toronto traffic

Toronto just made the list of the worst traffic cities in the world

Toronto commuters spend longer sitting in traffic than residents of any other North American city, according to a new study that ranked Canada's largest city as the third-worst for traffic out of 387 cities across the globe in 2023.

GPS and electronics manufacturer TomTom released the 13th edition of its TomTom Traffic Index on Wednesday, delving deep into traffic trends of cities in 55 different countries over the past year — and let's just say it doesn't paint Toronto in the best light.

TomTom analyzed data pulled from over 600 million in-car navigation systems and smartphones to determine drivers' average travel time per kilometre, along with congestion levels, average speed during rush hour, and time lost to traffic each year.

Toronto ranked third out of almost 400 cities overall in the 2023 index, and was the only North American city to rank in the top ten, topped only by Dublin and London.

The index reveals that drivers in Toronto take an average of 29 minutes to travel a distance of just ten kilometres, an increase of 50 seconds/10km over the 2022 index's figures.

Unsurprising for anyone who has experienced local gridlock, Toronto drivers travel through the city at a sluggish average of just 18 km/h.

Most upsetting of all the statistics, Toronto drivers reportedly lose a staggering 98 hours of time — or over four full days — to rush hour per year.

For some context, that's enough time to pull 19 consecutive Barbenheimer double-headers, and still have a few hours left over to binge several episodes of The Bear.

The only other North American cities to rank in the top 20 in the 2023 index are Mexico City (13) and New York City (20).

toronto traffic

TomTom

Much further down the list, other Canadian cities included in the index are Vancouver (32), Winnipeg (93), Montreal (103), London, Ontario (142), Halifax (171), Edmonton (200), Hamilton (220), Ottawa (231), Calgary (297), Quebec (324) and Kitchener-Waterloo (325).

Lead photo by

Stephen Gardiner


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