km/h, which means that it takes more than 36 minutes on average to complete a simple 10-kilometre journey. Barranquilla is followed by 3 Indian cities – Kolkatam Bengaluru and Pune, before London comes back into the list.
