London tops annual congestion rankings

London has been ranked as the most congested city out of 1,000 cities across 50 countries, according to data from analytics firm Inrix.

Inrix’s annual traffic scorecard found that drivers in the UK capital spent an average of 156 hours stuck in traffic during 2022. Traffic levels in London were found to be five percent higher than in 2021.

The report is based on data from cities that Inrix operates in around the world, with the majority in Europe and North America.

“I think London’s traffic is representative of how the city has rebounded since the dramatic fall in traffic during the pandemic,” Bob Pishue, report author and Transportation Analyst at Inrix told Cities Today.

“Traffic in London fell significantly during COVID-19 and rebounded in 2021 – much earlier than other cities.

“The city is also seeing relatively high transit and Tube ridership, which at my last viewing was down only about 14 percent from pre-COVID levels.

“Most major US cities, like New York and Chicago, continue to have far lower transit ridership and increasing delays.

“In short – London rebounded quicker than a lot of these other cities in terms of [overall] transportation use.”

Responding to the findings, Carl Eddleston, TfL’s Director of Network Management and Resilience, said: “We want to make sure Londoners can move around the capital as safely, sustainably and efficiently as possible and we’re working closely with the boroughs to ensure the capital’s road network plays a vital role in this.

“Our investment in walking, cycling and public transport has made it easier to choose sustainable ways of travelling that make more efficient use of road space and will help to cut congestion.

“We’re determined to reduce congestion, tackle the climate emergency and clean up the capital’s toxic air and will continue to work with the Mayor to do this, including by expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover the whole capital by August 2023.”

According to Inrix, Bristol had the UK’s second-worst road congestion, followed by Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast.

Overall, traffic delays across the country increased in 79 out of 110 urban areas year-over-year, with the average driver losing 80 hours due to congestion – a seven-hour increase on 2021, but down 35 hours from 2019.

Global picture

Chicago was ranked as the second most-congested city overall and the most congested in the US, seeing a steep 49 percent increase in the number of hours spent in traffic when compared to 2021 levels.

Paris was ranked third, followed by Boston and New York.

The average US driver spent 51 hours in traffic last year – 15 hours more than in 2021, but still 50 percent lower than the pre-pandemic high of 99 hours in 2019.

“It is great to see civic and commercial life returning to normal, but unfortunately, we’re seeing congestion inching closer to, if not exceeding, pre-pandemic levels,” said Pishue.

“We must manage congestion while improving mobility and accessibility in cities to avoid it hurting economic recovery and impacting the quality of life of commuters and residents.”

Fuel prices

Despite huge increases in the price of fuel globally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, driving habits have largely remained the same.

“2022 revealed that, by and large, motor fuel remains relatively inelastic, meaning a large change in price only corresponds to a small change in fuel consumed, and that upward pressure on travel like the return to work, activities, school, shopping, and freight demand overpowered the downward pressure of fuel prices,” Pishue added.

“While downtowns still have room to recover in terms of re-emerging from COVID-19, 2023 should continue to see some moderate growth in congestion, absent large disruptions to the economy.”

Data

In compiling its report, INRIX incorporated anonymous data from “diverse datasets” – such as phones, cars, trucks and cities – which it says brings “robust and accurate insights”.

The 2022 scorecard analysed travel times, miles-travelled, trip characteristics and the impact of incidents on congestion within a city.

Other analyses of global congestion have yielded different results however.

A 2022 report from geolocation specialist TomTom – covering 404 cities across 58 countries – found that Istanbul had the world’s most congested roads in 2021, followed by Moscow.

The company is expected to release its 2023 report in the coming weeks.

Image: dan-gold-unsplash