Many Malaysians, especially those who live in the city, are all too familiar with traffic jams. However, which Malaysian city takes the cake for having the worst traffic in the country for the year 2024?
Technology company TomTom recently unveiled its 2024 Traffic Index, which evaluates international cities by their average travel time and congestion level. Along with the overall list with the worst traffic, the index also has lists for each country, including Malaysia. According to the company, the city with the worst traffic in Malaysia was George Town, Penang.
As shown in the list, George Town beats other major Malaysian cities, including Kuala Lumpur and Klang, to have the worst traffic in the country in 2024. The rank is determined by the longest average travel times per every ten kilometres. However, the time is not specific to the weekday peak hours of 7-9am and 5-8pm. The Top 8 cities and their average travel time in the city centre are as follows:
- George Town – 27 mins
- Kota Bahru – 23 mins
- Ipoh – 22 mins
- Johor Bahru – 20 mins
- Kuala Lumpur – 17 mins
- Seberang Perai – 15 mins
- Klang – 13 mins
- Kajang – 13 mins
The index also calculates the average travel time during rush hour on an average weekday, revealing that drivers in George Town spend around 57 minutes on the road per ten kilometres. In addition to ranking first as the Malaysian city with the worst traffic in 2024, George Town is also the 73rd city with the worst traffic in the world.
For those curious, the international city with the worst traffic in 2024 was Barranquilla in Colombia, with an average travel time of 34 minutes and 51 seconds per six kilometres. Meanwhile, Kolkata and Davao City top the list for the worst traffic in Asia and Southeast Asia, with 33 minutes and 31 minutes travel time, respectively.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that George Town had worse traffic than the Klang Valley? Or do you believe more Malaysian cities deserve to be on the list?
