Vancouver is the most traffic-congested city in Canada – and the second most in all of North America, behind Los Angeles. Toronto is 2nd in Canada – 9th in North America.
Depending upon where you live, this may be very bad news: Vancouver is the most traffic-congested city in Canada. Toronto holds the second spot. The even worse news is that Vancouver is second only to Los Angeles in all of North America—Toronto holds number nine spot (while Ottawa distinguishes itself by being 10th).
The traffic congestion database
The North American Congestion Index which contained these dubious distinctions was just published by a company well known to GPS (global positioning satellite) navigation device users: TomTom. Using what they call “the world’s largest database of [most] historic travel times,” they’ve listed the top 10 most traffic congested cities in North America.
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And the winner is |
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Rank |
Previous year |
City |
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No. 1 |
No. 1 |
Los Angeles |
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Followed by |
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No. 2 |
No. 2 |
Vancouver |
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No. 3 |
No. 5 |
Miami |
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No. 4 |
No. 12 |
Seattle |
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No. 5 |
No. 6 |
Tampa |
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No. 6 |
No. 9 |
San Francisco |
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No. 7 |
No. 4 |
Washington |
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No. 8 |
No. 18 |
Houston |
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No. 9 |
No. 3 |
Toronto |
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No. 10 |
No. 15 |
Ottawa |
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Not to be forgotten |
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No. 12 |
No. 7 |
Montreal |
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No. 16 |
No. 13 |
Calgary |
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No. 23 |
No. 8 |
Edmonton |
Are city bureaucrats paying attention?
If there are points to be awarded for consistency, Los Angeles and Vancouver would be at the top of that list, too. Sadly, it’s not a distinction to be proud of. Toronto, on the other hand can at least be proud to have moved from No. 3 spot in last year’s survey down to its current spot at No. 9.
Assuming that conscious decision-making and intervention at Toronto City Hall has accounted for the positive results, the bureaucrats in the city of Ottawa might want to make a phone call or two—they moved from No. 15 last year up to No. 10 this year.
Congestion = (more) time = (less) money
The report also analyzed peak traffic periods and assessed the amount of extra time commuters added to their drive time. In Vancouver the delay per hour driven in peak periods was 34 minutes—that’s 34 minutes added to each trip. Tallied up over a year, for each 30-minute commute, the delays added 83 hours to the annual commute time.
Toronto’s numbers were similar: 31 minutes per trip and 78 hours per year. That’s a lot of time you can’t take to the bank.
Congestion = negative health effects
There have been countless studies relating the negative health effects from heavy traffic:
- increased stress
- higher asthma rates
- damage to brain cells
- road rage
- higher blood pressure and greater body mass index (BMI)
Dealing with reality
If those long commutes are a daily reality and going carless isn’t an option for you, try to make some time for fitness and get out in nature—both are good for the body and the mind.
