World’s SLOWEST city where it takes 42 minutes to travel 6 miles is in the UK

LONDON has been revealed as the world’s slowest city – where it takes a whopping 42 minutes to travel just six miles by car.

The capital of the UK has been rated the worst city in the world for congestion at peak times – beating the famously busy cities of Paris and Los Angeles.

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The report from TomTom found it takes London drivers an average of 42.5 minutes to travel just 6.2 miles in a car, with 43 per cent of that time resulting from traffic.

In comparison, it takes 32 minutes to drive the same distance in Paris, 28 minutes in Manchester and 25 minutes in Los Angeles. 

Bucharest and Dublin took second and third place – where it takes about 36 minutes for the same journey at rush hour.

TomTom’s report details the fuel consumption, travel times and carbon dioxide emissions of drivers in 50 global cities.

The data was pulled from 600 million devices, including Sat Navs, smartphone apps and telematics systems.

Andy Marchant, a traffic expert at TomTom, said: “The ongoing train strikes heavily affected levels of traffic congestion, with commuters opting to use vehicles to get around cities in the absence of train services.

“In London specifically, a lack of black cab drivers may also have prompted more drivers into the city.

“The sheer volume of slow-moving traffic across UK cities, coupled with the UK’s antiquated road infrastructure, is having a significant impact on transport emissions.

“Better traffic management based on real-time data intelligence is needed to ensure viable traffic flows and the efficient use of city infrastructure.” 

Londoners are also paying £1.79 to drive 6.2 miles – more than anyone else in the world.

Meanwhile, the cheapest places to drive the same distance are in America – costing 55p in Knoxville, Tennessee and 61p in Atlanta, Georgia.

Earlier this year, Britain’s most congested roads were revealed – with the average driver losing 80 hours to traffic jams in 2022.

Again, London’s roads were named worst in the world for traffic as new data unveiled the scale of delays in the capital.

Data firm INRIX released their annual Global Traffic Scorecard, with routes in cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh all making the list of the UK’s busiest.

The A219 Southbound between Fulham and Morden in South London, topped the rankings, with an average of 47 hours lost, closely followed by the A202 Eastbound in South East London with 45 hours.

Both these roads are popular commuter routes and saw their busiest times at 5pm each day.

Outside of the capital, the worst road was the A45 Eastbound in Birmingham, which lost drivers an average of 37 hours, with a peak time of 4pm.

The data also showed the 10 cities with the highest traffic delay times.

London, perhaps unsurprisingly, topped the list by far, with the average delay time per driver clocking in at a whopping 156 hours.

Bob Pishue, a transport analyst and author of the report, said: “It is great to see civic and commercial life returning to normal, but unfortunately, we’re seeing congestion inching closer to, if not exceeding, pre-pandemic levels.

“We must manage congestion while improving mobility and accessibility in cities to avoid it hurting economic recovery and impacting the quality of life of commuters and residents.”

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