Two Indian cities amongst 10 with most traffic congestion in world

Bengaluru ranks 2nd, Pune 6th most congested in world, says TomTom report

Environment

February 23, 2023

/ By / New Delhi

Two Indian cities amongst 10 with most traffic congestion in world

Bengaluru surpasses its previous ranking of 10th to become the world's second most congested city

Unplanned growth of Indian cities has led to a big rise in traffic congestion on roads all over the country. However, two cities stand out, figuring amongst Top 10 cities in the world with highest traffic congestion, according to a report by transport technology firm TomTom.

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India’s technology hub Bengaluru has been ranked world’s second-most traffic congested city, just behind British capital London, according to data released by leading transport technology company TomTom. Another Indian city, Pune, ranked seventh in the Traffic Index Ranking 2022, while the capital New Delhi was listed at 34.

One of the rare bits of good news for commuters in India came from Mumbai, which recorded a tremendous improvement in dealing with traffic snarls. Mumbai, which was ranked 5th in 2021, has made massive progress was listed at 47th spot in the latest report.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, TomTom releases a yearly traffic index based on travel time, fuel costs and CO2 emissions, providing free access to city-by-city information, in 389 cities across 56 countries in six continents.

Statistics for Indian cities are frightening

Traffic congestion in Bengaluru deteriorated dramatically in the year as the city had been ranked 10th  by TomTom in its 2021 list. The company says that in 2022 the average time taken per 10 km in 2022 in the city was 29 minutes 10 seconds, about 40 seconds more than in 2021. The average speed in rush hour was merely 18km/, marginally better than 14km/hr recorded in London. Not surprisingly, residents of Bengaluru say traffic is now an important part of their lives.

“Our lives now revolve around traffic in one way or another. Everything is planned based on the traffic, including leaving for work, making weekend plans or meeting up with friends. Although I love being here, to be honest, the city has much more population than it can handle, which is one of the main factors contributing to the horrendous traffic. Having said that, it is people like us who have been living here who have made this mess. Therefore, I always prefer to ride my bicycle to work and to neighbouring areas to avoid traffic. This has been my best escape from the mess and noise,” Mayank Vajpai a resident of Bengaluru tells Media India Group.

The data for Pune, another technology hub in India, is not very comforting either, as the report says that the average time taken per 10 km in 2022 in Pune was 27 minutes 20 seconds which was 1 minutes 10 seconds higher than 2021. The average speed in Pune in the rush hour was merely 19km/h, barely above Bengaluru.

‘‘I have been here for the last three years and have never seen a single day without traffic. We have to leave early to be on time for work and then stay at work for a little longer than the office hours to avoid traffic,’’ Niraj Singh, who works with an MNC in Pune, tells Media India Group.

Bengaluru and Pune, like other cities, lose out most just in terms of time spent stuck on the roads, but also in terms of pollution as slow-moving traffic leads to higher carbon emissions. TomTom says that close to 30 pc of total carbon dioxide emitted for a drive of 10 km in Bengaluru was thanks to the traffic congestion.

Of the 1009 kg carbon emitted over a distance of 10 km, as much as 275 kg was due to traffic congestion, says TomTom. The scenario was hardly any different in Pune where of the 1001 kg emitted, 256 kg was accounted by the traffic jams.

British capital London tops the list

Replacing the Turkish commercial capital Istanbul, London has been ranked the most congested city in the world this year as per TomTom. The report says that  average time taken per 10 km in 2022 in London was 36 minutes, 20 seconds, which was 1 minute, 50 seconds higher than in 2021.

While the total amount of CO2 emitted over a distance of 10 km in London was 1133 kg, 282 kg of that was due to traffic congestion.

Dublin (Ireland), Sapporo (Japan), Milan (Italy), Bucharest (Romania), Lima (Peru), Manila (Philippines), and Bogota (Columbia) are the other major cities of the world with high traffic congestion, respectively ranked at 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in the list.

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