Four weeks' work lost to traffic jams

Wellington's morning commute can be one of the worst in the world, the report says (Simon Wong)
Wellington's morning commute can be one of the worst in the world, the report says (Simon Wong)

Aucklanders are wasting 20 working days in peak-time traffic a year, according to the latest annual TomTom Traffic Index report.

The results show varied congestion across New Zealand. While Auckland remains the country's most congested city, Wellington is catching up with the amount of traffic stuck in jams at any one time increasing from 29 to 30 percent.

Wellington's morning peak hour is particularly bad, with 75 percent of traffic in congestion. The result outranks Los Angeles, London and Sydney.

The report found overall congestion worsened in both Auckland and Wellington, but improved slightly in Hamilton and Christchurch. Dunedin remains unchanged.

Of the 295 cities on the index, Auckland is 40th-most gridlocked. The most congested city in the world is Mexico City, with an overall level of 59 percent.

In evening peak periods, Auckland drivers can add up to 158 hours, or 20 working days, of travel time per year.

The silver lining for Auckland is that while its traffic jams have increased overall, the morning peak congestion has eased by 3 percent, TomTom general manager Phil Allen says.

He points to more diverse work start times and an increase in public transport use as a cause for the decrease.

In Christchurch, road infrastructure is still suffering the effects of the earthquakes. There are signs of improvement, as the morning drive sees 4 percent less congestion. It is still a long way from pre-earthquake levels though, the report says.

TomTom data shows traffic congestion is up by 13 percent globally since 2008. Similar trends are reflected in major cities across New Zealand.

Since 2008, traffic congestion in Auckland has also worsened by 7 percent, followed by Wellington at 5 percent and Hamilton at 4 percent.

Mr Allen says people should think about how they can play a part in freeing up the roads.

"If even just 5 percent of us changed our travel plans, we'd improve travel times on our major highways by up to 30 percent."

Newshub.