Europe’s Slowest Cities

A list compiled using data collected from Europe’s top 30 cities has revealed the ‘true extent’ of congestion in some of Europe’s traffic hotspots, namely highlighting Britain’s cities as the ‘slowest in Europe’. Surprised?

Conducted by the UK’s ‘keepmoving’ campaign, the results should be taken with a pinch of salt – the lobby group claiming that 3 UK cities place in the top 5 slowest ranking European centres and six in the top 10 slowest.

Topping the coveted ‘slowest Euro city’ chart is London, with its motorists crawling along its congested streets at just under 12 mph. Despite winning the claim by a fair margin over its second place German contender Berlin, whose traffic moves at an equally-poor 15 mph, the city has reduced its traffic levels by some 20 percent since the introduction in 2003 of a congestion charging system, requiring £8 for entry into central zones. But all is not peachy on the continent.

Europe’s capitals are unsurprisingly the busiest centres, despite their frequently world-class public transport systems. London and Berlin chart at positions 1 and 2, with Warsaw, Rome and Paris following suit in the capital city stakes with figures of 16 mph, 19 mph and 20 mph not-so-respectably. Hamburg however is Europe’s speediest urban spot, with drivers supposedly able to average speeds of 52 mph (don’t ask us how).

While the chart produces the clear result that London is the most congested, it is also the city with the highest population. Although 40 percent slower than Paris, it is also nearly three times more populated, with the majority of cities showing a positive correlation between urban size and congestion patterns.

GPS data recording was conducted over a four month period from June to September this year, with the survey limited to a 16 square mile area centred around ‘city centres’. The focus of the study was to assess the extent to which British cities are congested in relation to their European counterparts and how low public transport infrastructure development exacerbates the situation – it’s always good to know the aims of a study. You can review the figures and full chartings for the research below.