The Most Traffic-Congested Cities on the Planet

Sao Paulo, Brazil:

Brazil's largest metropolis and one of the host cities for 2014 FIFA World Cup, Sao Paulo suffers a heavily congested road network. Huge traffic jams of up to 100km long are common and can be even 200km long in bad weather or at weekends and holidays.

Such crippling traffic problem forces the Brazilians to spend a major proportion of their lives inching their way through the traffic.

The city houses 6.2 million cars owners. Its main modes of transport are private vehicles, public transport and walking. Public transport is ineffectively subsidized however, with nearly half of the city’s households opting to commute by car.

To date, traffic management has been limited to ‘plate restriction’ through which 20 percent of cars are not allowed to circulate in the extended centre between 7 am and 10 am and 5 pm and 8 pm on weekdays.

San Francisco, U.S.:

The leading financial and cultural center of Northern California, San Francisco is the one of the most traffic-congested cities in the world. In this city, as many as 14.6 percent of professionals take public transit to work, the third highest rate of any metro area in the nation.

Despite the high public transit use, the area remained highly congested. Likely contributing to its high congestion is the area's high density.

In this congested area of the U.S., every year a commuter usually waste around 67 working hours in traffic. It is noted that pedestrian traffic is a major mode of transport and in 2011, Walk Score ranked San Francisco as the second most walkable city in the United States.

Also Read:
World's Riskiest Cities: Kolkata Comes 7th