Traffic congestion is a frequent frustration, and newly released figures show why.
Auckland commuters are spending an extra four working weeks in cars, with congestion almost doubling since 2014. Thursday evening is busiest.
Figures from GPS navigation company TomTom also show morning peak-hour drivers in Wellington can spend 72% more time in jams than if they made the same trip in free-flowing traffic.
That’s an extra 20 working days annually – a 4% increase from last year – with Wednesday the busiest.
Christchurch’s traffic congestion has one of the smallest rises at 3%.
The congestion level percentage is determined by working out the extra travel time a driver experiences compared with a free-flowing journey. On that basis, Wellington has the worst morning congestion in the country.
Dunedin has the largest increase, Friday 3pm and 4pm the worst time to travel with the duration increasing by 38%.
Tauranga’s congestion is included for the first time.
It’s the least congested of the six New Zealand cities studied. But drivers can still expect to add 39% extra travel time in the morning peak.
And Hamilton’s traffic congestion rose 5%, around 12 extra working days of commuting annually.
Many cities are encouraging more people to use public transport, bike or walk.
TomTom’s historical data shows traffic congestion increased by 23% globally since 2008, with the Oceania region having the highest increase – 36%.
The company measures congestion by gathering data from its 500 million GPS devices worldwide, which provide information to a database every 10 seconds.
Mexico was the world’s most congested city in 2016, with Sydney coming 36th, Auckland at 47, Wellington 71, Christchurch 106, Dunedin 138, Hamilton 174 and Tauranga 229.
