Bucharest is considered the third most congested city in Europe after Moscow and Istanbul, according to TomTom Traffic Index, which shows that residents of Romania’s capital city spend 48 percent more time in traffic than needed.
In December 2018, the TomTom Traffic Index showed that the time lost in Bucharest traffic amounts to 218 hours a year, the equivalent of 27 days of work.
TomTom released a report detailing the traffic situation in 403 cities in 56 countries around the world. Mumbai takes the top spot this year with drivers in the Indian city expecting to spend an average of 65 percent extra travel time stuck in traffic.
Mumbai is followed by the Colombian Capital city, Bogota (63 percent), Lima in Peru (58 percent), New Delhi in India (58 percent) and Russian Capital, Moscow (56 percent), making up the top five most congested cities in the world.
“Globally, traffic congestion is rising. And that’s both good, and bad, news. It’s good because it indicates a strong global economy, but the flip side is drivers wasting time sitting in traffic, not to mention the huge environmental impact,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, TomTom’s VP of Traffic information.
Bucharest in top 3 most congested cities in Europe
With Moscow taking the lead in Europe, Istanbul (53 percent) came a close second with Bucharest (48 percent), Sankt Petersburg (47 percent) and Kiev (46 percent) making up the top five. Brussels (37 percent), London (37 percent) and Paris (36 percent) ranked in at 11th, 12th and 13th respectively.
North America’s top five most congested cities are Mexico City (52 percent), Los Angeles (41 percent), Vancouver (38 percent), New York (36 percent) and San Francisco (34 percent).
Traffic congestion has increased globally during the last decade, and nearly 75 percent of the cities TomTom includes in the new Traffic Index report had increased or stable congestion levels between 2017 and 2018, with only 90 cities showing measurable decreases.