Cape Town is now one of the most congested cities in the world

For South African expat Londoners returning home, the shock isn’t just seeing Table Mountain again, it’s discovering Cape Town’s traffic now rivals the gridlock they thought they’d left behind, with drivers losing nearly four full days each year to congestion.

Look, I’ve spent years navigating London traffic. I thought I’d seen it all.

But coming back to Cape Town? The traffic situation has become genuinely alarming.

The numbers don’t lie.

According to the INRIX 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard, Cape Town drivers lost an average of 94 hours in 2024 sitting in traffic.

Think about that. Nearly four full days of your year, gone, just staring at the car in front of you.

ITS International and other sources now rank Cape Town in the top 10 of the world’s most congested cities. We’re talking Mumbai levels. Bogotá levels. Manila levels.

The daily grind

I experienced this first-hand during my week in Cape Town in October.

My son was attending a course in Woodstock, which meant a daily commute into town from the southern suburbs.

Every single day, the same crawl.

You’d think after years of battling London traffic I’d be adjusted to congestion.

When special events become traffic nightmares

Then came the Redbull Flugtag on the Sunday.

Yes, it was a massive international event at the V&A Waterfront. I get that. You expect some traffic for something that big. But the reality was unimaginable.

From the moment we hit the backed-up traffic on Nelson Mandela Boulevard, it took over an hour just to find a parking spot at the V&A. Over an hour. For a less than 2km drive.

And here’s the kicker – I live in London. I’m supposed to be immune to traffic chaos. I’ve sat through gridlock on the M25. I’ve crawled through rush hour in one of Europe’s busiest cities. Yet even I found
myself gobsmacked by how bad Cape Town’s become. When someone from London is shocked by your traffic, you know you’ve got a serious problem.

Every road, every day

The southern suburbs to town route is now a daily nightmare.

Woodstock, Sea Point, the CBD – doesn’t matter where you’re heading, you’re crawling. And it starts early. No beating the rush anymore because the rush is basically all day.

The reasons are obvious when you think about it.

Cape Town’s squeezed between a mountain and the ocean. There are only so many roads you can build.

Add in decades of prioritising cars over public transport, rapid growth, and inadequate infrastructure, and you’ve got a perfect storm of gridlock.

What’s really at stake

Here’s what worries me most.

It’s not just the frustration of sitting in traffic, though that’s bad enough. It’s what this does to Cape Town.

People are losing productive hours. Businesses are suffering. The pollution is increasing. And the city’s reputation as a great place to live? That’s taking a serious hit.

The data confirms Cape Town has a traffic crisis.

The real question is whether there’s the political will to actually do something about it. Because right now, it feels like we’re just watching it get worse.

Time’s running out. And so is everyone’s patience.