Warsaw is the most congested city in Europe

Harry

10 Jul 2012 / #1

Not really news to those of us who live here (personally I simply will not drive anywhere during rush hour, it's just not worth the aggravation).

TomTom today launches the first quarterly Congestion Index that accurately identifies and analyses traffic congestion in major cities across Europe. The report, initially covering 31 cities, finds Warsaw the most congested city in Europe. On average, journey times in Warsaw are 42% longer than when traffic in the city is flowing freely and 89% longer during morning rush hour.

The top ten most congested cities, ranked by overall congestion level, between January and March 2012 were:

1. Warsaw, 42% congestion level 6. Dublin, 30%
2. Marseille, 41% 7. Bradford - Leeds, 28%
3. Rome, 34% 8. London, 27%
4. Brussels, 34% 9. Stockholm, 27%
5. Paris, 32% 10. Hamburg, 27%

More details here: tomtom.com/en_gb/congestionindex/

Ziemowit 14 | 3936

10 Jul 2012 / #2

Seems to be true. One of the reasons is the lack of the proper (wide and expanded) underground system. Another is the poor quality of the railway service around Warsaw. I commute on the Pruszków - Warsaw line and it is very crowded in rush hours. If it wasn't so, even more people would commute on it, I'm sure.

On the other hand, people complain in another thread on the forum that Polish salaries are so extremely low (Milky, 4 eigner). Why then such a great number of cars which make Warsaw the most congested city in Europe? Are these mostly foreign people who circulate in their cars in Warsaw or is it the Polish financial elite who does it (quite numerous in that case)? I remind everyone that streets in the city center are quite broad due to the post-war reconstrution.

I wonder what was London's place in this ranking before they started to impose their congestion charge for entering the city center.

monia 3 | 212

10 Jul 2012 / #3

And everybody knows ( excluding Harry or other survey carriers ) that Warsaw has been in a difficult time since last year , because the city is virtually blocked by subway`s second line beeing built and the traffic in the city is enormous , because the major city`s streets are excluded from a car traffic. .

OP Harry

10 Jul 2012 / #4

And everybody who has actually bothered to read the survey knows (which is why monia doesn't know this, she never bothers to read about things before mouthing off about them), Warsaw was also in top place between January 2011 and March 2011 (which was before two roads in the centre were shut).

jon357 73 | 23224

10 Jul 2012 / #5

A lot of the problems in Warsaw are down to bad traffic management, unphased traffic lights etc. It would be fairly easy to fix. One problem however is poor zoning with that huge concentration of office blocks near Galeria Mokotow that causes huge problems for miles around.

OP Harry

10 Jul 2012 / #6

A lot of the problems in Warsaw are down to bad traffic management, unphased traffic lights etc. It would be fairly easy to fix.

My pet hate would be the utter morons who drive onto junctions when the route off it is blocked. And then look hugely surprised when the people going the other way are unable to move due to the road being blocked by a total moron.