Is Vancouver's traffic congestion really as bad as TomTom claims?

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      Every year, the TomTom Traffic Index paints a dismal picture of traffic congestion in Vancouver. And invariably, this is covered breathlessly by Canadian media outlets.

      This year, Vancouver ranked as the world's 36th-worst city for traffic congestion. It was also the worst in Canada, according to the company, which designs navigation and mapping products.

      TomTom has a vested interest in promoting the notion that traffic congestion is throttling the economy, but not everyone is impressed by its methodology.

      In 2012, the Seattle-based Sightline Institute's Alex Broner and Clark Williams-Derry wrote that TomTom's congestion measure "looks only at car speeds, not at total travel time for people".

      "In fact, compact cities with short commutes can actually get penalized in these rankings!" Broner and Williams-Derry declared.

      This year, TomTom has ranked Vancouver's traffic as worse than that in New York, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas–Fort Worth. Last year, Vancouver's congestion was rated worse than what drivers experience in Los Angeles.

      These types of reports are great news for Premier Christy Clark, who's eager to justify a $3.5-billion, 10-lane bridge to replace the George Massey Tunnel. They're also wonderful weapons to wield against promoters of more cycling infrastructure.

      But seriously, anyone who thinks that driving around Vancouver is tougher than taking the Gardiner Expressway from Toronto to Mississauga really needs to have their head examined.

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