Perhaps one of the many enemies of Lima, the capital of Peru, is traffic congestion. In simple terms, we can define it as a situation in which the number of vehicles in circulation exceeds the capacity of the existing road infrastructure.. The discomfort of those who travel the streets of Lima – although it is also seen in other cities in the country – can translate into lost time and money. A calculation by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP) puts the situation “in black and white.”
Vehicle congestion implies direct and indirect costs for society. In the bank’s analysis, two types of costs are estimated: the cost associated with the additional fuel consumed during congested hours, and the economic value of the hours lost traveling in congested traffic conditions. “Overall, an annual cost of traffic congestion in Lima is estimated to be around 2.4% of the country’s GDP,” the Bcrp says in its latest Inflation Report.
The cost of additional fuel consumed during rush hour versus hours of free traffic in Lima is estimated at 10.9 million soles per day and 3.3 billion soles per year, equivalent to approximately 0.4% of GDP. But, these are not the only figures to evaluate.
By 2023, it is estimated that a person loses an average of 3,800 soles per year in Lima. Considering the urban Employed Population, the total cost of these losses in Lima is estimated at approximately 20 billion soles (around 2.0% of GDP) last year. This reflects the cost of additional hours spent commuting. It is worth pointing out that the bank estimated it considering the annual time that a person loses due to congestion when traveling to their workplace.
International comparison
One way to translate the aforementioned is to put it in perspective. The BCRP mentions some key studies or comparisons that allow us to know Lima’s position compared to other cities in the region when it comes to traffic congestion.
In fact, the Congestion Index, prepared by the Urban Mobility Observatory of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is calculated as the relationship between the speed of circulation in hours of free flow and the speed recorded during rush hour.
According to this indicator, traveling in Lima during rush hour in 2022 took 1.5 times longer than doing so in fluid traffic conditions, a higher ratio than in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Mexico City and Montevideo.
This result is consistent with the average travel time per 10 kilometers according to the technology firm TomTom in 2023. In Lima, this distance requires 28 minutes, a longer time than in cities such as Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile . Likewise, the time to travel 10 kilometers during the most congested hours in Lima is on average 43 minutes (17 minutes without traffic).
In the main cities of the region, public transportation implies longer travel times than the automobile, reflected in a lower average speed. According to data from Moovit, the average travel speed on public transport in 2022 in Lima amounted to 8.3 kilometers per hour (km/h), less to cities such as Montevideo (8.8 km/h), Santiago de Chile (9.1 km/h), Rio de Janeiro (10.2 km/h) and Brasilia (12.8 km/h).
For its part, the difference between the speed of public transport and automobile in Lima is 8.7 km/h, below the differences observed in cities such as Santiago de Chile (14.9 km/h), Bogotá ( 13.4 km/h) and Mexico City (9.8 km/h).
Alternatives
The focus to give a twist to this situation can be centered on three points: efficient infrastructure and traffic management; reduction in travel demand (remote work and flexibility in schedules); and efficient urban planning and logistics.
“In summary, proper city management can boost productivity, taking advantage of the benefits of agglomeration, but minimizing the harmful effects of congestion and other negative externalities such as crime and contagious diseases,” the bank noted in its report. .
He added: “There is an urgent need to mobilize private and public capital to finance investments in infrastructure and a comprehensive multimodal transportation system, accompanied by institutional consolidation and strengthening that allows for the promotion of sustainable economic growth with citizens benefiting from a better quality of life.”
