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.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS