Ever wondered how much time drivers spend in traffic in Metro Manila, and how much that translates to in money and opportunities lost?
An organization called the Asian Transport Observatory has collated the data and crunched the numbers. And this is what it has found.
Alvin Mejia, Asian Transport Observatory co-team leader, disclosed during the recent Policy-to-Practice roundtable forum called “Advancing Sustainable and Efficient Urban Mobility” at the Makati Diamond Residences that from 2017 to 2020, approximately P2.2 trillion per year is lost in traffic. According to him, this figure has been used by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which has computed these as daily losses of P3.5 billion (factoring in lost time alongside vehicle operating expenses).
Citing data from the TomTom Traffic Index, which aggregates floating car GPS metrics from hundreds of global cities to evaluate travel times and congestion levels, Mejia highlighted Metro Manila’s stark standing.
“What they find is that at least for Metro Manila, what is lost per year per driver is 143 hours. In terms of working hours, that’s roughly 18 days a year,” Mejia said. “The average travel time is around 32 minutes per 10 km. By comparison, Bangkok averages 23 minutes, Jakarta 26 minutes, and Kuala Lumpur 18 minutes. Out of nearly 490 cities globally, the global mean is 74 hours lost.” That means Metro Manila drivers lose nearly twice as much time in traffic compared to the average driver in other cities outside of the Philippines.
“From a commuter’s standpoint, this creates constant uncertainty and unpredictable travel,” Mejia added. “Delivery windows are disrupted, businesses require additional labor or fleet vehicles, fuel costs rise, inventory buffers are forced higher, and general access is severely reduced.”
These figures underscore the urgent need to shift commuters away from private vehicles and overcrowded road transport toward dedicated, high-capacity rail backbones that completely bypass surface traffic congestion.
Hosted by the Swiss Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (SwissCham Philippines) and the All Transport Network (ATN), the forum convened government officials, infrastructure experts, and private-sector leaders to address Metro Manila’s mobility crisis through strengthened public-private collaboration.
Find other relevant transport and mobility information at https://asiantransportobservatory.org/.