Tired Of Traffic Jams But What Can We Do – Klang Valley Folks Lament Fate
If your one-way commute to work is 30km in KL, in a year you would have spent 244 hours stuck in congestion.
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Mention Selangor or Kuala Lumpur, many of us will think about the seemingly endless traffic congestion.
A journey that would normally take 20 minutes can become over an hour due to slow moving traffic.
According to a live traffic monitoring site, TomTom, data suggested that the average time it took to travel 10km in Kuala Lumpur increased by 40 seconds last year.
To illustrate this point, real-time data as at time of writing shows that it takes 15 minutes and nine seconds to drive 10km in Kuala Lumpur (4 April 9.35am).
This translates to money of course, as TomTom calculated that if your one-way commute to work is 30km in the nation’s capital, in a year you would have spent 244 hours stuck in congestion.
That’s like 10 days! As this commute would cost you RM2,903 in fuel (yearly), RM671 is due to congestion.
TomTom Traffic Index for 2023 showed that Kuala Lumpur ranked 169 in terms of average travel time per 10km. What does this mean?
The TomTom Traffic Index evaluates cities around the world by their average travel time, fuel costs, and CO2 emissions, providing free access to high-quality and useful information.
TomTom
Sitting at the top of this list is London where average travel time per 10km was 37 frickin’ minutes and 20 seconds. In comparison, KL at the 169th spot was 16 minutes and 50 seconds.
Crazy, huh? While this figures paint a data-driven picture, the reality pretty much speaks the same.
But why so jam?
The traffic congestion is likely because many people live around the capital due to work.
Recently, a post went viral on Twitter where @Amrlamnnn or Yon expressed his fatigue in facing traffic jams every day in urban areas.
Yon said he doesn’t know how much more of this he can take.
Due to being too stressed by the matter, the man said he thought of quitting his current job and doing business in his hometown, where the traffic is probably better?
Many expressed the same thing in response to Yon’s tweet where they felt tired of the traffic in the city.
“I don’t know how I can deal with the traffic every day going to work. Sometimes, it feels stupid wasting time in traffic,” said a woman.
Some shared how they quit their job due to traffic stress.
Meanwhile, there were a handful of Twitter users who suggested Yon use public transport services for an easier and more economical trip.
However, can public transport alleviate stress?
In a photo shared by @adilrafxxl, a Mass Rapid Train (MRT) train is seen jam packed with passengers.
Researchers from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) previously conducted a study on urban transport problems in Kuala Lumpur.
They found that many main roads leading towards the city centre are congested, especially during peak hours due to the high use of private vehicles and the inefficiency of public transport.
In addition, the lack of parking spaces contributes to congestion as cars park by the side of the road.
According to AUTO.MY, there are several other conditions that cause road congestion including accidents and floods, vehicles cutting queues and the existence of toll plazas.
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