https://www.worldradio.ch/news/bitesize-news/zurich-has-some-of-the-worst-traffic-in-europe/
Zurich is among Europe’s most stressful cities for drivers, according to a new traffic study.
The ranking combines factors like traffic density and even how often motorists search online for directions.
The higher the stress index, the worse the experience – and Zurich scores badly, alongside several German cities that dominate the top of the list.
By contrast, car-friendly cities like Innsbruck and Madrid show what’s possible – a ten-kilometre journey in Innsbruck takes around twelve minutes less than in Zurich, thanks to far fewer cars and smoother traffic flow.
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Am sure Geneva is no exception
Zurich among Europe’s most stressful cities for drivers
byu/mikedragos inSwitzerland
Posted by mikedragos
50 Comments
I’d say it’s intentional
The number of people who actually studied urban planning, traffic planning or transportation engineering that advocate building “car friendly cities” is very close to zero. It’s near climate-change levels of agreement.
They all say we should be moving towards more ÖV, walkability and micromobility.
Yet, in popular discourse, we constantly have to deal with lobbyists and anti-science people like yourself. Where are you from? Why do you believe you know it better than the experts?
Is it good or bad?
It’s true and I love it.
If you fuck up 25000 kg of tram will wreck your car and you’ll get billed for it.
Good, let’s stress the f* out of them!
kinda moot when you can’t demolish a lake, river, hills, or old-town.
That said, Zurich is far from transport unfriendly and I can’t remember ever thinking something would be easier if I had a car except like moving house which… like the traffic matters then lol.
Zurich is horrible to drive in yeah. Sadly it’s also not great for cycling, though that’s still the fastest way anywhere usually…
They’ve never been to Lisbon… Zurich is a doddle.
Oh noo the poor poor drivers, somebody help these defensless people😣😣
I hope they even make it more stressful. (putting madrid as an example.. seriously?)
Zurich has excellent public transit so there’s no reason to bring a car into the city. So anything that discourages drivers to bring their car is a win in my book.
If you come from a place with shit public transit connectivity, drive your car to a SBB Park and Ride and get the SBahn into the city from there. Cheaper and less stressful than doing everything by car.
I have lived in mega cities abroad where cars are king, public transit is shit, and can guarantee you that we absolutely don’t want that for Switzerland.
So the Balkans and southern Italy where not included in the study. *Most stressful* lol
I feel Luzern and basel are worse… but could also be local knowledge.
Good, if a driver is scared he will drive more slowly and carefully in turn reducing accidents and the accidents that happen will be less severe
How come Naples is not winning?
lol jesus, the comment section is such a shitshow! holy pepperoni!
not sure how i feel about the general notion which seems to be “fuck’em”
Which study? Worthless article.
Boohoo 😅
Good.
As it should be. Drivers punish the world around them with noise, pollution, and wasted car parking space. It should be very difficult to drive unless absolutely necessary.
True, I hate driving my electric car in this city and therefore only use it, when absolutely necessary.
As I should!
Albisriederplatz by car is as close to a near death experience as you can get. Zurich is intentionally an absolut shitshow for car drivers, whether it‘s good or bad is another topic, but I believe this study 100 %.
Lol the guys who made that list clearly haven’t been driving in lecce or valencia. Even in Amsterdam bikes everywhere. Zurich is easy to drive.
This article doesn’t source any study from what I can find. As someone who has driven in Zurich and a few other major cities, I’m curious to understand what factors contribute to a “stressful” driving experience in a city.
70% of these drivers gave no good reason to drive around in a car. they make life harder for everyone in the city.
A math quizz (5th grade):
– Vehicle A covers 10km in one hour
– Vehicle B covers 10km in 10 minutes.
Which vehicle will pollute less per 10km?
Its true, for drivers it’s absolutely badly designed
Beautiful article with 3 paragraphs and no source of the study, just trying to paint a catastrophic scenario.
I like how they compare with “car-friendly” cities, as if they were a positive example.
This is pure ragebait for people like me.
Zurich being a people/bicycle-friendly city has a public transportation system covering all corners.
So yeah, I’d make everything possible to make driving through an unpleasant experience.
Now if we would be talking about the current traffic on the Autobahns, that would be another story!!
They wanted to build a Tunnel under Zurich a long time ago but it was denied by the voters. So we have to live with the consequences of the people‘s will.
Foreigner here. To me Zürich is very calm and not stressful at all compared to the places where I was driving so far. Come on, it’s a calm 400k well planned city with practically no traffic jam.
I have some doubt that Madrid is less stressful. I was living there 18 years ago, then moved to Zurich and I felt much safer and relaxed than in Madrid.
r/fuckcars
Not only that.
Thanks to the green politics, they do not only build bike tunnels for CHF 40 million a pop but also reduce public blue parking spaces for normal people who cannot afford the expensive private parking, like the more affluent.
Switzerland really teaches one to hate everything about green politics.
I disagree. I love driving in Zurich or Switzerland in general.
The people are so much more relaxed here than in the US! People always let you merge, are kind if you make a driving mistake.
On the other hand, parking garages here are terrifying. There is a veritable rainbow of car paint on the walls of the Migros car park near me. Strikes fear in my heart every time.
Romanian traffic: hold my beer
You guys have never been to Brussels, where everything is made to drive you insane
Good!
Whoever thinks that has never driven in any southern european city.
Cameras every 50m, what do you expect?
Tickets for going 1-3kph over the limit depending on the camera! Weird old junctions!
Serenity compared to an Indian city
People making this article never tried driving in Milan,Napoli, Roma, or generally in Italy, Spain, Greece or Corsica.
Wait until you drive in Athens or Crete
It’s perfect. That will push people to ditch their cars.
Idling vehicles produce significantly higher concentrations of pollutants—particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), and benzene—compared to driving, as catalytic converters are less efficient at low engine temperatures
. A 5-minute idle produces roughly 3–10 times more pollution than a 5-minute hot start, with diesel vehicles and SUVs emitting the most per minute.
**Key Findings on Idling Emissions**
* **Pollutant Concentrations:** Idling generates over 10 times more CO, 3 times more NOx, and 4 times more VOCs than a 5-minute hot start/stop cycle.
* **Gasoline vs. Diesel:** While gasoline vehicles emit more benzene and NMHCs (non-methane hydrocarbons) at idle, diesel engines generally produce higher, more concentrated levels of particulate matter and Nitrogen Oxides ( NOxcap N cap O sub x 𝑁𝑂𝑥 ).
* **Emission Factors:** Idling emission factors for hydrocarbons and CO can decrease by more than 10 times once a vehicle is cruising at 20-40 km/h, as the engine reaches optimal operating temperatures.
* **Impact of Time:** Idling for as little as 10–30 seconds uses more fuel and creates more emissions than turning the engine off and restarting it.
* **Key Pollutants:** Major pollutants emitted during idling include CO2cap C cap O sub 2 𝐶𝑂2 , CO, NOxcap N cap O sub x 𝑁𝑂𝑥 , benzene, and other hydrocarbons.
**Comparison with Moving Vehicles**
* **Lower Efficiency:** Idling engines are highly inefficient; they consume fuel but provide no kinetic energy, leading to higher emission rates per distance traveled.
* **Catalyst Cooling:** Idling allows the catalytic converter to cool down, causing it to operate below its optimal light-off temperature, which sharply increases emissions.
* **Urban Hotspots:** In cities, idling vehicles can create severe, localized, and concentrated pollution, particularly on stagnant or “inversion” days.
So many traffic safety and management experts here 😂
After having decades of experience in car traffic (daily commute) in New York, Munich, Berlin and London I can‘t agree. Traffic in Zurich is by far less stress than in the cities I mentioned.
I used to have a car here in Zurich. I gave up riding cars here in 2015, and now have two motorcycles and live right at the edge of the city so I can hop on and actually ride. The stop and start, coupled with the 30kph zones here is insane. On top of all that the city actively makes things worse all the time, by making roads slower and narrower, with even more stops. On the one hand, I like that it makes the city more friendly for pedestrians, but on the other public transport is so slow it takes ONE HOUR to travel, in ONE TRAM (Linie 14) to go 6kms. I mostly just use a bicycle in the city.
The problems are the 3 second green traffic lights and f. Radars everywhere.
That’s the stress to me😃
The Swiss don’t know how to manage traffic in both inside the city and on the highway. It is the worst possible place to drive
Try Bucharest, then we’ll speak about stress. Zurich is a piece of cake.