Revealed: The world’s most congested cities and the eye-watering number of hours drivers sit in traffic – and it’s bad news for motorists in London and New York

The busiest cities in the world have been revealed, with London shockingly taking a place in the top five, ahead of Paris and New York.

According to new 2024 data from transportation analytics firm Inrix, Istanbul claimed the top spot and Toronto crept into last place on the damning top 25 list.

The traffic analysis found that unhappy British motorists in the British capital spent a whopping 101 hours on congested roads last year, a two percent increase on the previous year.

But although London only came fifth in the international rankings, it also took the title of Europe’s most traffic-congested city; his position remains unchanged.

Inrix said London contains most of the worst corridors for traffic delays in Britain due to its ‘concentration of population, employment and economic activity’.

A spokesperson for Transport for London, which is responsible for a network of red route roads that carry a third of the capital’s traffic, said: ‘We want to ensure Londoners can get around the capital as safely, sustainably and efficiently as possible.

Across Britain, the average driver spent 62 hours in traffic jams last year, an increase of one hour from 2023.

In second place was New York City, followed by Chicago and Mexico City, with 97 to 102 hours of delays per driver recorded for 2024.

Paris came sixth in the world and second in Europe, with a whopping 97 hours of traffic on its congested roads.

Jakarta, Los Angeles, Cape Town and Brisbane made up the last four of the top 10 busiest cities in the world, ranging from a total of 84 to 89 hours of delays per driver.

Cape Town also ranked ninth in the Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard 2023, prompting the city to set aside billions to improve its public transport services and road network.

“The Urban Mobility Directorate’s medium-term capital budget, starting from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2027, is almost £382 million,” said Councilor Rob Quintas, member of the city’s Mayoral Committee for Urban Mobility last year.

This will see the city set aside £20 million for road projects including sidewalks and cycle paths to ease traffic congestion at pressure points in the city.

Bangkok claimed 11th place with 74 hours of delay per driver, followed by Boston with 79, Philadelphia with 77, Miami with 74 and Dublin was 15th with 81 hours recorded.

However, the Irish capital came third among Europe’s most crowded cities, after London and Paris.

The Irish times reported that this year’s rankings also show a surprising 13 percent year-over-year increase.

Feljin Jose, Green Party councilor for Dublin City Council, said: “It’s not surprising, I think it’s the result of decades of poor policy choices and lack of investment in public transport.”

He added: ‘Thankfully we are now seeing this being reversed a bit. I think things like the Dublin City Center transport plan, which is currently being implemented, are bringing about some positive changes.”

In 16th through 20th place are Rome with 71 recorded hours, Houston with 66, Brussels with 74, Atlanta with 65 and Warsaw with 70.

According to the data, the Polish capital saw a huge increase of 15 percent compared to 2023.

The bottom five include Melbourne, delayed by 65 hours, Washington DC with 62, Seattle with 63, Milan with 64, and Toronto came last with just 61.

However, the Canadian Center of Economic Alliance (CANCEA) recently reported that traffic congestion will cost Ontario nearly £7.3 billion in direct economic opportunity by 2024.

The latest research also found that Bristol was the second worst British city for traffic, with 65 hours of delays per driver, ahead of Leeds in third place with 60 hours.

Manchester ranked fourth after a 13 percent increase in delays year-on-year, from 54 hours to 61 hours.

Bob Pishue, Inrix transport analyst and author of the report, said: ‘While Britain saw another slight increase in congestion this year, overall congestion has remained stable.

‘Roadworks on key corridors such as the M25 Wisely junction caused heavy traffic on a main artery into the capital.

‘Interestingly, it was cities outside the capital that saw the biggest increase in traffic congestion, with Manchester seeing a big increase, up 13 per cent.

‘Although London only saw a modest increase in lost time, this still represented half of the delay of the entire country.’