These are the worst times to drive in Joburg, Cape Town and Durban

TomTom has released the results of its latest Traffic Index, showing which cities have the highest levels of congestion in 56 countries around the world.

The report analyses traffic congestion in terms of how much extra travel time is added to a 30-minute journey during peak traffic times, as well as the times of day that these peaks are most likely to hit.

Of the 403 cities assessed by TomTom, Mumbai took number one spot this year with drivers in the Indian city expecting to spend an average of 65% extra travel time stuck in traffic.

Next, in the global rankings are Colombian capital, Bogota (63%), Lima in Peru (58%), New Delhi in India (58%) and Russian Capital, Moscow (56%), making up the top five most congested cities in the world.

Traffic congestion has increased globally during the last decade, and nearly 75% of the cities TomTom includes in the new Traffic Index report had increased or had stable congestion levels between 2017 and 2018, with only 90 cities showing measurable decreases.

“Globally, traffic congestion is rising. And that’s both good, and bad, news,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, TomTom’s VP of Traffic information.

“It’s good because it indicates a strong global economy – but the flip side is drivers are wasting time sitting in traffic, not to mention the huge environmental impact.”

Cairo was named as the most congested city on the African continent, with the rest of the top seven made up of South African cities.

Cape Town was named as the most congested city in South Africa (90th in the world), closely followed by Johannesburg (105th) and Pretoria (182nd).

Cape Town 

Tom Tom’s data shows that Cape Town drivers can expect a 30-minute trip to take upwards of 50 minutes during peak morning and evening traffic.

This peak traffic starts at around 05h30 in the morning on a weekday morning and continues to 10h00 – peaking at around 07h00.

Peak traffic in the evenings begins at around 15h00 in the afternoon and continues until around 18h30.

Johannesburg

Tom Tom’s data shows that Johannesburg drivers can also expect a 30-minute trip to take upwards of 50 minutes during peak morning and evening traffic.

This means that Johannesburg and Cape Town face essentially the same commute times during peak traffic.

This peak traffic starts at around 06h00 in the morning on a weekday morning and continues to 10h00 – peaking at around 07h00.

Peak traffic in the evenings begins at around 15h00 in the afternoon and continues until around 18h00.

Durban 

Durban has considerably less traffic than Cape Town and Johannesburg, but drivers can still be caught out during peak times.

Tom Tom’s data shows that Durban drivers can expect a 30-minute trip to take just over 40 minutes during peak morning and evening traffic.

A substantial amount of this traffic is seen on side-roads and main roads (25%) as opposed to highways (10%).

Peak traffic starts at around 06h00 in the morning on a weekday morning and continues to 08h30 – peaking at around 07h00.

Peak traffic in the evenings begins at around 15h30 in the afternoon and continues until around 17h30.

Read: Cape Town’s traffic is so bad some companies are ‘decentralising’ their offices