Traffic Jams Cost Over 140 Million Euro

According to the annual report published by navigation company TomTom, traffic in Madrid has risen by around about 23%, which has led to an increase in traffic jams and the delays caused by them.

In Madrid, every motorist loses 25 minutes of time each day, and each of the 538,591 commercial vehicles on the road are losing an addition 1.41 euro per day. Therefore, collectively, and based on the minimum wage, the loss is estimated at over 141 million euro.

However, whereas it might be obvious to pick on the nation´s capital for these statistics, where we would perhaps expect traffic to increase, Madrid is actually in sixth place in the rankings, with Barcelona in the top-spot, followed Palma de Mallorca, Las Palmas, Gijón and Sevilla.

Valencia is in eighth place with 21% congestion resulting in 66 hours lost in traffic jams, the equivalent of just under 42 million euro. Alicante is in fifteenth place, just behind Murcia, both with 17% congestion resulting in 53 and 54 lost hours and 26 and 23 million euro respectively.

Traffic jams are costing companies in Spain millions, most of those costs ultimately being handed down to the end consumer, who are those sat in and causing the increase in traffic. Overall, in Spain, traffic jams have increased by 5% over the last 8 years. Barcelona traffic has increased journey time by 28%, which makes it the 62nd most congested city in the world.

The details contained in the report also shows that overall, the worst times to travel on Spanish roads are between 08:00 and 09:00 on Tuesdays, and between 15:00 and 16:00 on a Friday, where traffic increases by up to 50%. In Alicante however, Monday morning between 08:00 and 09:00 is the worst time, where traffic increases by 30%, and there is a 21% increase everyday between 18:00 and 19:00.