Indian city of Bengaluru crowned ‘World’s Most Traffic Congested City’

Location technology specialist, TomTom, released the results of the TomTom Traffic Index, a report detailing the traffic situation in 416 cities in 57 countries. Bengaluru takes the top spot this year with drivers in the southern Indian city expecting to spend an average of 71% extra travel time stuck in traffic.

Next in the global rankings are Philippine capital, Manila (71%); Bogota in Colombia (68%); last year's most congested city, Mumbai (65%); and Pune (59%), also in India; making up the top five most congested cities in the world.

Greater Moscow takes the lead in Europe (59%) with Istanbul (55%) coming a close second. Kyiv (53%), Bucharest (52%), and Saint Petersburg (49%) make up the rest of the top five. Paris (39%), Rome (38%) and London (38%) ranked in at 14th, 15th and 17th respectively. In the US, the top five most congested cities are Los Angeles (42%), New York (37%), San Francisco (36%), San Jose (33%) and Seattle (31%).

Traffic congestion has increased globally during the last decade, and the 239 cities (57%) TomTom included in the new Traffic Index report had increased congestion levels between 2018 and 2019, with only 63 cities showing measurable decreases.This global increase in congestion, despite being an indicator of a strong economy, is understood to cost economies billions.

Ralf-Peter Schäfer, TomTom's VP of Traffic Information, said: “Globally, there's a long road to travel until congestion levels are brought under control. In time, the rise of autonomous vehicles and car-sharing services will help alleviate congestion, but planners and policymakers can't afford to sit and wait. They need to use all the tools available to them to analyse traffic levels and impacts, so they can make critical infrastructure decisions. And drivers have a role to play too. Small changes in driving behaviours can make a huge difference.”

Analysing real-time incidents and congestion to predict traffic before it happens, TomTom's Real-Time Traffic makes TomTom navigation software more accurate with enhanced route calculations and accurate estimated times of arrival (ETA). With its traffic technology in millions of cars on the road around the world. TomTom Traffic knows the road ahead, saving time, fuel and stress for drivers, fleet and logistics providers, on-demand services (ride hailing, food delivery), and traffic management services.

And the location technology specialist's work on the future of driving - from high definition maps for autonomous vehicles, to efficient electric vehicle routing and charging - means that car makers, technology companies, road authorities and governments already have the tools to make the roads less congested.