Metro Manila traffic is notorious for being the worst in the world. And now, a new study has confirmed it.
According to Tomtom’s 2023 Traffic Index Ranking, Metro Manila ranked 1st in metro areas with the worst traffic. A metro area is a circle covering the city and rural areas nearby. It measures the traffic of the entire region.
Meanwhile, Manila ranked 9th in city centers with the worst traffic in 2023. In Asia, Manila is ranked 3rd. A city center is a circle with a radius of 5 km covering the busiest parts of the city. It measures the city traffic.
The report said it takes an average of 25 minutes and 30 seconds to travel 10 km in Metro Manila. For the whole year, the time lost during rush hour adds up to a whopping 117 hours. That’s more than four days of your life wasted in traffic.
Meanwhile, the average speed during rush hour in the metro is only 19 km/hr. That’s slower than a bicycle.
The report also added some interesting details about Metro Manila traffic. For instance, did you know that October 27 was the worst day to travel in the metro in 2023? The average time to travel 10 km on that day was a crawling 33 minutes and 10 seconds. And the busiest street for the year? That goes to Quezon Avenue.
The traffic situation in Metro Manila has also worsened over the years with the average travel time increased by 50 seconds from 2022 to 2023. The average time lost annually in Manila traffic during rush hours was 105 hours in 2023.
Traffic congestion also had a negative impact on the environment. Around 1053 kg of CO2 is emitted by a petrol car during Manila rush hours. That’s equivalent to 105 trees absorbing that amount of CO2 in a year.
The government has been trying to address the traffic problem in Manila by implementing various measures, such as the number coding scheme, the bus rapid transit system, and the ongoing subway project. So far, these solutions were not enough to ease the traffic woes of the millions of commuters in Metro Manila.
Tomtom’s Traffic Index Ranking is an annual report that compares traffic conditions in 387 cities across 55 countries on 6 continents. It uses data from millions of devices to calculate the congestion level, travel time, and speed of each city.
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Image credit: PNA photo by Joey O. Razon
