QMIC reports vital decline in traffic congestion in 2020

The Qatar Mobility Innovations Centre (QMIC) has released statement by the sixth annual Qatar Traffic Report (QTR) on Monday that there has been a vital decline in Qatar’s traffic congestion in the year 2020 primarily due to the lockdowns imposed because of Covid-19 and the key road projects that were completed in the region.

The report states that the number of hours lost in congestion declined by 60% while the productivity cost of congestion reduced by QR3.6bn as compared to its previous year.

During the year 2020, Qatar’s traffic conditions and status were much impacted due to the lockdown restrictions enforced as Covid-19 erupted in the region and this has been the main reason for the decline in traffic congestion, which marks a huge difference when compared to that of 2019 since travelling by roads dropped massively for weeks and months.

Omar Mohamed al-Jaber, director of strategic partnerships and outreach, stated that, “This year’s report is especially important as it provides important insight into changes in traffic trends under extraordinary circumstances caused by Covid-19 and shows the progress made by Ashghal (Public Works Authority) in enhancing the road network in Qatar. It can provide a very useful understanding to decision makers about the type of actions, preparations and regulations needed during crises.”

The average number of extra hours spent due to congestion on the roads in Qatar is 38 hours per commuter in 2020 (60% less than the 92 hours in 2019). Majority of the congestion in the country was recorded in the first and last quarters of 2020.

Congestion level in all of 2020 was 37% below than that of its previous year. However, during the peak of the Covid-19 restrictions in April-September, the level of congestion was 60% lower than that of 2019.

The months of January, February and March were the most congested months in the year 2020 with February having the highest congestion index of 26.5% as Covid-19 had not been affected during that period of time.

The economic cost (lost productivity) of congestion in 2020 is estimated to be 2.4 - QR2.9bn. This translates to a loss of about 0.5% of the GDP in 2020. Compared to the economic loss in its previous year, this represents a significant reduction of QR3.6bn.

The highest congestion period during the workdays is the evening peak (around 6-7pm) during which the average congestion index is 21.3%. In the morning peak hours of workdays, Sunday had the highest congestion index of 21% and Tuesday had the lowest congestion index of 20%.

Dr Fethi Filali, director of Technology & Research at QMIC mentioned that, “QTR takes into consideration a number of key globally accepted metrics to report on the severity, time, and locations of traffic congestion in Qatar. In order to gauge traffic conditions for the year 2020 in a scientific, methodical and accurate way, the QTR uses the concept of Congestion Index to assess the level of traffic flow. In addition, using publicly available statistics about the size of the work force and average wages in Qatar together with QMIC’s mobility and congestion data, QMIC has built a model to quantify the economic impact of traffic congestion in Qatar.”

In 2020, the amount of data added to the QMIC mobility data bank increased by 300% compared to the amount of data added in 2019 thanks, in part, to the deployment of the new 3rd generation of QMIC’s WaveTraf traffic sensing devices. The accumulated rich traffic data bank over the last years will undoubtedly prove to be an extremely crucial tool in preparation for Qatar 2022 and beyond.

The report also analysis and includes examples of the outcomes and insights that are assessing the impact of road/infrastructure projects on traffic over the period of time; monitoring changes in congestion levels across the country; identifying problematic congestion areas in specific times or days; quantifying the economic and environmental impact of road congestion; comparing the traffic trends from year to year; and assessing improvements made in Doha traffic compared to those made in major cities in Qatar

The QTR is one of the key outputs of the only local and comprehensive mobility data platform which was fully developed and deployed by QMIC. It also represents a comprehensive platform and integrated suite of services serving the areas of Intelligent Transport, Road Safety, and Smart Logistics/Telematics.

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