New Zealanders spent up to 93 hours stuck in traffic last year, says a global survey by satellite-navigation company TomTom.
And the city with the worst peak-hour delays was not Auckland, but Wellington. Auckland had marginally more congestion but roads in Wellington (above) regularly tied up traffic, says the study.
Wellington just didn’t top rush-hour snarls in New Zealand either – it was public enemy No.1 in Australasia, adding delays of up to 41 minutes to a free-flowing hourly commute.
That was longer than hold-ups in Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Sydney was the most congested city Downunder, followed by Auckland and Wellington. But all three rated worse than New York.
According to the annual TomTom Traffic Index, Friday morning was the least congested time to commute in New Zealand. The most congested was found to be Tuesday morning and Thursday evening.
TomTom’s study of traffic behaviour in 138 countries found New Zealand had average congestion of 28 per cent. The global average is 26 per cent. Moscow had the worst congestion with 74 per cent.
The Russian capital was followed by Istanbul (62), Rio de Janeiro (55), Mexico City (54), Sao Paulo (46), Palermo (39), Warsaw (39), Rome (37), Los Angeles (36), Dubin (35).
Sydney was 17th on a list of the world’s most congested cities, just behind London and Athens. Auckland was ranked 22nd, Wellington was 25th and Christchurch 42nd. New York – a city with twice the population of New Zealand – was 39th.
The ANZAC congestion figures: Sydney 34 per cent, Auckland (29), Wellington (28), Melbourne (27), Perth (27), Christchurch (26), Adelaide (25), Brisbane (23), Canberra (17).
• Auckland motorists drove 8 million more kilometres last year than those in Wellington and Christchurch combined, said TomTom.