We might not have power, but at least ours are not among the world's most congested cities

London is the most congested city in the world, with its drivers travelling an average of just 14km/h in rush hour, according to a number-crunching exercise by a global car-rental company. 

Second up is Bengaluru, India, followed by Sapporo in Japan; Milan, Italy; Lima, Peru; Manila in the Philippines; Pune, India; Bucharest, Romania; Dublin, Ireland; and Colombia's Bogota.

This is how they rank by average time to travel 10km in minutes and average speed in rush hour per kilometre, according to StressFreeCarRental.com:

1 London, 36.2, 14

2 Bengaluru, 29.1, 18

3 Dublin, 28.3, 17

4 Sapporo, 27.4, 19

5 Milan, 27.3, 18

6 Pune, 27.2, 19

7 Bucharest, 27.2, 17

8 Lima, 27.1, 18

9 Manila, 27, 20

10 Bogota, 26.2, 19

“Drivers are experiencing slow-moving traffic every day, with an average speed of only 17.9km/h during rush hour across the globe,” said a spokesperson for the company.

“Many motorists are spending close to an hour doing their daily commute because of how congested all city roads have become.

“This is frustratingly slow and none of us particularly enjoy spending longer than we already do sitting in our cars while we miss out on things we would rather be doing.”

It is interesting, however, not to see some of the world's biggest cities on the list. Milan ranking above New York is surprising when you consider the population in the city, the spokesperson added.

“What we might be seeing is the result of differing levels of investment into improving roads and public transport from city to city.

“As we try to meet targets on pollution and emissions, leaders across the world need to invest more time and money into helping the traffic flow more freely.

“This might involve bringing in more congestion charges for motorists, pumping more funding into improving roads as well as public transport systems, to tackle congestion across the globe,” the company said.

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