London officially has the worst traffic of any capital city in the world

Speed demons, boy racers and perpetually late people will be disappointed to hear that London officially has the slowest traffic in Europe according to the annual TomTom traffic index. 

Despite being a famously impatient city, Londoners spent the equivalent of six full days stuck in traffic last year according to TomTom’s data. It was crowned the slowest city in the continent, and the second slowest in the world (and the slowest capital city), as it was discovered that the Big Smoke’s traffic actually got worse from 2024 to 2025. 

It took an average time of three minutes and 38 seconds to travel one kilometer (0.6 miles) in 2025, an increase of four seconds from three minutes and 34 seconds in 2024. London’s congestion level – a percentage measured by comparing ideal freeflowing traffic times with the actual traffic times – rose from 50.6 to 51.6. Free-flow travel times also rose, increasing by one second to two minutes and 23 seconds per kilometre. 

‘This could suggest that changes to infrastructure do not improve outright travel times for cars, as free-flow state did not improve,’ wrote the report. ‘The rise in congestion level further suggests that England’s capital is not improving the flow of vehicles through its inner-city corridors.’

The average London driver lost 141 hours – or five days and 21 hours – stuck in rush hour traffic last year, putting it among the top 20 cities globally for time lost in traffic.

The UK capital was the second slowest in the world, with only drivers in Colombia’s Barranquilla spending more time stuck in traffic jams. It was slower to get from A to B in London than in India’s Bengaluru and Kolkata which came in third and fourth respectively. Dublin, Mexico City, Lima and Trujillo in Peru, Davao City in the Philippines and Kyoto in Japan were also among the world’s 10 slowest cities for traffic.  

Did you see that a new Superloop bus route will launch in southeast London this weekend – and it will be free to ride for the first week?

Plus: inside the radical plan to split a major London tube line in two.