Brussels is the eighth most congested city in Europe. This is per the rankings established by TomTom on the basis of 2016 figures. The rate of congestion in the Belgian capital has increased by three percentage points in a year to reach 38%. This means that the journey times of Brussels commuters are, on average, 38% longer.
Antwerp scooped the honour of second most congested city with an average congestion level of 30%, or an increase of four percentage points compared to 2015. Liège completes the top three with a rate of 23% (up two percentage points), per the sixth TomTom Traffic Index.
Charleroi has a congestion level of 16%, the weakest of the ten cities analysed by TomTom. It is the only Belgian city where the traffic flow has improved over a year.
Monday May 30th was the most congested day in both Brussels and Antwerp. This chaos was caused by major storms and a national train strike.
Mexico (66%), Bangkok (61%) and Jakarta (59%) are the most congested metropolises in the world. The top European city appearing in these rankings is Bucharest (fifth with 50%).
Global vehicle congestion has increased by 23% since 2008 (and 10% since 2015), according to the Dutch company specialising in transport solutions.
The Brussels Times
