in 1965 it was the sound of music which ruled the universe. And now it’s the honking sound of the vehicles which is playing the role of dictator. Awesome transformation isn’t it? Sitting idle on the Car’s seat for hours to get the traffic jam cleared off has become a daily routine. People say time is precious, but can we ever able to be punctual in this world of Traffic Congestion. According to Enrique Penalosa “An advanced city is not a place where the poor move about in cars, rather it’s where even the rich use public transportation”
Yes Boss, it’s absolutely true. But who cares! People probably fell in deep love with the honking sound of the vehicles and getting late to their work. Traffic jams are caused by the huge number of vehicles in the street at a time and not because of the people inside it. It’s really damn funny to watch public transports like buses and trains moving around empty. Guys! Now please wake up and show your status not by moving in a car but by being punctual to your work.
Below mentioned are the top 10 famous cities around the world facing the most traffic congestion recently.
10) San Francisco, US
Being a financial and cultural hub the city has therefore turned out to be one of the densely settled cities of California. And ultimately the result is 25 percent increase in traffic congestion compared to last year. It has been found that the most congested area in San Francisco is the San Francisco-Oakland area which is also considered as one of second most congested area in the country where a commuter usually waste around 67 hours in a year struck in traffic. Pathetic isn’t it? The researchers have studied that Thursday evening is the most peak hour when the situation becomes devastating and people suffers the most. But it seems that people have got habituated with it and thus for a 20 minutes drive they usually start their journey before 1 hour 15 minutes. Because of the brilliant improvement in the field of education and economy it is natural that San Francisco’s traffic congestion is getting worse but San Francisco should also gain a rank for taking the most appropriate measures to overcome such problems in the coming years.
9) Manchester, UK
A city with such brilliant cultural heritage would definitely attract huge masses of people from all around and thus today Manchester ranks among the third densely populated urban areas in United Kingdom. A58 Manchester in sudden is a traffic congestion prone area. But in many areas recently traffic have reduced immensely due to government’s strict policies.
8) Rotterdam, the Netherlands
The Overschie district of Rotterdam which borders the city ring road is designated as one of the most congested area carrying more than 150,000 vehicles daily. The gas emission and fuel consumption is also making the city acquiring de-growth in every field. Schools on roads and highways were shut due to excessive nuisance and emission of toxic gas. But studies have shown that government has taken suitable efforts to bring the situation in grip by reducing the speed limit of every vehicles in Rotterdam.
7) Honolulu, US
Honolulu, the famous tourist destination troubles its drivers the most by wasting around 42 hours last year in excessive traffic congestion. Also being the international trade hub Honolulu holds around 1,586.7 people per sq. mile population average. It was rated as the densest metro city in U.S. But recent survey has showed that the situation has greatly improved after massive delay and casualties and ultimately in 2011, Honolulu came up with its public rail transport with cost effective measures. Also it has been seen that people have reduced the usage of private cars and switched to public transports.
6) Paris, France
“PARIS” the dream city of love can ever possess anything other than compliments? But yes Paris is been frowned at because of its worst traffic congestion where drivers loses up to 70 hours a year. Especially areas like ‘Rue de Rivoli,’ ‘Blvd de Sevastopol/Strasbourg,’ ‘Blvd Saint-Germain,’ ‘Ave de Flandre is sometimes worst during rush hours, and tourists are usually made cautious beforehand. But Paris can never lag behind any city for such mere reason and thus it has already aimed at pacification of traffic problems by introducing the usage of cycle in a more advanced way. Also it has blocked vehicles in some areas for the convenience of cyclist and pedestrians. Hence in near future we would perhaps never be able to raise negative comments against a beautiful city like Paris.
5) London, UK
London, the famous business hub is bringing disaster to the lives of common people owing to the heavy traffic caused by freights and business vehicles. Commuters waste their precious time and also plenty of money due to excessive fuel consumption. Government have come with a new policy known as Congestion Zone tax where a driver is charged in a daily basis excluding public Holidays. Such policies have been implemented in order to reduce traffic and also to improve transport in London.
4) Milan, Italy
Crowned as continent’s most populated city where even walking in Milan’s street is not a cup of coffee for pedestrians because of the huge number of Cars parked all over. A congestion charge in Area C was introduced in Milan. The city gets mostly congested during morning and evening when people usually go and come back from work. But it’s been noted that presently the situation has got improved as most commuters have started using metros to travel around. Also the government have starting building up flyover to cut down the traffic in Milan’s street.
3) Los Angeles, US
Wanna get a glimpse of the heartthrobs of Hollywood? Yes Los Angeles is the main destination. But wait, how will you be able to reach them on time? Los Angeles is the worst place in US when it comes to traffic congestion. According to INRIX, the software company that provides the real time traffic information has come to the conclusion that the sole reason behind it is Increasing Economy. People in Los Angeles waste extra time and money sitting in traffic compared to other cities. For a trip of 30 minutes, the commuters usually require 3 hours to cover up. The Long beach- Santa Ana area in Los Angeles is considered to be the most traffic congested area. But the city is said to have woken up and taking suitable measure to change the present scenario.
2) Antwerp, the Netherlands
Antwerp in Netherlands is not a big city and thus one can easily move around without any vehicle. But the huge population in this so called not a big city makes life disastrous for people who travels everyday.Huge traffic congestion results in wastage of money and time.Even pedestrians found crossing streets very hazardous now a days. Drivers usually have lost 77 hours in traffic in the previous year. Public transports such as railways and buses have been introduced in lager scale and thus the government is very confident in bringing the situation under control.
1) Brussels, Belgium
Brussels is famous for its highest density of motor vehicles but 2012 turned out to be the worst year for all Belgium Motorists who had to wait for hours and hours due to severe traffic Jam in Brussels. Public vehicles are used rarely and thus making the situation worse day by day. This major problem has occurred because the major industries and universities are located in the main city. It is also detected that the traffic lights are poor and weak and causing huge amount of accidents regularly. Efforts have been made to relocate big companies to suburb to cut short some traffic problem but it is shameful that being a modern and well advanced city like Brussels, the authority is moving in snail pace to recover the situation.