Another low point for Budapest traffic congestion – We spend over 100 hours a year stuck on the roads
Across the Hungarian capital, drivers now need almost half an hour to cover just 10 kilometres, and rush hour brings even slower progress. Budapest traffic congestion remains firmly in the mid-range compared with Europe’s most gridlocked major cities.
Traffic conditions in Budapest have deteriorated yet again compared to recent years. According to the latest data, in 2024 it took an average of 26 minutes and 33 seconds to cover 10 kilometres in the city centre – a full minute more than the year before, reports Pénzcentrum.
Rush hour is stealing days from us
Travel speeds were even worse during peak periods: the morning rush required 31 and a half minutes to complete 10 kilometres, while the afternoon rush stretched this to over 34 minutes. Anyone commuting 10 kilometres each way during rush hour on every weekday ended the year having lost 110 hours – that is 4 days and 14 hours – to standstill traffic. This is almost 12 hours more than in 2023.
The most challenging day was 17 September, when flood-related closures along the embankments pushed the travel time for 10 kilometres to 35 minutes and 45 seconds.
The Budapest traffic congestion ranks in Europe’s mid-field
According to TomTom’s rankings, Budapest now sits 21st among Europe’s most congested cities. Poznań and Milan show slightly worse figures, while Frankfurt, Zurich, Sofia and Valencia display congestion levels almost identical to those in the Hungarian capital.
Conditions in Copenhagen are only a few seconds better than the Budapest traffic congestion, placing the city firmly within the upper segment of Europe’s mid-table – though the burden on commuters remains considerable.
London, Dublin and Barcelona lead the list
London remains Europe’s most heavily congested city, with an average of 33 minutes and 17 seconds required to travel 10 kilometres – and this figure has worsened since last year.
Dublin and Barcelona follow, both far exceeding the 30-minute mark and causing drivers to lose anywhere between 100 and 155 hours a year during peak-time delays. Also high on the list are Bucharest, Bordeaux, Brussels, Rome, Athens, Vienna and Wrocław, the latter being the only city showing slight improvement.
Travel times are increasing across all settlement types
According to Hungary’s Central Statistical Office (KSH), not only has the Budapest traffic congestion worsened, but travel times have risen nationwide over the past four decades.
In the capital, the average daily travel time has grown from 88 minutes at the turn of the millennium to 116 minutes by 2024/2025.
In county-seat cities, this figure has increased from 74 to 98 minutes, while in other towns it has risen from 73 to 98 minutes.
Even residents of smaller villages spend more and more time on the road: their daily travel time has climbed from 71 to 95 minutes. For rural commuters, travelling to distant workplaces adds many extra hours to time spent in traffic.
- Major road development launched in Croatia, with significant benefits ahead for Hungarian transport
- Major traffic law changes coming to Hungary: here’s everything you need to know
And that’s why, the “wise” leadership in the city decided to make half the road become bycicle lanes.
Because having less roads is the obvious solution to congestion. Right?
And the proletariat slaves shouldn’t be driving cars anyways. They should walk in the “15 minute city”. Right, our globalist “friends”?
I was going to comment on the dumb bicycle tracks that stand empty most of the time while people suffer in tailbacks, but Mark beat me to it. Just take a look at the abomination in evidence in Ulloi.
Add to that the persistent speed reductions, pedestrianizations, an explosion of scooTARDS flouting road rules and endangering everyone, decimation of parking availability, and it’s little wonder this is the case. The recent renovation of Rozsa utca saw the number of parking spaces decreased to a third (if that) of what it was, necessitating people to spend an eternity prowling the neighborhood looking for a spot.
I’m all for making the city more amenable to pedestrians. Absolutely. But this draconian top-down approach motivated by ideological zealotry ain’t it.
What these globalist-socialist-fascist cretins don’t understand is that people don’t drive into heavy traffic because they like it. They do it because they have to. Penalizing them solves nothing.
P.S. They can shove their 15-Minute Cities up their hole.