• Top 5 most congested cities in the world: Istanbul, New York City, Chicago, Mexico City and London.
• The average driver in the UK lost 62 hours due to traffic congestion, up 1 hour compared to 2023.
• The average London driver spent £942 due to lost time n in 2024, UK drivers on average lost £581 in time.
• In the UK overall, the cost to the country was £7.7 billion, £200 million increase over the prior year.

INRIX, Inc., a global leader in transportation data and analytics, today published the 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard that identified and ranked congestion in nearly 950 cities, across 37 countries.

London topped the Traffic Scorecard in Europe – and placed fifth globally – with drivers losing 101 hours sitting in congestion, two percent increase in delays from 2023. The capital continues to account for approximately 50% of all U.K. traffic delay. The total cost to London was £3.85 billion, averaging £942 per driver.

For the UK as whole, the country lost £7.7 billion, £200 million more than in 2023. The average UK driver lost 62 hours due to traffic congestion last year, up only one from the previous year equating £581 per driver per year. The capital accounted for approximately 50% of all UK traffic delay.

Bob Pishue, transportation analyst and author of the report: “While the UK did see a slight increase in congestion again this year, overall congestion has remained steady. Roadworks in key corridors such as M25 Wisely Interchange caused considerable traffic on a main artery into the capital. Interestingly it was cities outside of the capital that saw the greatest increase in congestion with Manchester seeing a large increase, up 13%.

While London only had a modest increase in time lost, it still represented half of the entire country’s delay. Bristol and Leeds both moved up a spot while Birmingham and Wigan fell. Sheffield and Edinburgh were added to the top 10 list this year, as delays grew to 53 hours lost per driver in both places. Manchester has continued its rise to the 4^th ranked spot in the country, after moving from 11^th to 8^th from 2022-2023, and from 8^th to 4^th in 2024.

Table 1: 10 Most Congested Urban Areas in the U.K.

2024 U.K. Rank (2023 Rank)	Urban Area	2024 Hours Lost (2023 Hours Lost)	Delay Change	2024 Cost per Driver	2024 Cost per City	Downtown Speed (mph)
1 (1)	London	101 (99)	2%	£ 942	£ 3.85 B	13
2 (3)	Bristol	65 (62)	5%	£ 606	£ 125 M	17
3 (4)	Leeds	60 (59)	2%	£ 560	£ 204 M	19
4 (8)	Manchester	61 (54)	13%	£ 570	£ 129 M	17
5 (6)	Bath	68 (67)	1%	£ 634	£ 26 M	15
6 (2)	Birmingham	54 (60)	-10%	£ 504	£ 300 M	20
7 (5)	Wigan	57 (61)	-7%	£ 532	£ 87 M	18
8 (7)	Chelmsford	59 (60)	-2%	£ 550	£ 46 M	22
9 (11)	Sheffield	53 (52)	2%	£ 494	£ 133 M	18

Due to the concentration of population, employment and economic activity, London holds most of the top corridors for traffic delays in the UK. Driving on London’s most congested corridor – Westbound A40 between the North Circular and the A406 –at the 5:00 PM peak hour would took an extra 17 minutes or 68 hours sitting in traffic over the course of the year. Road works at the Wisely Bypass on the M25 and M3 caused high levels of delays with that corridor coming in third in the UK.

The busiest corridor in Bristol, the second most-congested urban area in the UK, was the AA420 Eastbound from the Lawrence Hill Roundabout to Hollow Road. At 4:00PM on the weekday drivers lose about 5 minutes a day, or 21 hours annually.

Table 2: Most Congested U.K. Roads by top three cities in 2024

Road Name	From	To	Peak Hour	2023 Peak Minutes Lost	2023 Hours Lost
London
A40 WB	A320	A406	5:00 PM	17	68
N Circular Road NB	Falloden Way	A1110	4:00 PM	10	40
M25 SB	M3	A3	5:00 PM	8	34
Bristol
A420 EB	Lawrence Hill Rndbt	Hollow Rd	4:00 PM	5	21
Portway/A4 SB	Portway Rndbt	Bristol Gate	5:00 PM	5	21
A3029/A4174 EB	A38	A37	4:00 PM	5	18
Leeds
A650 SB	Queen’s Road	All Saints Rd	4:00 PM	10	38
A657/Leeds Rd WB	Cross Road	Bingley Rd	4:00 PM	8	30
A65/New Road SB	Park Road	Horsforth New Rd	4:00 PM	7	26

How the UK cities compare to top cities worldwide
Like the US and Germany, the UK saw traffic congestion grow in 2023 and reach pre-COVID levels. London’s two percent increase is lower than cities in the global top 25 suggesting that the city rebounded from the effects of COVID sooner and other cities are catching up. The capital is also the only UK city in the global top 25 cities.

Despite all seeing growth in congestion Birmingham, Leeds and Wigan fell in the impact rankings as congestion in other cities grew faster.

Table 3: 25 Most Congested Cities in the World in 2024

2024 Impact Rank (2023 Rank)	Urban Area	Country	2024 Delay per Driver (hours)	2023 Delay per Driver (hours)	Change from 2023	Downtown Speed (mph)
1 (6)	Istanbul	TUR	105	91	15%	15
2 (1)	New York City NY	USA	102	101	1%	13
3 (5)	Chicago IL	USA	102	96	6%	14
4 (2)	Mexico City	MEX	97	96	1%	13
5 (3)	London	GBR	101	99	2%	13
6 (4)	Paris	FRA	97	97	0%	13
7 (10)	Jakarta	IDN	89	65	37%	13
8 (7)	Los Angeles CA	USA	88	89	-1%	22
9 (9)	Cape Town	ZAF	94	83	13%	14
10 (12)	Brisbane	AUS	84	74	14%	21
11 (14)	Bangkok	THA	74	63	17%	16
12 (8)	Boston MA	USA	79	88	-10%	13
13 (13)	Philadelphia PA	USA	77	69	12%	14
14 (11)	Miami FL	USA	74	70	6%	20
15 (16)	Dublin	IRL	81	72	13%	15
16 (15)	Rome	ITA	71	69	3%	15
17 (19)	Houston TX	USA	66	62	6%	17
18 (20)	Brussels	BEL	74	68	9%	12
19 (21)	Atlanta GA	USA	65	61	7%	18
20 (28)	Warsaw	POL	70	61	15%	17
21 (22)	Melbourne	AUS	65	62	5%	18
22 (18)	Washington DC	USA	62	63	-2%	12
23 (27)	Seattle WA	USA	63	58	9%	18
24 (25)	Milan	ITA	64	60	7%	18
25 (17)	Toronto ON	CAN	61	63	-3%	13

Table 4: 25 Most Congested Cities in the World in 2024

2024 EU Rank (2023 EU Rank)	Urban Area	Country	2024 Delay per Driver (hours)	2023 Delay per Driver (hours)	YOY Change	Downtown Speed (mph)
1( 1)	London	UK	101	99	2%	11
2( 2)	Paris	FRA	97	97	0%	11
3( 4)	Dublin	IRL	81	72	13%	11
4( 3)	Rome	ITA	71	69	3%	13
5( 5)	Brussels	BEL	74	68	9%	10
6( 9)	Warsaw	POL	70	61	15%	14
7( 8)	Milan	ITA	64	60	7%	14
8( 6)	Rotterdam	NLD	63	62	2%	15
9( 7)	Prague	CZE	64	64	0%	16
10( 11)	Berlin	DEU	58	55	5%	13
11( 15)	Bristol	UK	65	62	5%	13
12( 10)	Utrecht	NLD	63	65	-3%	18
13( 25)	Ljubljana	SVN	67	59	14%	17
14( 19)	Leeds	GBR	60	59	2%	16
15( 16)	Amsterdam	NLD	55	55	0%	18
16( 29)	Manchester	UK	61	54	13%	13
17( 18)	The Hague	NLD	58	58	0%	18
18( 47)	Dusseldorf	DEU	60	49	22%	16
19( 40)	Budapest	HUN	55	47	17%	14
20( 24)	Lisboa	PRT	60	57	5%	10
21( 27)	Munchen	DEU	55	52	6%	11
22( 17)	Zurich	CHE	58	60	-3%	16
23( 36)	Cologne	DEU	56	50	12%	16
24( 23)	Bath	UK	68	67	1%	12
25( 31)	Stuttgart	DEU	58	53	9%	17

Access to reliable data is the first step in tackling congestion. Applying big data to create intelligent transportation systems is key to solving urban mobility problems. INRIX data and analytics on mobility, traffic and traffic signals, parking and population movement help city planners and engineers make data-based decisions to prioritise spending to maximise benefits and reduce costs now and into the future.

The key findings of the INRIX 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard provide a quantifiable benchmark for governments and cities across the world to measure progress to improve urban mobility and track the impact of spending on smart city initiatives.