Davao outranks Manila in world's worst traffic index for 2024
Manila has been dethroned for having the worst traffic in the Philippines.
In the 2024 TomTom Traffic Index, Davao City ranked 8th on the list of worst traffic in city centers worldwide, with Manila following in 14th place. City centers are defined as the densest areas that capture 20% of trips within the city-connected area.
Caloocan was also part of the ranking in 26th place.
According to the traffic index, which features 500 cities across 62 countries, the average travel time per 10km in Davao City was 32 minutes and 59 seconds. Motorists lost about 136 hours on the road crawling through rush-hour traffic. However, this is actually 30 seconds faster than the average travel time in 2023.
Meanwhile, commuters in Manila logged an average of 32 minutes and 10 seconds of travel time per 10 kilometers and lost 127 hours per year in traffic.
Nov. 15, 2024—which fell on a Friday and happened to be payday—was the worst day to travel in Manila, with motorists having to spend 39 minutes and 37 seconds in their vehicles to drive 10km.
Caloocan, which made its debut on the ranking, saw travelers spending 27 minutes and 20 seconds per 10km on the road.
The title of world's worst traffic in a city center went to Barranquilla, Colombia, which saw motorists sitting 36 minutes and 6 seconds to travel 10 km.
Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Pune in India followed with London rounding out the top 5.
Sapporo in Japan experienced the worst day of traffic in 2024 on Jan. 17 as 10km trips reached 47 and a half minutes.
The 14th edition of the TomTom Traffic Index is the Dutch company's "most robust and complete analysis ever," as it ranked cities based on average travel times and congestion. It used floating car data and created travel times based on factors like road infrastructure, traffic congestion, roadworks, bad weather, and optimal travel time in a city.
