You know the scenes: you’re sitting in your car in a slow-moving line of other cars, buses and trucks, you want to get to work as quickly as possible, and you’re freaking out about how late you’re getting – and so is everyone around you. There are days when the rush hour in our capital is almost all day long and the thought awakens in you that you could have already reached your destination by metro…
We all fondly remember the empty roads in the time of covid. But at the same time, we were all surprised by how quickly the heavy traffic returned to our area and it seems to be even more intense than before. And yes, according to the statistics, the traffic has really increased somewhere.
In this context, the latest research by the American organization INRIX is interesting. This showed that European urban agglomerations face a higher traffic burden than before the global pandemic.
A total of 42% of European cities struggle with a greater influx of means of transport after its end, in America it is “only” 39% of urban areas.
Avoid London
And which city in the world is the most congested? Now you’re probably thinking about Asian capitals or Los Angeles, California, famous for its crazy traffic jams, but the winner of last year’s most recent survey is much closer. The most congested city in the world in 2022 is London! The latter defended the lead from 2021, with Britons losing an average of 156 hours of life in traffic and struggling with a five percent year-on-year increase in traffic intensity. And Europe appears in the top ten once more. In third place was Paris with a total of 138 hours, which, however, was the only metropolis to improve the year-on-year difference by one percent.
Foto: Shutterstock / ako photography
Want to experience traffic hell? Take to the streets of London, which has defended its title as the most congested city in the world
Cities with the worst traffic situation in the world
| Global ranking | City | Lost hours | Year-on-year change compared to 2021 | Average movement speed (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | London | 156 | +5 % | 16 |
| 2. | Chicago | 155 | +49 % | 17,7 |
| 3. | Paris | 138 | -1 % | 17,7 |
| 4. | Boston | 134 | +72 % | 17,7 |
| 5. | New York | 117 | +15 % | 17,7 |
| 6. | Bogota | 122 | +30 % | 17,7 |
| 7. | Toronto | 118 | +59 % | 16 |
| 8. | Philadelphia | 114 | +27 % | 17,7 |
| 9. | Miami | 105 | +59 % | 24,1 |
| 10. | Palermo | 121 | +11 % | 14,5 |
And what about us?
And how was the Czechia? Although it seems to us that the traffic in Prague is getting incredibly dense, according to surveys by the INRIX organization, Prague was in 85th place overall with a year-on-year increase of only four percent. In 2022, we lost 53 hours of life standing in Prague traffic jams, and the average speed was 27.4 kilometers per hour. You can see how the first ten Czech cities fared in the following table. Do you still think that road traffic in the Czech Republic is extreme?
| Global ranking | City | Lost hours | Year-on-year change compared to 2021 | Average movement speed (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85. | Prague | 53 | +4 % | 27,4 |
| 257. | Brno | 32 | 0 % | 30,5 |
| 282. | Czech Budejovice | 35 | -17 % | 27,4 |
| 300. | Pardubice | 34 | -34 % | 25,7 |
| 370. | Olomouc | 29 | -7 % | 32,1 |
| 405. | Hradec Králové | 28 | -48 % | 30,5 |
| 574. | Ostrava | 18 | +6 % | 38,6 |
| 694. | Liberec | 14 | +11 % | 45 |
| 733. | Usti nad Labem | 13 | -45 % | 32,1 |
| 856. | Carlsbad | 8 | -48 % | 32,1 |
As you can see, even the most congested Czech cities are still placed in the dark depths of world statistics, so it’s actually still not that bad.
How do you perceive the traffic situation here?
A total of 3060 readers voted.
