Top Ten Cities With the World's Worst Traffic

In this Sept. 24, 2010 photo, motorists are stuck in traffic jam during an evening rush hour at the main business district in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

世界上交通最拥堵的排名前十位的城市

When you think about it, life is a series of ongoing, connecting trips.

你好好想一下：生活就是一连串的持续、相互衔接的旅行。

Many of us start the day by commuting, or traveling, to work. We drop off our children at school. We may visit the doctor or go to the market to buy food. We rushhome to see our families.

我们很多人每天需要转乘交通工具去上班，将孩子放在学校。我们也许去看医生或者去超市买食物。然后匆忙回家看望家人。

Life is more pleasant when these trips are easy and direct. The easier commuting, the higher your quality of life is.

如果这些出行更便捷、直接的话，我们的生活会更加开心。上下班越便捷，生活品质就越高。

Being stuck in traffic is not easy or direct. Traffic delays can be stressful. They bring out the worst in some people. Traffic delays also reduce your quality of life. And some areas are worse than others. Three of the ten worst cities for traffic are in Southeast Asia.

被困在路上就不那么便捷了。交通延误让人倍感紧张，甚至交通延误还给一些人带来最坏的事。交通延误不仅降低了生活品质。而且在一些地区的交通延误比其它地方更厉害。十分之三的城市交通非常拥堵的城市在东南亚国家。

People who live in big cities spend a lot of time talking about traffic. Too many people on the roads can be a big problem.

居住在大城市的人们花很多时间谈论交通。道路上很多人车会是个很大的问题。

Not all traffic is the same. There are some terms you need to know when talking about traffic.

并不是所有的交况都一样。谈论交通的时候，你需要知道一些术语。

One such term is gridlock. Gridlock is when nobody can go anywhere. The roads become one big parking lot.

其中一个术语是交通大堵塞，交通大堵塞是任何人都没办法去别处。道路成为了一个大的停车场。

There is also stop-and-start traffic. This is when you move forward a little, but then stop. Move a little. Then stop. Both are equally stressful.

还有时停时走、缓缓行驶的交通。这就是走走停停，这样同样让人感觉紧张。

Traffic can be bumper-to-bumper. This means there are so many cars on the road that their bumpers seem to be touching. To idle means the engine of your car is running, but you are not moving ... anywhere.

交通可能是一辆接一辆，这就意味着路上的很多汽车都紧挨着。闲置就是汽车的引擎仍然发动者，但是你就是没办法往别的地方移动。

Another term to know is rush hour traffic. Rush hour traffic happens at about the same time every day – when people are commuting to and from work.

另外一个词汇是交通高峰期，交通高峰期是每天上下班的时候。

But who in the world has the worst traffic?

但是世界上哪些地方的交通最糟糕呢？

In 2014, the Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Index examined traffic conditions in 78 cities around the world. Drivers in these areas used TomTom GPS devices. Each device measured the time spent in traffic and the traffic conditions they experienced.

2014年，嘉实多磁护的启停装置系数（Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Index）检测了世界上78个国家的交通状况。这些地区的司机使用TomTom全球定位系统装置。每个装置都会测量汽车经过路段的交通状况和所花费时间。

Castrol is an oil company based in the United Kingdom. The company says all this stop-start driving and idling hurts your car engine. And to help, it wants to sell you Castrol products.

嘉实多是英国的一家石油公司，该公司表示这种走走停停会损害汽车引擎，为了帮助解决这一问题，需要你购买嘉实多的产品。

The study found an increase in both heavy traffic and stop-and-start driving.

研究发现在拥挤的交通的走走停停驾驶在不断增加。

Here are the results.

这里是调查结果。

The top 10 cities with the worst traffic are:

交通最拥挤的排名前十位的城市是：

10. Buenos Aires, Argentina

布宜诺斯艾利斯，阿根廷

Guadalajara, Mexico

瓜达拉哈拉，墨西哥

Bangkok, Thailand

曼谷，泰国

Rome, Italy

罗马，意大利

Moscow, Russia

莫斯科，俄罗斯

St. Petersburg, Russia

圣彼得堡，俄罗斯

Surabaya, Indonesia

苏腊巴亚，印度尼西亚

Mexico City, Mexico

墨西哥城，墨西哥

Istanbul, Turkey

伊斯坦布尔，土耳其

And coming in at number one with the worst traffic on the planet is ...

下面是排名全球交通最拥挤的城市第一位的城市：

Jakarta, Indonesia

雅加达，印度尼西亚

In China, Shanghai's traffic problems were found to be worse than Beijing's. Drivers in Shanghai spend 33 percent of their time on the road idling. People in Beijing spend 27 percent of their travel time idling, doing nothing but running their engines and wasting fuel.

中国上海的交通问题比北京的交通更严重。上海的司机33%的时间堵在路上。北京人27%的出行时间堵在路上，他们什么也做不了，只能让引擎发动着、浪费着燃料。

So, what can cities do to reduce traffic problems?

因此，城市应该做些什么来减少交通拥挤问题？

One thing cities can do is to supply more public transportation.

可以做的事是增加公共交通运输工具的供应。

Let us now take a closer look at the city with the worst traffic in the world – Jakarta. Jakarta's metropolitan area is home to about 24 million people. But only 13 percent of all trips are on public transportation.

让我们来近距离地看看世界上交通最拥堵的城市之一——雅加达。雅加达的市区有大概2400万人口。但是只有13%的出行工具选用公共交通。

Investment in public transport in the Indonesian capital began in 2004. Workers are building the first part of a public transport system, known as the Mass Rapid Transit railway.

印度尼西亚首都的公共交通投资开始于2004年，工人正在建造被称为捷运铁路的公共交通系统的第一部分工程。

Another thing cities can do to limit traffic is to charge money to drive in certain parts of a city. Next year, Jakarta plans to start charging drivers more to travel on two heavily congested roads.

城市选用的别的方法是减少交通车辆，在城市的一些地方收取更多的驾驶费用。来年，雅加达计划在两条非常拥堵的路上开始征收更多的费用。

Jakartaofficials have also banned motorcycles from the main roads in the city.

雅加达官员已经禁止城市主要交通干道上的摩托车通行。

Until cities with traffic problems find ways to get people from Point A to Point B more efficiently, they can only envy people in Tampere, Finland and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. The survey found that these two cities have the fastest moving traffic.

只有有交通拥堵问题的城市找到让人们地高效地从A地到B的解决办法，否则他们只能羡慕在荷兰的坦佩雷、芬兰和鹿特丹地区的人们。调查发现这两类城市拥有最快捷的车流量。

I'm Anna Matteo.

我是安娜·马特奥。

Are you living with terrible traffic? How much time does it take you to commute to work? How is your city helping to lessen traffic congestion? And if you are lucky enough to live in a part of world without any traffic, you can brag about it ... in the comments sections.

你居住的城市是否也是交通拥挤？每次上下班你需要花费多长时间？你所在的城市如何减少交通拥堵？如果你足够幸运居住在一个没有任何交通的地方，你可以在评论部分自夸一下。

This report was based on a story from VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in Bangkok. Anna Matteo wrote it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

commute – v. to travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work

rush – v. to move or do something very quickly or in a way that shows you are in a hurry

congested/congestion – adj. when talking about traffic, too many cars on the road

gridlock – n. a situation in which streets are so full that vehicles cannot

parking lot – n. an area outside a building for parking cars, trucks, etc.

bumper-to-bumper – adj. made up of long lines of cars that are very close together

idle – v. of an engine or vehicle : to run without being connected for doing useful work

rush hour – n. a time during the day early in the morning or late in the afternoon when many people are traveling on roads to get to work or to get home from work

envy – v. to feel a desire to have what someone else has ; n. the feeling of wanting to have what someone else has

Top Ten Cities With the World's Worst Traffic

In this Sept. 24, 2010 photo, motorists are stuck in traffic jam during an evening rush hour at the main business district in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

When you think about it, life is a series of ongoing, connecting trips.

Many of us start the day by commuting, or traveling, to work. We drop off our children at school. We may visit the doctor or go to the market to buy food. We rush home to see our families.

Life is more pleasant when these trips are easy and direct. The easier commuting, the higher your quality of life is.

Being stuck in traffic is not easy or direct. Traffic delays can be stressful. They bring out the worst in some people. Traffic delays also reduce your quality of life. And some areas are worse than others. Three of the ten worst cities for traffic are in Southeast Asia.

People who live in big cities spend a lot of time talking about traffic. Too many people on the roads can be a big problem.

Not all traffic is the same. There are some terms you need to know when talking about traffic.

Gridlock traffic is pictured on highway 395 as people evacuate Washington after an earthquake August 23, 2011.

One such term is gridlock. Gridlock is when nobody can go anywhere. The roads become one big parking lot.

There is also stop-and-start traffic. This is when you move forward a little, but then stop. Move a little. Then stop. Both are equally stressful.

Traffic can be bumper-to-bumper. This means there are so many cars on the road that their bumpers seem to be touching. To idle means the engine of your car is running, but you are not moving ... anywhere.

Another term to know is rush hour traffic. Rush hour traffic happens at about the same time every day – when people are commuting to and from work.

But who in the world has the worst traffic?

In 2014, the Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Index examined traffic conditions in 78 cities around the world. Drivers in these areas used TomTom GPS devices. Each device measured the time spent in traffic and the traffic conditions they experienced.

Castrol is an oil company based in the United Kingdom. The company says all this stop-start driving and idling hurts your car engine. And to help, it wants to sell you Castrol products.

The study found an increase in both heavy traffic and stop-and-start driving.

Here are the results.

The top 10 cities with the worst traffic are:

10. Buenos Aires, Argentina

Guadalajara, Mexico

Bangkok, Thailand

Rome, Italy

Moscow, Russia

St. Petersburg, Russia

Surabaya, Indonesia

Mexico City, Mexico

Istanbul, Turkey

And coming in at number one with the worst traffic on the planet is ...

Jakarta, Indonesia

Motorists come out from their vehicle to check as the traffic stand still at a city road in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011.

In China, Shanghai's traffic problems were found to be worse than Beijing's. Drivers in Shanghai spend 33 percent of their time on the road idling. People in Beijing spend 27 percent of their travel time idling, doing nothing but running their engines and wasting fuel.

So, what can cities do to reduce traffic problems?

One thing cities can do is to supply more public transportation.

People who take public transportation, like these commuters on the New York City subway, are able to relax, read and avoid traffic. (FILE PHOTO/October 2008)

Let us now take a closer look at the city with the worst traffic in the world – Jakarta. Jakarta's metropolitan area is home to about 24 million people. But only 13 percent of all trips are on public transportation.

Investment in public transport in the Indonesian capital began in 2004. Workers are building the first part of a public transport system, known as the Mass Rapid Transit railway.

Another thing cities can do to limit traffic is to charge money to drive in certain parts of a city. Next year, Jakarta plans to start charging drivers more to travel on two heavily congested roads.

Jakarta officials have also banned motorcycles from the main roads in the city.

Until cities with traffic problems find ways to get people from Point A to Point B more efficiently, they can only envy people in Tampere, Finland and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. The survey found that these two cities have the fastest moving traffic.

I'm Anna Matteo.

Are you living with terrible traffic? How much time does it take you to commute to work? How is your city helping to lessen traffic congestion? And if you are lucky enough to live in a part of world without any traffic, you can brag about it ... in the comments sections.

This report was based on a story from VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in Bangkok. Anna Matteo wrote it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

commute – v. to travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work

rush – v. to move or do something very quickly or in a way that shows you are in a hurry

congested/congestion – adj. when talking about traffic, too many cars on the road

gridlock – n. a situation in which streets are so full that vehicles cannot

parking lot – n. an area outside a building for parking cars, trucks, etc.

bumper-to-bumper – adj. made up of long lines of cars that are very close together

idle – v. of an engine or vehicle : to run without being connected for doing useful work

rush hour – n. a time during the day early in the morning or late in the afternoon when many people are traveling on roads to get to work or to get home from work

envy – v. to feel a desire to have what someone else has ; n. the feeling of wanting to have what someone else has