Traffic Congestion in Sofia is Worse than those in San Francisco and Sydney

The capitals of three neighbors of Bulgaria are among the ten cities in Europe with the greatest traffic congestion. These are Istanbul, Bucharest and Athens, with the first two cities ranked second and third in 2018, only behind Moscow. The Greek capital is in 7th place, ahead of Rome, Warsaw and Ekaterinburg.

This shows the latest study by the Dutch company TomTom, which specializes in technology development and innovation in the transport sector.

According to data for 2018, including information on 403 cities with more than 800,000 inhabitants in 56 countries, Sofia is 21st in Europe in terms of time spent in traffic jams. By this indicator, the Bulgarian capital is ahead of Marseilles, Budapest and Bournemouth, which is located in southern England.

In the global index Sofia is 56th, which means that the traffic in our capital is heavier than in cities like San Francisco, Taipei and Sydney.

According to the data, the most calm day on the roads in the Bulgarian capital last year was January 1. On the other hand, the most busy was February 26, which was in 2018 on Monday.

Traditionally, mornings in Sofia are most busy during the first two days of the week. In the evening, the most serious congestion occurred on Wednesday, according to the study. The calculations show that in a 30-minute journey the drivers in the capital wait for traffic on average 20 minutes in the morning and 21 minutes in the evening.

In Europe, besides Moscow and the other mentioned capitals, the top 10 cities with the biggest congestion include St. Petersburg, Kiev, Novosibirsk and Warsaw.

Globally viewed, the most busy city to drive is Mumbai. After that, Bogota and Lima are among the top 3, followed by New Delhi and Moscow. Among the ten...