Taichung had the 11th-worst traffic in the world and the fourth worst in Asia last year, while Taipei ranked 43rd globally, a survey of commuting times found.
It took commuters in Taichung an average of 26 minutes and 50 seconds to travel 10km, resulting in them losing an estimated 71 hours to rush-hour traffic annually, according to the TomTom Traffic Index for last year.
Photo: Taipei Times
The index created by the Dutch location technology multinational ranks 387 cities in 55 countries and six continents based on average vehicular travel times.
Three Taiwanese cities were in the top 10 for Asia out of 33 included in the survey.
After Taichung in fourth place, Kaohsiung came in sixth and Tainan was 10th, followed by Taipei in 11th.
In Kaohsiung, it took commuters 26 minutes to travel 10km, equating to 68 hours lost annually to rush-hour traffic.
Time lost to rush-hour traffic is defined as time spent driving a 10km trip twice a day at peak hours.
People in Tainan took 22 minutes and 10 seconds on average, losing 59 hours annually.
Taipei residents spent 21 minutes and 50 seconds to go 10km, losing 79 hours annually.
Globally, Kaohsiung ranked 17th, Tainan was 40th and Taipei was 43rd.
Bengaluru in India had the worst traffic in Asia, as commuters spent an average of 28 minutes and 10 seconds to travel 10km, equating to 132 hours lost every year to rush-hour traffic.
London had the worst traffic overall, with commuters taking 37 minutes and 20 seconds to travel 10km, and losing 148 hours annually to rush-hour traffic.
Dublin came in second with an average commuting time of 29 minutes and 30 seconds, and commuters losing 158 hours to rush-hour traffic.
Toronto was third at 29 minutes and 98 hours lost by commuters annually.
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