TomTom today announces the results of its latest Congestion Index measuring traffic congestion in European cities between April and June 2012. The latest Congestion Index, now covering 58 European cities, finds Istanbul the most congested city in Europe. Dublin was found to be the 16th most congested city.
On average, journey times in Dublin are 27% longer than when traffic in the city is flowing freely, 53% longer during morning rush hour and 58% longer during evening rush hour. As a result drivers are facing a delay of 33 minutes for every hour they drive in peak periods. Drivers with just a 30 minute commute waste 81 hours a year stuck in traffic jams.
This is an improvement on traffic congestion in Dublin from last quarter when Dublin had a 30% congestion level. Dublin is found to be ranked higher than Leeds-Bradford, UK’s most congested city, which is now 17th and London which is the 18th most congested European city. The most congested day was found to be Thursday 31st May. This may be contributed to the June bank holiday weekend traffic. TomTom’s Congestion Index, including individual city reports, can be found at www.tomtom.com/congestionindex.
TomTom’s Congestion Index is the world’s most accurate barometer of congestion in urban areas. The Index is uniquely based on real travel time data captured by vehicles driving the entire road network. TomTom’s traffic database contains over six trillion data measurements and is growing by five billion measurements every day. The overall Congestion Level for all the European cities analysed between April and June 2012 is 23%, a drop of 4% compared to the same period in 2011.
The top ten most congested European cities, ranked by overall Congestion Level, between April and June 2012 were:
Istanbul 57%
Warsaw 45%
Marseille 42%
Palermo 40%
Rome 34%
Paris 34%
Stuttgart 33%
Brussels 33%
Hamburg 32%
Stockholm 30%
"This Congestion Index gives the general public, businesses, industry and policy makers accurate and unbiased information about congestion levels in urban areas,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Head of Traffic at TomTom. “Because TomTom’s traffic information is so precise, we can pinpoint congestion trouble spots more effectively. When combined with real-time traffic information and routing technology, traffic starts to be routed away from these congested areas, helping to ease congestion in cities and urban areas.”
The methodology used in the Congestion Index compares travel times during non-congested periods (free flow) with travel times in peak hours. The difference is expressed as a percentage increase in travel time. The Index takes into account local roads, arterials, as well as highways. All data is based on actual GPS based measurements.
As well as assigning and ranking the overall congestion levels of over 58 European cities, the report analyses the congestion levels in cities at different times of the day and on different days of the week. TomTom analysed capital cities as well as cities with a population of over 800,000. In addition, a selection of key cities with smaller populations was included based on their regional importance to the transportation network. The purpose of adding these smaller cities was to provide a better understanding of congestion levels within individual countries.
Individual city reports include more detailed information such as the most congested day, time delay per year for commuters and congestion levels on main and secondary roads.
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