Munich / Hamburg – Hamburg is once again the German traffic jam capital.
According to an analysis of the traffic pattern presented by the mapping specialist TomTom in Munich on Wednesday, the places Berlin, Wiesbaden, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart followed. Bonn, Kassel, Bremen and Frankfurt am Main complete the top 10 list of cities in Germany where drivers lose most of their time due to traffic problems.
The increase in traffic is related to the growing population in the metropolitan areas. The data from smartphones and permanently installed navigation systems for 416 cities worldwide were evaluated for the “TomTom Traffic Index” for 2019.
The calculated percentage – in the case of Hamburg 34 percent (plus one percentage point) – shows how much longer a journey takes as a result of the traffic jam.
Bremen 9th place
With minus 3 percentage points, Bremen was one of the few German cities where traffic in 2019 was somewhat smoother than in the previous year. Nevertheless, Bremen comes 9th in the traffic jam ranking.
Despite alternatives, commuters drive cars
What is striking when looking at the traffic patterns are the pronounced congestion peaks in the morning and evening, which demonstrate recognizable commuter behavior, explained TomTom. “Despite numerous alternative transport options, many commuters still choose the car to get to work.”
Society is aware of the need for a turnaround in traffic, but the necessary consequence is still lacking to implement it.
The average traffic jam level was 54 percent in the morning and 61 percent in the evening. These numbers mean that drivers would need 46 minutes in the morning and 48 minutes in the evening to travel 30 minutes without traffic. Commuters in the Hamburg area had to face the longest delays between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Thursday evening, during which TomTom recorded the highest traffic volume.
Hannover in 23rd place
Hanover comes in 23rd in the ranking – with a minus of one percentage point.
In international comparison, drivers in Germany are not stuck in traffic for a particularly long time. For Bangalore in India, TomTom calculated a value of 98 percent for the morning rush hour, in the evening the value was even worse at 115 percent. Traffic pollution is worst in Moscow (59 percent) on the European continent, followed by Istanbul, Kiev and Bucharest.
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