Parisian residents waste fortunes in traffic jams

Under Anne Hidalgo’s tenure, traffic in Paris has become a nightmare, ranking as the 2nd worst city in Europe according to a study.

Welcome to the grotesque dance of European capitals where human madness is now measured by the hours lost behind the wheel. And, surprise, Dublin takes the top spot for absurdity in a new study conducted by Ovoko: each driver spends the equivalent of €6,351 annually in traffic jams. Yes, you read that right, over 36 minutes per day on average, evaporated in road congestion. A sad performance, closely followed by Paris and its €5,064 worth of wasted time. Meanwhile, in Bratislava, Madrid, and Ljubljana, drivers can almost be heard laughing in their cars, with “only” 51 hours of traffic per year.

Ranking	Capitals	Country	Hours Lost in Traffic per Driver in 2023	Euros Lost in Traffic per Driver in 2023
1	Dublin	Ireland	158	6351.60
2	Paris	France	120	5064.00
3	Brussels	Belgium	104	4898.40
4	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	79	4258.10
5	Rome	Italy	107	3188.60
6	Oslo	Norway	54	2802.60
7	Copenhagen	Denmark	58	2789.80
8	Reykjavik	Iceland	54	2683.80
9	Berlin	Germany	64	2643.20
10	Vienna	Austria	64	2617.60
11	Amsterdam	Netherlands	55	2381.50
12	Helsinki	Finland	62	2300.20
13	Stockholm	Sweden	57	2217.30
14	Athens	Greece	112	1758.40
15	Bucharest	Romania	150	1650.00
16	Warsaw	Poland	96	1392.00
17	Tallinn	Estonia	72	1317.60
18	Ljubljana	Slovenia	51	1300.50
19	Madrid	Spain	51	1254.60
20	Riga	Latvia	90	1215.00
21	Vilnius	Lithuania	81	1190.70
22	Lisbon	Portugal	65	1105.00
23	Budapest	Hungary	85	1088.00
24	Bratislava	Slovakia	51	877.20
25	Sofia	Bulgaria	90	837.00

Paris, the triumph of immobility

Ah, Paris! Not only is it the city of light, but the French capital also shines with its stifling traffic jams. Every Parisian locked in their air-conditioned cabin loses 120 precious hours each year. It costs a mere €5,064 per person, with an estimated labor cost of €42.20 per hour. In other words, for Parisians, being stuck between an impolite scooter and a smelly bus has never been so “profitable”.

Brussels: Between chocolate and traffic jams

In Brussels, third on the list of cities where you waste your life at a slow burn, drivers endure 104 hours of hellish traffic each year. With an hourly cost of €47.10, this amounts to €4,898 blown out the window. Perhaps all that money could be better invested in bike lanes?

Bucharest, Little Paris in the traffic hell

In a stroke of genius irony, Bucharest, nicknamed the “Little Paris,” seems eager to imitate its model even in its road nightmares. Here, people waste 150 hours each year in traffic jams. But since the Romanian work hourly cost remains low, drivers only lose a few hundred euros. Should we rejoice?

Sofia: Discount traffic jams

Head to Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, where life in traffic jams costs barely €837 per year, a nearly humorous figure by comparison. But don’t be fooled: it’s not because traffic is less frequent, but because the labor costs are ridiculously low.

The Methodology of Despair

This cheerful compilation of urban miseries comes straight from a study by automotive parts marketplace Ovoko, based on data from TomTom and hourly cost statistics from Eurostat. The result? An Europe where every minute wasted behind the wheel translates into thousands of euros lost in a vortex of boredom, frustration, and pollution.

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