A study commissioned by an Australian insurance firm, Budget Direct, looking at the financial cost to motorists of traffic jams, has found Dublin to be the sixth most expensive city in the world ahead of places such as Los Angeles, Paris, Brussels and London. The average cost of congestion per motorist per year in Dublin amounted to €1,937 according to the study.
How was that figure reached?
Figuring out the cost to drivers of rush-hour traffic involved looking at both the productivity loss and fuel wastage due to traffic jams.
To calculate the former, the study looked at the average number of hours wasted in traffic every year which was 149 in Dublin's case. Based on a 2014 UK study which showed that every hour spent in traffic results in a 50 per cent loss in productivity, the study multiplied the hours wasted by 50 per cent of the average local salary to get the financial cost of the productivity loss - €1,310 on average in Dublin.
To estimate the fuel cost, the study used local fuel prices to calculate the cost to drive an average vehicle for the average length of time spent in rush-hour traffic in each city. That worked out at €627 for Dublin.
Dublin isn't as expensive for commuters as the most costly city in the world, Hong Kong (€2,170 per year), where notably high fuel prices drive up the cost of commuting. Nor is Dublin as expensive as Swiss cities such as Geneva, Zurich and Lugano (€2,156, €2,113 and €2,014 respectively), where high incomes skew the figure. Nevertheless, Dublin's €1,937 is still very high by global standards. Not only does high fuel prices contribute to this, but high incomes and Dublin's chronic congestion problem play a part too. A 2020 study based on 2019 figures showed Dublin to be the 17th most congested city in the world and the 6th worst in Europe.
How do other Irish cities fare?
People in Cork spend, on average, 110 hours stuck in traffic every year costing them €967 in lost productivity and €482 in fuel adding up €1,450 annually, making it the 20th most expensive city in the world for rush-hour commuters, ahead of Sydney, London, New York and Berlin.
Limerick drivers spend 103 hours every year in jams, costing them €906 in lost working time, €454 in fuel and, thus, €1,360 annually, making it the 29th costliest city in the world for commuting by car.
The only other Irish city on the list was Belfast, the 39th worst city in the world for the cost of traffic congestion. Belfast commuters spent, on average 105 hours stuck in traffic, costing them €769 in productivity, €529 in fuel and, in total, €1,297 every year. The figure makes Belfast the fourth worst city in the United Kingdom behind Edinburgh, London and Hull.
Caveats
Though not a flaw in the study exactly, traffic congestion also imposes huge costs on other commuters such as pedestrians, cyclists and wider society on account of high levels of both toxic emissions such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) and greenhouse gases. Congestion is a major contributor to poor air quality which, according to a study earlier this year by the Environmental Protection Agency, causes up to 725 deaths in Dublin alone every year. The study said that an average of 144 of these deaths were likely caused by particulate emissions from diesel vehicles.
One of the study's failings, however, derives from the underlying assumption that time spent in rush-hour traffic eats into productive working time; for most commuters it generally doesn't. What traffic congestion consumes is actually commuters' leisure time - extra time asleep or spent with family. That's one thing it's very difficult to put a price on.