It’s certainly no secret that the streets of our city are pretty darn busy. But I must admit that I’m fairly surprised to discover that London (a place that runs consistently at approximately 100mph) has been named the slowest capital city in the whole world in a recent study.
The information in question comes courtesy of the TomTom Traffic Index; an annual report that provides an in-depth overview of global traffic trends. For over 15 years, TomTom has been scouring the streets of the world’s biggest and busiest cities, capturing minute-by-minute data to accurately curate the traffic index. And in this particular situation, it seems as though slow-and-steady does not win the race.
London is the slowest capital city in the world
For a third year in a row, London has been crowned the slowest capital city in the world – and the second slowest city in general; pipped to the post only by Barranquilla in Colombia. London’s traffic somehow worsened from 2024 to 2025, with the research revealing that in 2025, it took an average of 3 minutes 38 seconds to travel just 1km in London – an increase of 4 seconds from the previous year. London’s congestion level (which is determined by comparing the ideal free-flowing traffic times with the actual traffic times) also rose from 50.6% to 51.6% between 2024 and 2025.
The TomTom Traffic Index also revealed that the average driver in London spent 141 hours stuck in traffic. Yes, folks – that’s the equivalent of 5 days and 21 hours. And the report showed that it now takes, on average, 35 minutes and 7 seconds to drive 6 miles in London. Last year’s worst day for traffic in London was September 10; a day on which Tube strikes meant that Londoners had to find alternative routes to get around the city.