No surprises here: Metro Manila traffic was the worst in the world in 2023

You’ve won at something, Metro Manila, but congratulations are not in order: Last year, the country’s capital had the worst traffic congestion among 387 metro areas in the world, based on the 2023 TomTom Traffic Index.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” you might be saying from where you’re currently sat in traffic (not behind the wheel, we hope—just a reminder that ADDA is real). Okay, allow us to give you several stats to provide some truly depressing context.

Metro Manila’s ranking rose by one last year versus in 2022, beating Colombia’s Bogota, which now drops to fifth place. A ‘metro area,’ as defined by TomTom, is “a circle covering the city and rural areas in close proximity.”

photo of EDSA traffic

PHOTO BY Leandre Grecia

On average, it took Metro Manila motorists 25min 30sec to travel 10km in 2023—that’s 50sec longer than it took to cover the same distance in 2022. We were on the road for 240 hours throughout the year, with 117 hours spent inching through rush-hour gridlock at an average speed of 19kph. All that time spent in traffic is equivalent to four days and 21 hours, and TomTom estimates you could have read around 48 books in that period. Maybe a more relatable stat from us: You could have finished watching 15 K-dramas with 16 episodes lasting one hour each.

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For comparison, here are the 10 most congested metro areas in the world, plus key stats:

2023 TomTom Traffic Index: Most congested metro areas

1. Manila: 25min 30sec to travel 10km; 52% congestion level; 19kph average rush-hour speed
2. Lima, Peru: 24min 30sec to travel 10km; 47% congestion level; 20kph average rush-hour speed
3. Bengalaru, India: 23min 50sec to travel 10km; 53% congestion level; 21kph average rush-hour speed
4. Sapporo, Japan: 23min 30sec to travel 10km; 32% congestion level; 23kph average rush-hour speed
5. Bogota, Colombia: 23min 30sec to travel 10km; 51% congestion level; 20kph average rush-hour speed
6. Taichung, Taiwan: 22min 30sec to travel 10km; 34% congestion level; 24kph average rush-hour speed
7. Mumbai, India: 22min 30 sec to travel 10km; 45% congestion level; 23kph average rush-hour speed
8. Kaohsiung, Taiwan: 22min 20sec to travel 10km; 30% congestion level; 24kph average rush-hour speed
9. Pune, India: 22min 10sec to travel 10km; 42% congestion level; 23kph average rush-hour speed
10. Nagoya, Japan: 22min 10sec to travel 10km; 36% congestion level; 24kph average rush-hour speed

Back to Metro Manila: Last year, Friday from 5pm to 6pm was the worst day and time to be on the road, requiring 35min 30sec to cover 10km. TomTom even identified the worst day to travel in 2023: It happened on December 15, when the average time to travel 10km was 31min 50sec.

Volcanic smog (vog) blanketing Metro Manila in September 2023

PHOTO BY Iza Santos

Remember those days when the metro got blanketed by smog? In 2023, CO2 emissions amounted to 1,027kg, with 304kg due to congestion. It’ll take 103 trees grown every year to negate the harmful effects of those emissions on the environment.

If you look only at city centers or “a circle with a radius of 5km covering the busiest parts of the city,” Metro Manila drops to ninth on the list. London is still “the world’s slowest city” with the most congested city center, followed by Dublin, Toronto, Milan, and Lima.

So, how do you solve the congestion problem? Ralf-Peter Schäfer, VP for product management of traffic at TomTom, had this to say: “It’s clear, managing traffic shouldn’t just be about managing cars or making the situation better for cars. Some have focused activities on stimulating new modes of transport to develop a more balanced transport network that reduces congestion. The typical examples are Amsterdam or Copenhagen, who’ve moved road demand to bikes and pedestrian traffic.

Quezon City protected bike lanes

PHOTO BY Green Transport Office – DPOS on Facebook

“This modal split is something that must happen for the good of our cities. In cities like London and Amsterdam, space is limited. Reducing congestion isn’t about building more roads or rebuilding road networks for cars—it’s about the heart of the city and giving space back to other modes of transport, giving space back to people, and not turning city centers into parking lots.

“This isn’t easy to do, it’s not simply a case of blocking roads to cars and opening them to bikes. Smart decisions need to be made, data is central to helping city councils, governments and planners make the best informed, data-driven decisions, about how to improve congestion and traffic in their cities.”

Time to properly utilize that 2024 budget for bike and pedestrian infra, then.