From commute times and stress levels to price of gas and anger outrages, here are the world's worst cities for driving.
So, your commute is pretty bad, huh? It takes you three minutes to
get out of your office parking lot, eight minutes to reach the highway
and another 45 to snake along to your exit. As you sit and listen to
another damned FM play of the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling," it
dawns on you: it gets no worse than this. Of course, such
exaggeration is a business Canadians excel in. Almost always,
traffic-jammed commutes are rough, yes, but they often pale in
comparison to the workaday travels of bigger, more gruelling cities. To
set the record straight, IBM recently issued its annual Computer Pain
Survey, which uses a variety of measures* to determine the world's most
maddening commutes. Click through to find the world's 20 worst cities to
drive, and take a guess at which Canadian towns make the cut.
*Consumer
Pain score accounts for ten issues: 1) commuting time, 2) time stuck in
traffic, agreement that 3) price of gas is already too high, 4) traffic
has gotten worse, 5) start-stop traffic is a problem, 6) driving causes
stress, 7) driving causes anger, 8) traffic affects work, 9) traffic so
bad driving stopped, and 10) decided not to make trip due to traffic.
20. Montreal, Canada
One of two Canadian
cities to appear on this list, this year Montreal motorists have had to
endure the one variable a traffic-jammed town can ill afford: major road
closures. As if congestion wasn't bad enough, a massive slab of falling
concrete famously shuttered part of an east-end highway last month, and
late summer construction on Montreal's Turcot interchange will cause
lane closures and significant delays until December.
19. London, England
As per IBM's survey,
41 per cent of commuters said that improved public transportation in
their city would help reduce stress. Ironically, though, in London -
where the transit system is often considered among the world's most
comprehensive - British drivers still can't help but feel the pain. In
2010, 19 per cent of London respondents said traffic had increased their
stress levels, but that figure spiked to 33 per cent in this year's
poll.
18. Chicago, USA
Three American cities
appear on IBM's Commuter Pain Survey, but Chicago motorists are ones
that'd rather scratch and claw than blindly follow the masses. Of the
cities polled by IBM, Chicago drivers displayed the highest desire for
more accurate and timely information about road conditions as a means to
avoid traffic.
17. Stockholm, Sweden
Follow this logic: 42
per cent of Stockholm drivers in 2011, as opposed to just 18 per cent in
2010, said traffic in the city had improved over the past three years.
Yet, in spite of congestion in the Swedish capital appearing to ease,
more Stockholm motorists (25 per cent in 2011, as opposed to just 14 per
cent in 2010) said traffic has been negatively affecting their
performance at work or school.
16. Toronto, Canada
Toronto motorists
think their commutes are becoming more tolerable but, somehow, stress
levels for Big Smoke drivers continue to soar. In 2010, just eight per
cent of Toronto drivers said traffic had been getting better over the
past three years, while 14 per cent said congestion was stressing them
out. In 2011, 23 per cent said they thought traffic was improving, but a
whopping 40 per cent said traffic was increasing their stress level.
14. New York, USA (tie)
New York traffic is
bad, but at least Big Apple drivers are adapting. In 2010, 90 per cent
of New York motorists reported that they drove to work or school alone.
In 2011, cue the carpool. According to IBM's survey, only 59 per cent of
New Yorkers drove to work or school alone this year.
14. Madrid, Spain (tie)
When compared to other
cities on this list, motorists in Madrid may have it easy. According to
IBM's survey results, about half of drivers in the Spanish capital
reported spending no more than 30 minutes stuck in traffic over the past
three years, a number that might cause extreme jealousy to the cities
yet to appear in this feature. Still, more Madrid drivers (30 per cent
in 2011, compared to 21 per cent in 2010) admitted that traffic this
year was negatively affecting their performance at work or school.
13. Paris, France
When considering
traffic, it's important to remember that congestion affects different
drivers in different ways. To wit: despite no significant reported
increase in traffic year-over-year, Parisian drivers reported a
substantial jump in how traffic affected them. In 2010, 26 per cent of
Parisian motorists said traffic affected their performance at work or
school; that number jumped, for no apparent reason, to 35 per cent in
2011.
12. Los Angeles, USA
The worst American
city for traffic, by IBM's estimation, is Los Angeles, where slow-moving
freeways and interchanges coil through the entire metropolis. And, in
the same year the word "Carmageddon" joined the popular lexicon, L.A.
drivers reported a major increase in traffic-related stress. According
to IBM, 44 per cent of L.A. motorists said traffic has increased their
stress level this year, more than double the amount that admitted the
same in 2010.
11. Buenos Aires, Argentina
Still-emerging cities like Buenos Aires
might be forgiven for its bad traffic. By IBM's estimation, the
Argentinean capital is still working to develop its public transit
system, suggesting traffic could decrease heavily once proper
infrastructure is in place. In fact, of the 20 cities on this list, no
town is currently shifting its municipal priorities to maximizing public
transit more than Buenos Aires.
10. Singapore city, Singapore
Really, what do
motorists in Singapore expect? The island city/state is one of the
world's densest regions - third, in terms of people per square
kilometre, behind only Monaco and Macau - so high congestion should come
as no surprise. Remarkably, however, when asked if they'd been stuck in
traffic for longer than 30 minutes over the past three years, about
half of Singapore drivers answered no.
9. Milan, Italy
Milan is another city
backwards in its gauge of traffic-related stress. From 2010 to 2011,
IBM's survey noted an increase in drivers in the Italian city reporting a
perceived improvement in congestion, yet those same motorists also said
their stress levels had spiked during that same period. According to
the Commuter Pain Survey, 61 per cent of Milan drivers said traffic
increased their stress level in 2011, compared to just 38 per cent who
admitted the same last year.
8. Moscow, Russia
Moscow, like Chicago,
is one of the cities that feature proactive motorists; more drivers in
the Russian metropolis than anywhere besides the Windy City told IBM
they desire more up-to-date traffic info as a way to avoid congestion.
And, with good reason. In 2010, only 25 per cent of Moscow drivers said
bad traffic affected them at work or school. This year, that figure
jumped to 34 per cent.
7. New Delhi, India
Drivers in India have
it doubly bad. While motorists in New Delhi have to slug through traffic
nightmares like everybody else - in fact, a whopping 63 per cent of
drivers in the Indian capital told IBM they'd avoided making a trip in
the last month due to anticipated traffic, the second-highest such
figure in the world - the Commuter Pain Survey notes that no region gave
its drivers respiratory problems due to traffic congestion more than
India.
6. Bangalore, India
The Garden City is
India's worst town for traffic, edging New Delhi by just one spot for
the dubious distinction, as per IBM's Commuter Pain Survey. Still, even
in the congestion-jammed Bangalore, traffic appears to be getting
better. According to IBM, more commuters in Bangalore reported
improvement in traffic in 2011 compared to the previous three years.
5. Johannesburg, South Africa
How do you explain
traffic pain? That's tough, considering what makes Motorist X irate may
not faze Motorist Y, who's used to inching home from work. So it goes,
then, that while commuters in Johannesburg reported an ease in traffic
from 2010 to 2011, their stress levels skyrocketed, from 30 per cent
saying congestion stressed them out last year to 52 per cent admitting
as much this year.
4. Nairobi, Kenya
Somehow, traffic
doesn't seem to bother Nairobi commuters much. In 2011, nearly half (48
per cent) of those surveyed reported that roadway traffic has not
negatively affected their health, a low sum given that it's the world's
fourth-worst city to drive. But maybe that's because Nairobi commuters
are adapting. In the wording of IBM, an "astonishing" 70 per cent of
Nairobi residents reported taking public transit on their daily commute
more often in the past year.
2. Beijing, China (tie)
Now we get to the
really, really bad towns. Despite spending about 80 billion Yuan ($12.4
billion) to improve its transportation infrastructure last year, Beijing
is still a nightmare to drive in, with a stunning 86 per cent of
commuters in the Chinese capital reporting congestion being a key
inhibitor to work or school performance. Add to that a figure of 61 per
cent of Beijing drivers telling IBM they'd decided not to take a trip
because of traffic in the past month.
2. Shenzen, China (tie)
Commuters in Shenzhen
have their traffic problems even before you consider pollution.
According to IBM, drivers in India and China suffer the worst
respiratory problems due to traffic congestion, so it's with good merit
motorists in the Southern Chinese city try to stay off the road. Nearly
two-thirds (63 per cent) of Shenzhen drivers also told IBM they'd
avoided a trip in the past month due to anticipated traffic, the
second-highest total of all surveyed cities.
1. Mexico City, Mexico
Now that we've
reached the number one spot on this list, perhaps it's best to put
things in a new light. A Commuter Pain Score of 108 sounds bad, but it's
infinitely worse when compared against other notoriously bad traffic
towns. For instance, according to IBM, driving in Mexico City, which is
investing some US$2.5 billion over the next few years to support its
traffic infrastructure, is so bad it's exactly four times as painful as
commuting in Toronto, by far Canada's most maddening city for drivers.
Source : http://autos.ca.msn.com
No comments:
Post a Comment