Kolkata emerged as the most congested city in the country in 2024, the traffic index released by TomTom revealed. The study by the Dutch location technology specialist found that Kolkata overtook Bengaluru to stake claim to the title of the country’s most congested city.
The report noted that drivers in Kolkata required an average of 34 minutes and 33 seconds to travel a distance of 10 km in 2024, followed by Bengaluru to cover the same distance in an average travel time of 34 minutes and 10 seconds, reported Moneycontrol.
In 2024, the average speed in Kolkata touched 17.4 kmph, while Bengaluru saw a slightly higher average speed of 17.6 kmph during the same period.
On a global scale, three Indian cities found place in the top five for the lowest average speeds. These included Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Pune. In the world rank, Kolkata ranked second with an average travel time of 33 minutes and 22 seconds and an average speed of 18 kmph, while Bengaluru and Pune ranked third and fourth on the list respectively.
The top place on the slowest travel speed list was secured by Barranquilla in Colombia, which clocked an average speed of 10.3 mph and an average travel time of 36 minutes to finish a 10 km journey.
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Other slower cities in the country were Ahmedabad and Ernakulam which clocked 29 minutes average travel time each, while Jaipur recorded a travel time of 28 minutes for the same distance.
The study highlighted a larger trend of increasing travel times, with 76 per cent of the 500 cities analysed clocking a fall in the avergae speeds in comparison to 2023.
Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Vice President of Traffic, TomTom, explained, “Outdated infrastructure, inefficient road planning, and the growing demands of urbanisation have increased traffic congestion.”
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