Our world-class traffic jams

Auckland’s congestion has eased but we’re still worse than New York, say new rankings

Auckland remains one of the world’s most traffic-clogged cities, although it is not as bad as it was a year ago. In a survey published today from 138 cities in six continents, the vehicle navigation firm TomTom has found Auckland to be the world’s 22nd most congested city, and Wellington not far behind at 25th.

That makes them worse than New York City and its 8.9 million in- habitants, ranked at 39th.

The TomTom survey of vehicles equipped with its navigation aids, done for the 12 months to December 31, found Auckland drivers took an average of 29 per cent longer to complete trips than if their roads were free-flowing.

In the morning peak, a 66 per cent congestion rating contributes to 38 minutes of delay for every hour spent in a car.

TomTom says that is 89 hours of delays a year for drivers who take 30 minutes to get to or from work.

Only Sydney is more congested among Australasian cities, with 34 per cent overall congestion — although Downunder traffic snarl-ups are nothing in comparison with Moscow, at 74 per cent.

Auckland transport blogger Matt Lowrie said the survey gave an incomplete picture as it did not measure shorter travel times of commuters who chose to beat road congestion by taking public transport, cycling or walking.

But he considered it noteworthy that New Yorkers faced less traffic congestion, even though a greater share of their streets was being made available for cyclists and pedestrians, and consequently less for cars.

Aucklanders can take some comfort from their city slipping from the 15th most congested in the world in a Tom Tom survey for the three months to June last year.

TomTom regional mapping chief Phil Allen also acknowledged to the

that delays faced by Auckland drivers had eased slightly from 40 minutes an hour at peak times for 2012.