Istanbul Europe’s second most congested city

ISTANBUL

Istanbul is Europe’s second most congested city with drivers in Turkey’s largest city spending an average of 53 percent extra travel time stuck in traffic, according to TomTom Traffic Index, a report detailing the traffic situation in 403 cities in 56 countries around the world in 2018.

A total of 4.18 million motor vehicles crowded Istanbul roads as of end-April, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Insitute, TÜİK.

TÜİK data, released on May 31, showed that 2.9 million passenger cars, 95,600 minibuses, 42,000 buses, more than 670,000 small trucks and 135,000 trucks were registered in Istanbul.

According to a survey by TomTom, released yesterday, Moscow took the lead with drivers spending an average of 56 percent more time in traffic.

In Europe, Bucharest came third (48 percent), followed by Saint Petersburg (47 percent) and Kiev (46 percent).

Brussels (37 percent), London (37 percent) and Paris (36 percent) ranked 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.

Worldwide, Istanbul ranked sixth for traffic congestion. Mumbai took the top spot this year with a 65 percent congestion level.

Next in the global rankings were Colombian capital Bogota (63 percent), Lima in Peru (58 percent), New Delhi in India (58 percent) and Moscow, making up the top five most congested cities in the world.

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, the report said.