San Francisco one of the world’s 10 most congested cities

San Francisco ranks as the world’s 5th most congested city in terms of traffic and the 3rd worst in the United States, according to analytics firm INRIX, which studied statistics from 2017.

According to the analysis, San Francisco drivers averaged 79 hours sitting in traffic jams during peak travel times last year.

This news should come as little surprise. City streets are jam-packed with more commuters than ever before, heading to and from the Peninsula and vice versa, as well as countless Uber and Lyft drivers making an extra buck.

One simple and environmentally-sound solution to this mess would be to create more public transportation and, more importantly, build tall, dense housing near public transit stops. State Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 827, a bill that would spare new housing developments from certain restrictions if they qualify as “transit-rich housing,” aims do just that.

While this fifth-place ranking is dire, it is a marked improvement compared to 2016, when we came in at fourth place in a similar analysis.

San Francisco came in just ahead of Bogotá, Columbia insofar as congestion goes, and right behind Sao Paulo, Brazil. Los Angeles ranked the world’s most gridlocked city, with commuters wasting a whopping 102 hours in traffic.