Traffic jams: Zurich and Geneva, queens of slowness

Where do we waste the most time on Swiss roads? The famous GPS navigation system manufacturer TomTom attempted to answer this question in a study published this week. Based on representative samples of GPS data, it screened 500 cities, including six in Switzerland, in 62 countries. And the observation is clear: Zurich and Geneva are the worst performers nationally.

With an average of 26 minutes and 18 seconds to cover 10 km, or a speed of 22.8 km/h, the German-speaking city is ranked 80th among the slowest cities. A result which makes it the worst in Switzerland. TomTom also estimated that the average user lost 94 hours in traffic during peak hours last year.

But Geneva has nothing to be ashamed of, because it does not appear far in the world rankings, with 87th place. The approximately 25 minutes and 59 seconds (23.1 km/h on average) that it takes on average to travel 10 km makes it the second slowest in Switzerland. During rush hour, however, it was in the city of Calvin that the most time was lost, namely 111 hours. In summary, in Geneva, it’s not great, but it runs a little better than in Zurich, except during peak hours.

For the rest of the cities studied, French-speaking Switzerland is in the spotlight, since it is Lausanne which completes the national podium, with an average duration of 21 minutes and 13 seconds over 10 km (28.3 km/h), and 71 hours lost in traffic. A time that ranks it 180th globally. Basel (17 min 50 s), Lugano (15 min 38 s) and Bern (13 min 46 s), the three other Swiss cities scrutinized, obtained 278th, 356th and 408th ranks respectively.

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