Dhaka world’s slowest traffic city: Study

Staff Reporter :
The bustling metropolis Dhaka has ranked as the world’s slowest city, according to a recent study analysing traffic patterns in over 1,200 cities across 152 countries.

The research, titled “The fast, the slow, and the congested: urban transportation in rich and poor countries,” was published by the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research recently.

In a surprising turn, Mymensingh and Chattogram secured positions on the list of the 20 slowest cities globally, ranking 9th and 12th, respectively.

On the other hand, two Nigerian cities, Lagos and Ikordu, ranked second and third on the list, followed by Manila, the capital of the Philippines, Biwandi, a town in India, and Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. India has the most cities in the top 20, with eight in total.

The researchers used data from Google Maps to analyse traffic in more than 1,200 global cities with populations over 300,000.

According to Google Maps, a 9-km trip from Dhaka airport to Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed Park, in Gulshan-2, can take as long as 55 minutes, whereas a trip of the same distance in Flint, Michigan, the world’s fastest city, from the airport to the Sloan Museum of Discovery, takes about nine minutes.

According to the report, 19 of the top 20 fastest cities are in the United States.