What Are The Worst Cities For Traffic Congestion?

Sat 16th Jun 2018

We all hate being stuck in traffic, but which are the cities that are best and worst for dealing with the daily commute?

A survey conducted by Expert Market claims that London is one of the worst commuter cities, not just in the UK, but across the planet. The poll looked at 74 different cities, focusing on cost, time spent and distance travelled across all different forms of commuting.

London ranked 65th overall, the only European city in the bottom 10 of the list.

Brazil appears to be the worst country overall at dealing with the daily commute, four of the 10 worst in the list of 74 came from the South American country, with Rio de Janeiro ranking worst overall.

Commuters in the UK are hit hard whichever way they look to travel to work. If they go by car they are stuck in jams, but even if they use public transport, they pay far more than their European counterparts, an average of £132 per month, far more than anyone else on the continent.

But it is in cars that London’s drivers face the biggest nightmare. They spend on average 74 hours in traffic every year, and only five other cities have busier highways, including Los Angeles which tops the list, Moscow, New York, Sao Paulo and Bogota.

It’s not all bad news for British motorists, Leicester is ranked 10th overall as the best city to commute in, spending just 23 hours a year in traffic. Bristol and Edinburgh also enjoy fairly quiet trips to work.

 

How do UK cities compare?

City

Average journey time (minutes)

Cost of a monthly travel

card as a % of monthly salary

Overall rank

Leicester

52

2.87%

10

Bristol

53

3.32%

18

Edinburgh

60

2.91%

22

Newcastle

64

3.10%

26

Leeds

77

3.25%

32

Manchester

89

3.44%

53

Birmingham

94

3.81%

58

London

84

5.63%

65