There are few things worse than being stuck in a painfully slow-moving traffic jam. And with their dense populations, cities are some of the worst places for it. Much of the time, you’re better off doing the journey by foot or getting on public transport instead.
But if you insist on taking your car, here’s some food for thought. New data gathered by analytics company, INRIX has revealed just how many hours are lost by drivers in cities across the UK. On average, Brits lost 62 hours to traffic jams last year. That apparently cosy the country a whopping £7.7 billion – £200 million more than last year.
Unsurprisingly, London has the worst traffic in the country. With its with drivers spending a total of 101 hours in gridlock in 2024. That’s almost one and a half times more than the time lost in the second worst city, Bath, where 68 hours were spent in congestion.
Nearby Bristol was third on the ranking (65 hours) followed by Manchester (61), then Leeds (60). You can see which specific roads are the worst for traffic in England, according to a different study, here.
These were the UK’s 10 worst cities for traffic in 2024 in order of hours lost (according to INRIX)
- London
- Bath
- Bristol
- Manchester
- Leeds
- Birmingham
- Sheffield
- Edinburgh
- Cambridge
- Coventry
The UK by car
Love sitting in the driver’s seat despite all that traffic? Check out Time Out’s guide to the best road trips in the country. And in recent road-related news one of the UK’s most beautiful scenic roads could soon disappear into the sea, the UK’s best (and worst) motorway has been named and these are the routes where its actually cheaper to take the train.
ICYMI: How to get half-price discounts on millions of rail tickets this week.
Plus: These are the UK’s best places to live in 2025, according to science.
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