Toronto commuters spend 87 hours a year stuck in traffic

Traffic jam in Sao Paulo Brazil. Photo by Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz via Wikipedia

Toronto commuters will spend over two working weeks stuck in traffic this year according to a new study.

GPS maker TomTom just put out their fifth annual traffic index, comparing congestion across the world's major cities.

It found that Toronto drivers deal with 87 hours per year worth of delays, based on a typical commute that would normally take a half hour without any traffic. That's up from 78 hours back in 2012.

The study also found that in-town routes, and not highways, are the most congested roads in the GTA. They face a 35% average increase in travel time during peak hours, versus only 24% for the major routes.

However, highways had the biggest gain, with volume increasing 9% from 2012 versus just 4% for city streets. The busiest time of the week are Thursday afternoons, with 75% peak congestion on some routes.

Toronto currently ranks as the 47th most congested city in the world, and 8th in North America. Vancouver took the top spot in Canada with less congested highways but ram packed city streets.


The most congested city in the world went to Istanbul, Turkey where drivers can expect to spend 110 hours stuck in traffic jams.