If you have ever been stuck in a traffic jam on a road, you know how frustrating this can be. But the situation is worst in some Swiss cities.
In urban areas, traffic jams are most often caused by long red lights (and ‘slow’ green ones) low speed limits, or detours caused by construction sites.
Whatever the reason, bottlenecks are quick to form and slow to dissipate.
In terms of traffic jams, and how long it takes motorists to travel a 10-km distance. three Swiss cities have gained notoriety.
As it does each year, Tom Tom, a company specialising in navigation systems, maps, and traffic data services just released its 2024 data of slowest-moving traffic, covering 387 cities around the world.
Which cities in Switzerland are among the slowest?
The good news is that Swiss cities don’t take the number 1 spot (this ‘honour’ goes to London), and don’t even rank in the top 10.
Switzerland’s largest city, Zurich, takes the 80th place because it takes 26 minutes to cover the distance of 10 km in the city centre. Motorists spend about 94 hours in traffic each year.
Next is Geneva, in the 87th place.
While it also takes drivers 26 minutes to get through 10 km, they spend 111 hours stuck in traffic.
READ ALSO: Why has traffic in Geneva become a nightmare for residents?
In both cases, the latest result is 10 seconds longer than the previous year’s.
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Where else is Switzerland is the traffic a mess?
Lausanne.
While it takes ‘only’ 21 minutes to pass through the centre, it is 20 seconds longer than previously, meaning that residents spend 71 hours in traffic, putting the Vaud capital in the 180th place in the ranking.
Next are Basel (278), where crossing the city centre takes 18 minutes (30 seconds longer than in the previous year), with motorists spending 60 hours per year in bottlenecks.
Then there is Lugano (355), where driving through the centre takes 16 minutes – with residents sitting 60 hours in traffic
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Last but not least, is Bern (409).
Drivers need 14 minutes to pass the city centre, spending 36 hours in traffic jams.
Both Lugano and Bern motorists actually ‘gained’ some time in 2024 – unlike their counterparts in Zurich, Geneva, and Lausanne, their travel times were 10 seconds shorter than in 2023.
Why is there such disparity among these cities?
There are likely many reasons, one of which may be the different size of the cities and their population.
Lausanne, Lugano, and Bern are smaller than Zurich and Geneva, as is the size of their downtowns.
