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Last year, Pune stood out as a traffic nightmare, with commuters stuck in 152 hours of rush-hour congestion, ranking it fifth in the world for gridlock. This escalation reflects a growing trend in urban mobility issues, as other major Indian cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai also struggle with prolonged traffic delays, emphasizing the urgent need for innovative transportation solutions.
If you spent most of last year cursing the traffic situation in the city, there's now data to back your frustration. According to the TomTom Traffic Index 2025, Pune commuters lost 152 hours, roughly 6 days and 8 hours, stuck in rush-hour traffic last year.
Pune now ranks fifth on the list of most congested cities in the world, slightly better than Bengaluru, which is at number two on the list that is led by Mexico City. What could you have done in 152 hours instead?
- Finish a full online course and actually remember something from it
- Binge multiple seasons of a show without the “I’ll watch later” guilt
- Read the entirety of Game of Thrones
- Enter your one serious hobby arc (fitness era, pottery era, running era, anything)
- Build the first draft of a business idea you keep talking about
Pune ranks 5th in the most congested cities in the world (Picture credits: Jignesh Mistry)
2024 vs 2025: It didn't get better In 2025, Pune’s rush-hour traffic got worse than the year before. The time lost in congestion rose by 8 hours and 56 minutes compared to 2024. Top 10 most congested cities globally
- Mexico City
- Bengaluru
- Dublin
- Lodz
- Pune
- Lima
- Manila
- Bogota
- Sapporo
- Medellín
How many Indian cities in the global top 30?
- Bengaluru (2)
- Pune (5)
- Mumbai (18)
- New Delhi (23)
- Kolkata (29)
- Jaipur (30)
(Data source: TomTom Traffic Index 2025)“I spend about three hours travelling from home to my workplace and back. This round-trip should ideally only take about an hour and a half. In the three hours I spent in this daily routine, I could have watched Shrek twice"-Atharva Naik, a business operations executive“Two-wheeler riders act out in traffic, riding on footpaths, using wrong ways. It once took me exactly an hour to cover a 1 km stretch from Pune University to Bremen Chowk, Aundh. I could have reached Lonavala in this much time"-Sanchit Kelkar, an animator
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