Cape Town ranked sixth most congested city in the world

As Cape Town's reputation as an international city of choice grows, so does its traffic congestion problem.

The City has mooted a number of proposals recently to address the increasing scourge as population and urban development expand.

Now, Cape Town has been ranked the sixth most congested city in the world in the newly-released 2025 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard.

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This means traffic congestion in the Mother City is worse than London's, which followed at number seven.

The top five spots are taken up by Istanbul, followed by Mexico City, and then three US centres - Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia.

The report - analysing traffic conditions across 942 urban areas globally - shows that the average driver in Cape Town lost 96 hours due to traffic delays in 2025. This is an increase from 94 hours in 2024.

Joburg was ranked 29th most congested city in the world, with the hours lost by motorists totalling 59. Pretoria fared slightly better with 48 hours. In KwaZulu-Natal, provincial capital Pietermaritzburg showed more hours lost than Durban, with 35 hours compared to 32. 

INRIX describes traffic congestion as what happens when demand for roadway travel exceeds the supply of roadways. "As vehicular traffic builds, drivers, freight movers and bus riders lose time and spend fuel unproductively" which of course translates into economic cost. 

It also highlights that, in addition to lost time, negative externalities like freight delay, inflationary pressure and environmental impact are generally exacerbated due to traffic congestion