Toronto ranked worst city in North America for traffic, new index finds

Toronto has topped the list of the most congested cities in North America, beating out both New York and Mexico City, according to new traffic data released by navigation and location technology company TomTom.

The company, which released its annual traffic index on Thursday, ranked Toronto third on a list of the most congested cities in the world, falling behind only London and Dublin.

According to the index, it takes Toronto commuters an average of 29 minutes to complete a 10-kilometre trip, 50 seconds longer than it took just last year. Toronto’s drivers have only a slightly better commute compared to Dublin, where it takes 29 minutes and 30 seconds to go 10 kilometres. In London, the city identified in the index as having the worst traffic globally, it takes 37 minutes, 20 seconds to travel that distance.

Torontonians lost an average 98 hours in 2023 due to rush-hour traffic, according to the report. By comparison, Dublin commuters lost 158 hours and London drivers lost 148 hours.

The index, according to the company, is based on data from over 600 million in-car navigation systems and smartphones.

The worst day for Toronto commuters, according to the data, was Nov. 30, when drivers spent an average of 33 minutes completing a 10-kilometre trip. Wednesdays, between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., was identified as the worst time of the week to drive in Toronto, with commuters spending an average of 37 minutes, 50 seconds to go just 10 kilometres.

Toronto drivers have it worse than commuters in any other North American city, including New York. In the largest city in the U.S., drivers spend 24 minutes and 50 seconds travelling 10 kilometres, five minutes faster than the time it would take to travel the same distance in Toronto.

Traffic in Canada’s largest city is also notably worse than other major municipalities in the country, according to TomTom’s data.

In Vancouver, which ranked 32nd overall, travelling 10 kilometres takes an average of 23 minutes, 10 seconds. Montreal has the best commute times of all major Canadian cities. Drivers in that city, which ranked 103rd, spend about 19 minutes travelling 10 kilometres.