Study: the most congested cities in 2023 according to TomTom

A sign that road congestion is not improving: average speeds fell in 2023 in 228 of the 387 cities worldwide listed in GPS manufacturer TomTom's rankings, now in their 13th edition. Just 77 cities saw a gain.

TomTom's analysis is based on data extracted from over 600 million on-board navigation systems and smartphones.

For the second year running, London is the slowest place to travel. On average, motorists take over 37 minutes to cover a distance of 10 km. Dublin, Ireland, comes in second (29.5 minutes), and none other than Toronto completes the podium of the world's most congested cities in 2023, with an average travel time of 29 minutes - 50 seconds longer than the previous year.

Toronto drivers lost 98 hours in traffic during the year, moving at an average speed of 18 km/h during rush hour.

Where do Montreal and Quebec rank?

Vancouver and Winnipeg are the only other two Canadian cities in the world's top 100 for traffic congestion in 2023, according to TomTom. The average time to travel 10 km is 23 minutes and 10 seconds, and 19 minutes and 20 seconds, respectively.

Montreal is not so far behind, mind you, in 103rd place. Drivers take an average of 19 minutes to cover 10 km (10 seconds more than in 2022) and have spent a total of 85 hours in rush-hour traffic, travelling at an average speed of 25 km/h.

Quebec City ranks 11th in the country and 324th in the world, with 42 hours lost per year and 10 km trips taking 12 minutes and 20 seconds.

Across North America, Toronto is followed by Mexico City, New York, Vancouver and Washington. Montreal comes ninth.