Every year, TomTom publishes a Traffic Index, which analyses traffic data from the last 12 months. The navigation system manufacturer rates a total of 387 cities in 55 countries on six continents according to their average journey time. The city ranking with the most traffic jams worldwide also includes German cities.
TomTom, known for its navigation systems, publishes a "Traffic Index" every year. Earlier this year, the 13th edition was published with traffic data from 2023. The report summarises the traffic trends of the past year, using data collected from over 600 million in-car navigation systems and smartphones worldwide.
The trend in 2023 confirms the general decline in average speeds in most cities: Of the 387 cities analysed in the traffic index, average speeds remained unchanged in 82, and in 77 cities average speeds were higher (and therefore journey times shorter) than in the previous year. In the remaining 228 cities, average speeds fell. In London and Dublin, the two cities with the lowest average speed, the journey time for a 10-kilometre journey increased by almost 1 minute compared to 2022.
For the second year in a row, London was the slowest city to drive in 2023. The capital of England has the lowest baseline speed, due to static factors such as the lack of dual carriageways and the introduction of stricter speed limits, which have been reduced to 20mph on most roads in recent years - so even in optimal traffic conditions, the average speed in London is slower than any other city in the world.
Dublin is the city where commuters lose the most time in traffic jams during rush hour. Drivers spend an average of 1 hour 14 minutes in the car to cover a typical distance of 10 kilometres twice a day during the morning and evening rush hour - but more than 40 minutes of this daily round trip is due to congestion. Those who travel this distance every day lose 153 hours in traffic jams. The situation is particularly bad in 2023, with 12 hours and 31 minutes more than in 2022.
The increase in petrol costs and fuel consumption due to longer journey times has a significant impact on the budget of drivers who have to travel to work by car every day. In more than 60 per cent of the 351 cities where TomTom aggregates fuel prices, the average budget for fuel increased by 15 per cent or more between 2021 and 2023. This increase in consumption had a direct impact on average CO2 emissions per vehicle.
The data for the "TomTom Traffic Index" was collected from over 600 million navigation systems and smartphones in cars worldwide. The index uses a representative selection of this data to show how traffic has developed in a total of 387 cities in 2023 compared to the previous year. The calculated journey time depends on so-called fixed and dynamic factors: Fixed factors include road quality and speed limits, for example, while dynamic factors include traffic flow.
Based on the fixed factors, the "Traffic Index" determines an optimum journey time for certain cities. The dynamic factors then determine the actual journey time. The following indicators were considered for the ranking:
The data analysed comes from navigation devices and other sources such as the navigation app on iPhones. Although this means that not every car is recorded, the data is sufficient to depict the traffic situation in the cities analysed accurately enough, according to TomTom.
In many places, Germany is still a car country. Never before have there been so many vehicles per inhabitant in Germany as there are today. Unsurprisingly, this means that journey times continue to increase. The top German congestion leader in 2023 is the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. In Hamburg, it took an average of 24 minutes to cover a distance of 10 kilometres in 2023. This means that commuters in the Hanseatic city lose the most time in traffic compared to other German cities. In 2023, this was 74 hours. The capital Berlin follows in second place with an average travel time per 10 kilometres of 22 minutes and a lost time of 64 hours per year. Hamburg was already the German city with the highest level of congestion in recent years.
These are the top ten congested cities in Germany (time needed for 10 km):
Use public transport and bicycle
Cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Munich have a functioning public transport network and a well-developed network of cycle paths. Many traffic jams can be reduced if commuters switch to alternative modes of transport. Many journeys to work can be made just as quickly and with less stress by combining cycling with bus and rail travel.
Flexible working models: commuting at other times
Flexible working models make it possible to work from home or commute to the office outside peak times thanks to flexitime. This can effectively reduce traffic jams. Companies should make use of flexible working models.
Carpooling reduces the number of cars on the road
Companies can actively support their employees in forming car pools. Carpooling involves several commuters with similar journeys to work sharing a car and travelling to work together. This has the practical side effect that the employees also share the costs and thus save on travelling expenses.
Mobility budgets are becoming increasingly popular. Not without reason, as they allow users to flexibly choose the means of transport for their daily mobility. This makes it easier to switch to alternatives to the car. Commuters can tailor their choice of mobility to the current situation and opt for bus and train or bicycle when heavy traffic is inevitable. In this way, a mobility budget can help to relieve traffic and reduce congestion.
