Getting to and from work can be a time-consuming, irritating and productivity-sucking endeavor. Indeed, time wasted in the car certainly could be used for more enjoyable and productive activities than countless annual hours behind the wheel. Where rush hour traffic consistently is bad, telecommuting should be actively explored for appropriate employees.
TomTom has collected data in an effort to measure the worst rush hour traffic in 48 countries, and specifically within 390 cities in those countries. So what are the most recently measured worst cities for rush hour traffic?
Well, if you live in Los Angeles, you probably are not surprised to find out that your fair city ranks in the top 15 worst rush hour traffic cities in the world. To point a fine point on it, Los Angeles is the 14th worst city on the globe for rush hour traffic.
Perhaps that is bad news here in the US, but the good news domestically is that no other US city makes the top 15 list of worst rush hour traffic cities.
So, guess which city is at the top of the list of worst rush hour traffic cities? Drum roll please … Bangkok, Thailand!
Coming in at second, third, fourth and fifth are Mexico City, Mexico; Bucharest, Romania; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Moscow, Russia. The eighth spot also belongs to Russia — St. Petersburg.
Istanbul, Turkey comes in as the seventh worst city for rush hour traffic, and Santiago, Chile comes in at tenth.
What about the other spots, sixth, ninth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteenth? They all belong to China! These poor rush hour traffic cities are: Chongqing, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shijiazhuang, Shenzhen, and Beijing.
The aggravation and loss of human potential, not to mention the expense of fuel and other costs, plainly warrant a deep dive into methods to have employees telecommute from home or from more locally convenient locations at least part of the time.
Obviously, efforts are being made in this direction in some areas; indeed, telecommuting practically was unheard of not that too far into the past. But more can be done.
Vote with your feet — keep them working from home or nearby if you can, to the extent you are living in a city where rush hour traffic is a burdensome and time-consuming ordeal.
Eric Sinrod (@EricSinrod on Twitter) is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris LLP, where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology and intellectual property disputes. You can read his professional biography here. To receive a weekly email link to Mr. Sinrod’s columns, please email him at ejsinrod@duanemorris.com with Subscribe in the Subject line. This column is prepared and published for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s law firm or its individual partners.