Today's Edition
ANUPAM VARMA (ABU DHABI)
Abu Dhabi and Al Ain have been named among the least congested cities in a new ranking.
Motorists in Abu Dhabi spent an average 9 minutes and 30 seconds to travel a distance of 10km, and lost only 15 hours per year during rush hour.
Residents in Al Ain spent 9 minutes and 40 seconds covering 10km, and lost merely 11 hours a year to traffic congestion.
The findings are from the “Annual TomTom Traffic Index” which ranked 387 cities across 55 countries with data from over 600 million in-car navigation systems and smartphones.
Topping the list with the worst traffic was Manila, where it took an average of 25 minutes and 30 seconds to travel 10km, with motorists losing as many as 117 hours per year to traffic congestion.
Lima in Peru (24 minutes, 20 seconds) and Bengaluru in India (23 minutes, 50 seconds) were next on the list. Drivers in both these cities lost 116 and 109 hours, respectively, per year during rush hour.
Apart from Abu Dhabi (ranked 353) and Al Ain (ranked 346), other UAE cities on the list included Ras Al Khaimah (ranked 331), Dubai (ranked 330), Fujairah (ranked 302) and Sharjah (ranked 268).
It’s important to note that the emirates were ranked towards the lower end of the table, indicating the ease of traffic flow and the minimum number of hours lost stuck in traffic.
The country’s road network has consistently ranked among the world’s best in terms of quality.
According to the Roads Quality Index 2024 of independent organisation World Population Review, UAE’s roads are ranked seventh best in the world. Last year, the country had ranked sixth globally in a classification by Pulse.
Global trends
The trend over 2023 confirms the general decline in average speeds in most cities: of the 387 cities analysed in the traffic index, 82 saw their average speed remain unchanged, and 77 had a higher average speed (and therefore shorter journey times) than the previous year, the report said.
The increase in both the cost of petrol and fuel consumption, due to longer journey times, has a clear impact on the budget of motorists who have to use their car every day to get to work, the report added.
In more than 60% of 351 cities where TomTom aggregates fuel prices, the average budget in fuel increased by 15% or more between 2021 and 2023. This increase in consumption naturally has a direct impact on average CO2 emissions per vehicle.
“With more than half of the world's population living in urban areas, traffic congestion and its economic, ecological and health consequences have become a problem that needs to be urgently addressed”, said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Vice President of Traffic at TomTom. “Planning the future of urban areas is essential to ongoing traffic management. Large urban areas are harnessing Big Data to plan infrastructure and development that will alleviate traffic congestion.
Analysis of historical traffic data can help growing cities map more efficient road systems and plan better zoning using location intelligence. Effective implementation of planning measures such as the implementation of LEZs to reduce air pollution will benefit from data from connected cars.”
| Emirate | Travel time per 10km | Time lost per year at rush hour |
| Abu Dhabi | 9m 30s | 15 hours |
| Al Ain | 9m 40s | 11 hours |
| Ras Al Khaimah | 10m 10s | 14 hours |
| Dubai | 10m 20s | 22 hours |
| Fujairah | 11m 20s | 13 hours |
| Sharjah | 12m 30s | 39 hours |
