There is a good group of people who enjoy the longest car rides. The breeze, the radio programs, the movement, the roar of the engine… watching the buildings, trees and parks pass by your window creates an inexplicably relaxing sensation! But what happens when this feeling turns into a headache? When the hours you spend in your car turn into long traffic jams? That doesn’t sound funny at all.
Because of that, TomTom , an international navigation company, conducted a study for more than nine years in the cities with the worst traffic in all of Europe , collecting the data necessary to give them a score of 1 to 100. The annual score, updated with data of 2016, shows how much extra time a common person takes in their vehicle when moving around a particular city.
Avoid traffic jam areas permanently knowing the 12 European cities with the worst traffic.
The 12 European cities with the worst traffic
12. Cologne, Germany
Do you know the beautiful Colonia? It may not look so beautiful to you after knowing how heavy the traffic is there . Following their investigation, TomTom assigned it a score of 34%. That means that the inhabitants of this city take 34% longer to reach their destinations compared to cities where the traffic is not heavy. It should be noted that in 2015, its score was 30%. Big jump, right?
11. Warsaw, Poland
Not all go from bad to worse, and such is the case in Warsaw. For the year 2016, it obtained a score of 37%, which means an improvement with respect to its 2015 values.
10. Athens, Greece
Greece is not only the beauty of Olympus, it is also a great city! And boy, like cities, driving in Athens is quite heavy . Although this city tied in 2016 with Warsaw’s score (37%), this value represented an increase compared to its score in 2015.
9. Manchester, England
England reached the top, and will be around for a long time. For the moment, let’s start with the city of Manchester. In his case, traffic is gradually increasing : for 2016, he obtained a score of 38%, which represents a difference of only 1% compared to the previous year.
8. Brussels, Belgium
Despite being small, Belgium is home to large and dynamic cities. Such is the case of Brussels, which achieved a score of 38% in 2016. This represents an increase of 3% over the previous year.
7. Paris, France
Paris is not just about romance, long walks and bicycles. There is also traffic, and a lot. So much so that it deserves the position number 7 of this top. Like Brussels, it scored 38% for 2016. However, this represents only a 2% increase.
6. Rome, Italy
At this point, things start to heat up. Rome has long been known to have a severe traffic problem . Well, for 2016, his score was 40%. Only 2% separates it from your previous score. So if you feel like visiting the Colosseum and you don’t like to walk, be prepared to spend a good part of your trip stuck in traffic.
5. Marseille, France
In the case of this French city, the same pattern is repeated as in Rome and in many of the cities that follow in this top: a 2% increase in their scores compared to the previous year. Thanks to this, it also reached 40%.
4. London, England
Despite the efforts made in London to reduce traffic jams with a pricing system at the worst traffic hours , the problem persists. A score of 40% was secured, an increase of 2 points over the previous year.
3. Saint Petersburg, Russia
We will depart from London to a slightly colder side of the European continent: Russia. The city of St. Petersburg received a score of 41% for 2016, with just a 1% increase. This means that, although the problem has not grown, this European city already had such bad traffic that it deserved a score greater than 40% for the year 2015, when the majority remained between 38% and 39%
2. Moscow, Russia
We have talked about how cities have improved or worsened their condition. In the case of Moscow, for better or for worse, things remain the same. For the past two years, it has held its own with a score of 44%. The good: TomTom gave it a special award for its modern parking system.
“Moscow drivers have benefited from the implementation of a new smart transportation system initiative, combined with major changes in parking policy, including more expensive pricing at peak times, ” TomTom reported on its site. Web . “These changes have reduced the search time for a parking space by 65%.”
1. Bucharest, Romania
We already talked about Rome, we already located Moscow … so, which is the European city with the worst traffic ? Let’s go not so far from Russia, to an important city in Romania: Bucharest. Not only does it have a score of 50%, but it also represents an increase of 7 points over the previous year. What can we expect for the following year? Only time will tell.
References
- Muoio, D. The 13 European cities with the worst traffic. For Business Insider [Revised September 2017].
