Toronto has topped the list of North America’s most congested cities, ahead of New York and Mexico City, according to new traffic data released by navigation and location technology company TomTom.
The company that released annual traffic index On Thursday, Toronto was ranked third on the list of the world’s most congested cities, behind London and Dublin.
According to the metric, Toronto commuters take an average of 29 minutes to complete a 10-kilometre trip, 50 seconds longer than it took last year. A driver’s commute time in Toronto is only slightly better than in Dublin, where it takes him 29 minutes and 30 seconds to travel 10 kilometers. In London, identified by the index as the city with the worst traffic congestion in the world, it takes 37 minutes and 20 seconds to travel that distance.
Toronto residents lost an average of 98 hours in 2023 due to rush hour traffic, according to the report. By comparison, a commuter in Dublin loses his 158 hours and a driver in London loses his 148 hours.
The index is based on data from more than 600 million in-vehicle navigation systems and smartphones, the company said.
The worst day for commuters in Toronto was Nov. 30, when drivers spent an average of 33 minutes per 10km trip, according to the data. Wednesday between 5pm and 6pm is considered the worst driving time of the week in Toronto, with commuters spending an average of 37 minutes and 50 seconds to travel just 10 kilometers.
The situation for Toronto drivers is worse than for commuters in other North American cities, including New York. In the largest US city, a driver spends 24 minutes and 50 seconds to travel 10 kilometers. That’s five minutes faster than it takes him to travel the same distance in Toronto.
Traffic conditions in Canada’s largest city are significantly worse than in other major municipalities in the country, according to data from TomTom.
Ranked 32nd overall, Vancouver takes an average of 23 minutes and 10 seconds to travel 10 kilometers. Montreal has the longest commute time of any major Canadian city. Drivers in this city ranked 103rd spend about 19 minutes traveling 10 kilometers.
