Why Is London the Most Congested City in Europe?

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe spoke with Rico Luman, Senior Economist specializing in Transport, Logistics, and Automotive at ING Bank

Transcript

00:00Well, London's roads were the most congested in Europe in 2024. That's according to a new report.

00:07Traffic data analysis group INRIX says drivers in the British capital spent 101 hours sitting in traffic last year.

00:15That's up 2% from the previous year. It's also the fourth year in a row that London's roads have led Europe's congestion.

00:22The second most congested roads in Europe belong to Paris, close behind London, with 97 hours of delays per driver last year.

00:30And in third place, it's the Irish capital, Dublin, where it's 81 hours of delay per driver per year.

00:37Well, Rico Lumann is Senior Economist at ING Bank with a focus on transport, logistics and the automotive industry.

00:45Good to see you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us on Global Business.

00:48Now, I confess I'm a motorist and do drive here to work in London.

00:52And it comes as absolutely no surprise to me that I spent more than 100 hours sitting in my car last year.

00:57Why is traffic so bad in London?

01:00Yeah, there's actually a few reasons for this.

01:03Obviously, London is a very big city, so the Greater London region covers a larger region than the Paris, Greater Paris region, for instance.

01:12So, people need to commute longer distances.

01:15So, that's one of the reasons behind this.

01:18Another one is that there's much more buses and also taxis on the roads.

01:23And people have higher ownerships of cars.

01:26So, the density of cars is higher in London compared to other cities.

01:31And another one, of course, is that business intensity is very high in London, especially in the square mile of London city.

01:40So, compared to other cities, traffic is much more intensive in London.

01:46That makes a lot of sense.

01:48So, traffic gridlock does have an economic toll, doesn't it?

01:51Around a billion dollars a year or more than that.

01:53What does that mean for the average Londoner and the broader economy?

01:57And what kind of impact does it have on businesses and local public services?

02:01Yeah, well, it could mean a waste of time, of course, for people commuting.

02:07So, that's a matter of waste of time compared to probably a higher wage that people earn in London.

02:14And, well, many people obviously live outside of London, in Greater London, because of house prices, of course.

02:23So, that's the impact for the personal side of this.

02:27And for businesses, of course, it can be detrimental in terms of location factors.

02:34It's an important location factor to have this connectivity and to be easy reachable for people.

02:44So, it can be detrimental when this goes up even further.

02:49On the other hand, we have to bear in mind that before the pandemic, so pre-pandemic, it was even worse.

02:55So, it's on the rise, that's true, but it's less worse still than before the pandemic.

03:02Yeah, I think it's not quite as bad as it was before the pandemic, still pretty bad here.

03:07Is there any evidence that traffic delays actually do nudge people's transportation habits?

03:12Do they head to the buses and the trains and bikes?

03:16Could happen, indeed.

03:18People may be triggered to look into alternative modes, jumping on the tube, for instance.

03:26Looking into, for instance, walking more or cycling to work.

03:31That could be interesting options to look into, or even to combine modes for transport.

03:37That's kind of a new way of thinking, is to be multi-model, to include multi-model options of commuting.

03:47So, that could be the consequence and also the impact of this.

03:53And what about sustainable urban transport solutions like congestion pricing that we've got in London, New York is introducing today?

04:02Do they help to alleviate traffic problems and pollution?

04:05And what could New York learn from London's experience of charging?

04:10Well, normally it would work.

04:12From an economic perspective, that's always very interesting, because you may nudge people to avoid the city centres.

04:20So, that could urge people and drivers in general to avoid certain regions.

04:27It could also lead to a spreading of the congestion to other parts of the city.

04:32So, that may be the downside of it.

04:35But in general, we could expect some avoidance on the back of this, because of this pricing and higher costs of travelling.

04:44Rico, really great to get your thoughts on this today. Thanks so much.

04:47Rico Luman, Senior Economist at ING Bank.

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