In news that will come as no surprise to anyone who’s sat in our city’s seemingly never-ending traffic congestion – Vancouver was ranked as one of the most congested cities in North America, according to data compiled by TomTom.
The city took the fourth spot in the annual Traffic Index, just ahead of New York City. Yes, that’s right, Vancouver is more congested than the Big Apple. On average, Vancouverites spend 34% more time in traffic during any time of the day, compared to 33% for New Yorkers. Toronto was the next highest Canadian city on the index, ranking as the ninth most congested city in North America.
As for the most congested city in North America? Mexico City takes that honour with people spending 59% more time stuck in traffic on average. And as if that isn’t bad enough, during peak hours, people travelling through the city can expect to spend a whopping 103% more time in bumper-to-bumper congestion. Unsurprisingly Mexico City also landed the top spot as the world’s most congested city.
Globally, traffic congestion has increased by 13% since the company started collecting data in 2008, but North America has seen a 17% increase. Europe, on the other hand, has only seen a 2% increase from 2008 to 2015.
The TomTom Traffic Index aims to get people thinking about how to reduce congestion in their own cities.
“If even just five per cent of us changed our travel plans, we’d improve travel times on our major highways by up to thirty per cent. Collectively, we can all work together to beat traffic congestion,” says vice president of TomTom Traffic Ralf-Peter Schaefer.
Top 10 most congested cities in North America
- Mexico City
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Vancouver
- New York
- Seattle
- San Jose
- Honolulu
- Toronto
- Miami
Top 10 most congested cities in the world
- Mexico City
- Bangkok
- Istanbul
- Rio De Janeiro
- Moscow
- Bucharest
- Salvador
- Recife
- Chengdu
- Los Angeles
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