Istanbul ranked 15th most congested city in world

ISTANBUL

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Istanbul has been ranked 15th among the cities with the most traffic in the world and 10th among the countries most congested, according to a new report by transportation analytics firm INRIX. 

According to INRIX’s 2016 Global Traffic Scorecard, Turkey ranked 10th in the world for congestion with the average commuter spending 34 hours in traffic each year. The number was 59 hours for Istanbul. 

The cities were ranked by the time the average commuter spent in congestion at the busiest time of the day. 

INRIX examined congestion in 1,064 cities in 38 countries and calculated the percentage of time drivers spent in congestion at different times of the day and week using federal data. The analysts used some 300 million different sources to carry out the study. 

According to the Global Traffic Scorecard, the most congested country was Thailand, with the typical commuter spending nearly 61 hours in traffic each year in peak congestion. Thailand was followed by Columbia and Indonesia with 47 hours, Russia and the U.S. with 42 hours, Venezuela with 39 hours, South Africa with 38 hours, and Brazil and Puerto Rico with 37 hours. 

The statistics showed drivers in Istanbul spent 25 percent of their driving time in traffic and 20 percent of their time waiting in traffic during the day. 

When the top 10 most congested cities in the world was examined, Los Angeles ranked the first with over 104 hours spent in congestion. Los Angeles was followed by Moscow with 91 hours, New York with 89 hours, San Francisco with 82 hours and Bogota with 79 hours.