Galway drivers lost an average of 62 hours – or more than two and a half days – sitting in traffic last year. That’s according to new INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, which looks at data from over 900 cities in 36 countries across seven continents,

Ironically, that figure represented a fall of seven percent on 2024 and 15 per cent on 2023 – but it still made the city the 71st worst of those urban centres surveyed for the report. Dublin, on the other hand, was one of the world’s worst.

The scorecard provides travel delay comparisons, costs of congestion to drivers and regions, and commuting trends based on the unique travel patterns within each metro area.

It utilises up to date, observed commute trips to truly analyse and compare how travel behaviour differs in more than 900 cities across the globe.

Independent Ireland representative Noel Thomas said the figures reflected the lived reality for people across Galway City, County, Conamara, the Gaeltacht and the Islands.

“This is lost time for families, lost income for businesses and lost opportunity for Galway,” Thomas said.

“It is the predictable outcome of decades of delay, re-announcements and failure to deliver.”

Cllr Thomas said retailers felt the impact most sharply during the crucial Christmas trading period, with reduced footfall, delayed deliveries and customers avoiding the city because of congestion and unreliable journey times.

That’s despite Galway Chamber revealing last week that footfall in the city was up this Christmas, despite the cost-of-living crisis.

Cllr Thomas said that Christmas determines whether many businesses can survive into the New Year.

“When people cannot get in or out of the city with certainty, they simply stop coming,” he said.

Cllr Thomas said congestion was also stalling the development of Galway’s business base, with companies increasingly ruling the region out because transport access and reliability cannot be guaranteed.

“Galway has the talent, the skills and the ambition, but businesses see gridlock, uncertainty and no delivery timelines — and they go elsewhere,” he said.

Beyond the economic impact, Cllr Thomas said congestion is eroding quality of life, with longer commutes reducing family time, increasing stress and damaging wellbeing.

“This is parents stuck in traffic instead of at home, carers delayed reaching people who depend on them, and communities dealing with poorer air quality,” he said.

The Independent Ireland Councillor and bye-election candidate said Galway had endured decades of transport strategies and announcements, yet still lacked the infrastructure required to function as a modern city and region. The failure to deliver the bypass has left the Galway Metropolitan Transport Plan effectively stalled.

“You cannot deliver a metropolitan transport system without the backbone infrastructure. Everyone knows this — yet Galway is continually asked to wait,” he said.

The solutions lay in the delivery of the Galway City Bypass; implementing Bus Connects in full; ensuring a continuous, safe cycling infrastructure; planning and protecting corridors for future rail and light-rail options, and using immediate traffic-management measures to support business and families.

“Galway does not need another transport report or glossy strategy,” said Cllr Thomas.

“The solutions are known. The plans exist. Galway has stalled because Government has failed to deliver. It is time to stop talking and just build it.”

Pictured: Independent Ireland representative Noel Thomas