Toronto, Vancouver most congested cities in Canada: index
Posted March 31, 2015 7:40 am.
Last Updated March 31, 2015 9:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Vancouver and Toronto topped the list of the most traffic congested Canadian cities.
According to the fifth annual Traffic Index from GPS manufacturer TomTom, the commute in Vancouver is the worst in Canada followed closely by Toronto.
This year, TomTom looked at traffic congestion in 218 cities worldwide.
Toronto ranked eighth in North America behind Los Angeles and Mexico City. Globally, the city comes in 47th place, with Istanbul, Turkey, being the worst for drivers.
According to the index, the average commuter in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, “loses 84 hours a year being delayed in traffic while the average time lost to traffic across the country is almost 79 hours,” with the latter number up from 77.
The top five for Canada included Ottawa at number three followed by Montreal, with Edmonton and Quebec City tied for fifth.
The study’s authors though found Canadian cities did better than those in the United States and Europe.
Some of the highlights of the report include:
- Congestion rates have risen in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton and Quebec by 11 per cent since 2014
- Least congested city in Canada is Calgary
- Average evening rush hour congestion rate in Canada is 57 per cent, which is up from 27 per cent
- Most congested commute is on Thursday evening, except in Edmonton, Quebec and Calgary where Wednesday or Friday has the highest evening commute times
