Media

TIME

The Cities With the Fastest and Slowest Traffic in the World

“The US study found that Dhaka is not only the slowest overall, but also ranks second-slowest in uncongested speed. This means that even with minimal traffic load, movement remains generally slow. Dhaka does not have a coordinated or technologically aided traffic regulation system in place. Its authorities have largely failed to enforce traffic rules, and find a solution for how vehicles of different speeds and pedestrians can move through this densely populated area.”

The Economist

In praise of America’s car addiction

“Census figures reveal that after decades of steady growth, a little more than half the American population is now based in the ‘burbs. It seems a classic case of elite opinions (cars and suburbs are awful) diverging from mass preferences (people quite enjoy them). For many, the main attractions of suburbia are lower housing costs and greater safety. Yet recent research sheds light on how cars are a crucial part of the equation, making America’s suburbs both impressively efficient and equitable.”

VoxEU CEPR

The fast, the slow, and the congested: Urban transportation in rich and poor countries

“More generally, urban policymakers rarely know how their city performs relative to peer cities and why, despite the large monetary and time resources devoted to urban transportation by households and governments. Even in developed countries, travel surveys are only conducted every five to ten years with limited geographic comparability within each country and none outside. Our paper takes a step toward improving the availability of data in transportation.”

Knowledge at Wharton

What Causes Traffic — and How It Separates Rich and Poor Countries

“And so, cities with the slowest uncongested speeds are also those with the lowest overall speeds. In the study’s sample, nine of the 10 cities with the slowest uncongested speeds are in poor countries such as Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria. Flint, Michigan leads the list of cities with the fastest uncongested speed. In fact, 19 of the 20 fastest cities are in the U.S.; the other is Windsor, Canada.”

The Daily Star

Must Dhaka be worst in everything?

“The US study found that Dhaka is not only the slowest overall, but also ranks second-slowest in uncongested speed. This means that even with minimal traffic load, movement remains generally slow. Dhaka does not have a coordinated or technologically aided traffic regulation system in place. Its authorities have largely failed to enforce traffic rules, and find a solution for how vehicles of different speeds and pedestrians can move through this densely populated area.”

The Times of India

Bengaluru India’s most-congested city: US study

“If you are reading this while you’re stuck in traffic, hold your breath. Yet another study has found that Bengaluru is the country’s most congested and second slowest city. A research paper, ‘Mobility and congestion in urban India’, published by US-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) recently, revealed that Bengaluru is one of the 20 most-congested cities in India.”

World Bank

Shrinking Economic Distance report

“Akbar and others (2024) study how travel speed varies across roads connecting cities of more than 50,000 people in 134 countries. Overall, mean speed for the 134 countries is 70.5 kilometers per hour. The fastest countries in the sample are about 2.5 times faster than the slowest, with the average road speed increasing with a country’s level of income”