The most congested cities on the planet, data released by INRIX, through its Global Traffic Scorecard 2016, paint a worrying scenario. In the 1064 cities evaluated in 38 countries, there is a global problem. A problem that is not new, but will continue to persist and even get worse in the future. More than half of the world's population already lives in cities, which are growing all the time, with some having more than 10 million inhabitants.
The table below shows the average time lost in traffic jams, as well as the relationship between driving time in traffic jams and total driving time.
The 10 most congested cities on the planet
| Classification | City | Parents | Hours in traffic jams | Driving time in traffic jams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Los Angeles | USA | 104.1 | 13% |
| #two | Moscow | Russia | 91.4 | 25% |
| #3 | New York | USA | 89.4 | 13% |
| #4 | San Francisco | USA | 82.6 | 13% |
| #5 | Bogota | Colombia | 79.8 | 32% |
| #6 | São Paulo | Brazil | 77.2 | 21% |
| #7 | London | United Kingdom | 73.4 | 13% |
| #8 | Magnitogorsk | Russia | 71.1 | 42% |
| #9 | Atlanta | USA | 70.8 | 10% |
| #10 | Paris | France | 65.3 | 11% |
A waste of time and fuel
Los Angeles, USA, leads an undesired table, where drivers lose around 104 hours a year in traffic jams — the equivalent of more than four days. As you might expect, all this wasted time and, let's not forget, fuel comes at a cost. In the case of Los Angeles these amount to approximately 8.4 billion euros per year, which equates to 2078 euros per driver.
Portugal. What are the most congested cities?
This is one of those cases where we don't mind getting much lower on the leaderboard. Out of the total of 1064 cities considered, the first Portuguese city to emerge is Porto, which is in 228th place — in 2015 it was in 264th. In other words, congestion is growing. On average, a driver in Porto wastes more than one day per year in traffic jams, totaling around 25.7 hours.Lisbon is the second most congested Portuguese city. Like Porto, its congestion levels continue to rise, and more significantly than in Invicta. Last year, the national capital was in 337th place and this year it rose to 261st. In Lisbon, on average, 24.2 hours are wasted in traffic jams.
Porto and Lisbon clearly stand out from other Portuguese cities. The third most congested national city is Braga, but it is far from the other two. Braga is in place number 964 with 6.2 hours of time wasted in traffic jams.
From cities to countries
Although the US is the country with the most congested cities in the Top 10, overall it is not the most congested country. The “honor” of this award belongs to Thailand, with an average time of 61 hours lost in traffic jams at rush hour. The US is in 4th place ex aequo with Russia, with 42 hours. Portugal comes much further behind, ex aequo with Denmark and Slovenia in 34th place, with 17 hours.