Manila ranked 2nd out of 416 cities from 57 countries in terms of traffic congestion, according to a global traffic index report.
In a 2019 report released by location technology specialist TomTom (TOM2) on Wednesday, Manila placed second with 71% traffic congestion level. India’s Bengaluru (also 71%) topped the traffic index while Bogota in Colombia, on the third spot, scored a 68% congestion level.
Completing the top five are India’s Mumbai, on fourth place with 65%, and Pune on fifth place with 59%.
According to the report, the worst time to travel in Manila is between 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, saying that people could save up to five hours per year (for a 30-minute commute) if they travel past 7 p.m.
TOM2 said that motorists who drive during rush hour spent an additional 29 minutes in the morning and another 38 minutes in the evening.
In a year, the report showed that motorists who get behind the wheel during rush hour spent a total of 257 hours (10 days and 17 hours) on the road, which is equivalent to watching 227 episodes of Game of Thrones.
In 2019, traffic navigation app Waze said that driving a kilometer in Metro Manila took a dismal 4.9 minutes in September, significantly longer than April’s 3.8 minutes.
However, the woeful state of traffic congestion along EDSA may hopefully be improved as two major infrastructure projects are expected to open this year.
One of the key infrastructure projects is San Miguel Corp. (SMC)’s Skyway Stage 3, which is set to open this April. The project aims to relieve half of EDSA’s current vehicle load.
The SMC project stretches from Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati and traverses through San Juan, Manila and Quezon City all the way to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
Aside from the Skyway Stage 3, the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.’s NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 extension project is being eyed to be completed by March.
According to Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, the Harbor Link is expected to decongest EDSA of 30,000 vehicles, most of which are trucks.
