This Indian City Has The Second Worst Traffic In The World
Bengaluru’s traffic problem is no longer just a social media joke. According to the latest TomTom Traffic Index for 2025, the city now ranks as the second most congested in the world, behind only Mexico City. On average, a simple 10 km drive in Bengaluru took 36 minutes and 9 seconds in 2025, over two minutes slower than in 2024.
The index also measures something called congestion level, which is the extra time you spend in traffic compared to free-flowing conditions. Bengaluru scored 74.4 percent, meaning drivers are losing nearly three quarters of their travel time to traffic. Over a full year of two daily 10 km trips on working days, that adds up to 168 hours stuck in jams, roughly seven days of life lost behind the wheel.
For anyone who drives or rides in the city, these numbers translate into very real pain. Average speeds during peak hours are in the 13 to 14 km per hour range. In practical terms, that means a 12 km office run can take longer than a 60 km highway trip outside the city.
The TomTom data points to one “worst day” for 2025: May 17, a Saturday, when average congestion hit 101 percent. On that evening, drivers needed 15 minutes just to cover 2.5 km. A minor breakdown, a shower, or a tree fall is often enough to tip large stretches of the city into gridlock.
The trend is also moving in the wrong direction. Bengaluru was sixth in the global congestion ranking in 2023, climbed to third in 2024, and now sits second. Each year, the time taken to drive 10 km has gone up, while average speeds have slipped.
The same report shows that congestion is a wider urban issue, but Bengaluru is clearly at the sharp end. Pune appears fifth on the global list, with an average rush hour speed of around 18 km per hour and roughly 33 minutes needed for 10 km. Mumbai ranks 18th worldwide, with a congestion level of about 63 percent and 126 hours lost per year, while Delhi records a 60 percent congestion level and about 104 hours lost.
In simple language, if you are a daily commuter in any of these cities, you are giving up several working days every year just sitting in traffic, burning fuel and patience.
For car and bike users, this ranking is not just a piece of trivia. It affects vehicle choice, running costs and even how you plan your day. In slow moving conditions, features like smooth automatic gearboxes, light steering, strong air conditioning and clear camera systems make a big difference to fatigue levels. Live navigation with real time traffic can sometimes save a few minutes by routing you around a jam, although in the worst corridors there is often no real “fast” route.
Fuel consumption is another hidden cost. Stop start traffic pushes real world mileage far below claimed figures, so a daily 20 to 30 km round trip in Bengaluru, Pune or Mumbai can mean noticeably higher monthly fuel bills than someone driving similar distances on less clogged roads. Over a year, that gap becomes thousands of rupees, especially for larger petrol SUVs.
For now, the data confirms what many already feel every day. This is one of the toughest cities in the world to move around in by road. Until large scale public transport and road improvements catch up with the explosion in vehicle numbers, drivers and riders will continue to pay in time, fuel and stress for every extra kilometre they cover.