As the Olympic Games approach, Paris remains the most congested city in France. A situation that even worsened a little in 2023, according to the latest edition of the TomTom Traffic Index, the annual study by the specialist in GPS and mapping solutions.
Paris, far ahead of Bordeaux and Lyon
Paris remains the French city with the slowest average speed, 23 km/h. In total, motorists traveling daily in the Paris region lost 120 hours in traffic jams in 2023, the equivalent of five full days and almost 11 hours more than in 2022.
“A Parisian motorist spends an average of 1 hour and 6 minutes in his car to cover a typical ten-kilometer trip twice a day during the morning and evening rush hours, but almost half of this travel time is loses due to traffic,” the study notes.
In Bordeaux, second in the ranking, motorists spent an average of 111 hours in traffic jams in 2023, or 3 hours and 15 minutes more than in 2022. In Lyon, this lost time counter reached 89 hours, or 6 hours and 24 minutes more than the previous year.
288 euros of fuel spent in traffic jams
But what impact does this lost time have on the fuel budget? Even with a daily trip of 20 kilometers (10 kilometers distance between home and work), TomTom calculates the annual expense at 934 euros for a gasoline car in Paris, of which 288 euros are only spent on traffic jams.
In Marseille, the cost of traffic jams is estimated at 200 euros, out of a total bill of 761 euros. In Lyon, it is 165 euros of the 751 euros spent during the year.
A financial but also environmental cost: in Paris, complicated traffic is the source of 344 kg of CO2 emissions, or 30% of the annual balance of these trips between home and work.
A global phenomenon
Large French cities are no exception: the TomTom study evaluates traffic in 387 cities spread across 55 countries in 2023. In the vast majority, 288 cities, the average speed decreased last year. It remained unchanged in 82 cities and only fell in 77 of them.
If Paris is the French champion in traffic jams, there are much worse places elsewhere. On average, to travel ten kilometers during rush hour, for example, it takes 26 minutes on average in the French capital, but 37 minutes in London or even 29 minutes in Dublin, Toronto or even Milan.
To improve the situation, TomTom is counting in particular on exploiting the extensive traffic data available to urban planners, policy makers and drivers. Enough to potentially reduce commuting times in large cities by 15 to 20%, according to a recent McKinsey study.
Source: BFM TV
