168 Hours Lost to Traffic: Bengaluru Is Now the World’s 2nd Most Congested City

Bengaluru is now the second most jam-packed city on Earth in 2025, only losing out to Mexico City, according to TomTom's Traffic Index. It ranked sixth in 2023 and third in 2024. Basically, traffic is still a pain for everyone getting to work or just living their lives.

The Tom Tom Traffic Index 2025 report says the average speed during rush hour in Bengaluru this year is a snail's pace of 13.9 kmph - even slower than last year. A quick 10 km trip now eats up 36 minutes, which is over 2 minutes longer than before. All those rush-hour delays add up to a crazy 168 hours a year!

The TomTom Traffic Index, which checks out how people commute all over the globe, is calling out Bengaluru's worsening traffic. This is happening while the Karnataka government is trying to sell the city as super modern and future-thinking. The traffic is so bad that trips take 74.4% longer than they should. That's almost 2% worse than last year.

Top cops are saying the traffic mess is because of stuff that's been going on for ages. There are way too many cars, but the roads haven't gotten any bigger to handle them. They also said the roads themselves haven't changed much, plus a bunch of construction projects are stuck or moving super slow, which makes traffic even worse in some spots.

On the global list of terrible traffic, Dublin is right behind Bengaluru. You'll also find two other Indian cities in the top 20. Pune is fifth, and Mumbai is eighteenth. The average speed in Pune is 18 kmph, and Mumbai is a bit better at 20.8 kmph.

The report says May 17, 2025, a Saturday, was the absolute worst day for traffic in Bengaluru. Traffic was 101% worse than usual! In the evening, it took drivers 15 minutes to go just 2.5 km. Heavy rain, trees falling over, and messed-up roads all made it a nightmare.

For people living there, the TomTom Traffic Index just shows what they already know: Bengaluru's traffic is a joke. It takes longer to get anywhere, and people are wasting more and more time sitting in their cars each year. Even though the city wants to be seen as cool and advanced, the roads can barely handle all the cars.