Cape Town traffic is worse than Joburg: index

·18 Aug 2016

Cape Town has been ranked as the worst city in South Africa for traffic congestion – and ranks among the top 50 worst cities in the world, according to the latest Tom Tom Traffic Index.

The TomTom Traffic Index is published to provide drivers, industry and policy makers with unbiased information about congestion levels in urban areas.

Now in its 5th year, the 2016 edition of the index now includes 295 cities in 38 countries.

Previous findings from Tom Tom in 2015 showed that Cape Town had become the most congested city in South Africa, where motorists spend as much as 11 days a year sitting in traffic.

Tom Tom divisional manager for Sub-Saharan Africa Daan Hendricks said travel times in Cape Town had increased exponentially over the years, with commuters needing to add about 27% to their travel times. In the 2016 findings, this has increased to 30%

The only other South African city to be ranked was Johannesburg, which is ranked 77th overall, with 27% additional travel time required – also up from 26% in 2015.

The Cape Town local government is aware of its congestion problems, and city mayor Patricia de Lille announced in November 2015 that the Western Cape government would spend R750 million to improve levels of traffic congestion in the city.

The R750 million would be paid over the next five years, de Lille said, with R40 million paid in the current financial year.

These are the 15 most congested cities in the world (Including South Africa):

#	City	Country	Extra travel time needed
1	Mexico City	Mexico	59%
2	Bangkok	Thailand	57%
3	Istanbul	Turkey	50%
4	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	47%
5	Moscow	Russia	44%
6	Bucharest	Romania	43%
7	Salvador	Brazil	43%
8	Recife	Brazil	43%
9	Chengdu	China	41%
10	Los Angeles	USA	41%
11	Saint Petersburg	Russia	40%
12	Tianjin	China	39%
13	Warsaw	Poland	38%
14	Beijing	China	38%
15	Rome	Italy	38%

47	Cape Town	South Africa	30%
77	Johannesburg	South Africa	27%