The South African city with the worst traffic – making the global top 10

 ·12 Jan 2025

Not only does Cape Town have the worst traffic in South Africa, it has some of the worst traffic in the world.

This is according to the 2024 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, which looks at transportation data and trends among 946 urban areas analysed worldwide.

“Traffic can also be seen as a barometer for the economy. The movement of people, goods and services creates demand for road travel, but when demand exceeds the supply of road space, it results in congestion,” said INRIX

“This means that while traffic congestion has a negative impact on the economy, it’s a symptom of economic activity.”

Commute times are also calculated by looking exclusively at the time it takes to get to and from major employment centres within an urban area from surrounding commuting neighbourhoods.

Looking at South Africa, residents in Cape Town lost 94 hours due to traffic.

This is far above second-placed Johannesburg, where residents lost 55 hours due to traffic.

Pretoria completes the top three, with 45 hours lost due to residents in traffic.

Durban (35 hours), Pietermaritzburg (33 hours), Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha (30 hours) and East London (27 hours) also see over a day lost per year due to traffic.

On the other end of the scale, Welkom sees only six hours lost to traffic each year.

Ten Highest Traffic Delay Times By South Africa City

Making the top 10

Overall, Istanbul, Turkiyë completes the list of the most congested urban areas, with road users losing 105 hours to traffic as delays increased by 15% from 2023

This was more than New York and Chicago’s 102 hours lost to traffic. London road users also used 101 hours of traffic

At 97 hours of traffic, Paris tied for fifth with Mexico City.

Cape Town’s 94 hours saw it take the number seven spot, with more time lost to traffic than Los Angeles’s 88 hours.

These large delays have a profound economic impact, with data from the USA, UK and Germany highlighting the cost of traffic.

The average U.S. driver lost 43 hours to traffic congestion, which was equivalent to a full work week. This led to $771 worth of time lost.

In the U.K., drivers lost an average of 61 hours commuting to work, or about £581 in lost time, whereas the average German driver lost 43 hours in traffic jams, equal to 470 € per driver.

“Telecommuting dropped 8% in the U.S. while remote & hybrid work stayed relatively stagnant in the U.K. Of the large urban metro areas, tech-heavy San Jose, San Francisco, and Seattle saw the largest drops in telecommuting,” said INRIX.

“The influx of workers may be having an effect during off-work hours as well. Trips to U.S. downtowns grew faster on weekends, and especially weekend nights, than weekdays.”

“This could indicate a shift toward increased downtown viability and vibrance in the wake of COVID-19’s damaging effect on office-heavy downtowns.”

Ten Highest Traffic Delay Times By Cities Worldwide

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