A scene of heavy traffic on Old Madras Road in Bengaluru.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru has made headlines for its traffic yet again as it is ranked second for the world's most congested cities on the Tom Tom Traffic Index 2025.
The 'Silicon City' reported an average congestion level of 74.4 per cent, up 1.7 percentage points from 2024.
It took an average of 36 minutes and 9 seconds to travel 10 km within the city, a rise of 2 minutes and four seconds from the previous year.
Bengalureans lost 168 hours and 40 minutes, or seven days in the year in rush hour traffic. This figure is 12 hours 46 minutes more than in 2024.
With such jarring statistics derived from anonymous trip data covering 3.65 trillion km of driving worldwide, Bengaluru ranks only behind the Mexico City.
Pune is the other Indian city in the top 5, while Ireland's Dublin and Lodz in Poland occupy the third and fourth ranks, respectively.
Rush hours
Bengaluru's traffic worsens during the morning rush hour, which was not defined by the Dutch agency, with a 10 km drive taking 41 minutes and 6 seconds. The average congestion level is at 94.2 per cent and the 14.6 km/h during this time.
It seems to get worse during the evening rush hour with people taking an average of 45 minutes and 27 seconds to cover a stretch of 10 km. The average congestion during this period is 115.2 per cent and the average speed reported is 13.2 km/h.
Short trips are no exceptions. In 15 minutes, the average distance covered in Bengaluru is 4.2 km, which is 0.2 km less than the previous year.
Worst day: May 17, 2025
TomTom says that May 17, 2025, a Saturday was the worst commuting day in the city with average congestion at 101 per cent.
World's top 10:
Multiple Indian cities in top 50
The TomTom ranking shows congestion is not limited to Bengaluru, with several Indian cities appearing across the list.
2. Bengaluru: 74.4 per cent congestion
5. Pune:71.1 per cent
18. Mumbai: 63.2 per cent
23. New Delhi: 60.2 per cent
29. Kolkata: 58.9 per cent
30. Jaipur: 58.7 per cent
32. Chennai: 58.6 per cent 47. Hyderabad: 55.5 per cent
TomTom is a Netherlands-based location technology company best known for its digital maps, navigation software and real-time traffic services.
The agency publishes the annual Traffic Index to compare congestion levels and travel times across cities worldwide.