What do you prefer? A relaxed binge-watch, 40 walks, eating out 19 times - or being in traffic for the same amount of time?

Statistics from 2018 show that each of us spends an average of 40 hours in traffic jams every year. 40 hours!

Just imagine what you could do with those 40 hours. In total, in 2020 we were all stuck in traffic for over 29 years - just imagine how much time we could spend with family, with friends, with pets, exercising, cooking, etc. In total, we all form around 1,400 traffic jams with a total length of over 650,000 kilometers - that's close to the same distance as if you were traveling to the moon and back again (one way: 384,000 km).

The leaders in Germany in terms of traffic jams are Munich and Berlin - here, on average, people spend even more time in traffic jams (over 70 hours). And no matter how long the traffic jam ultimately lasts - it is always a source of frustration and, beyond that, it also harms our environment, because traffic jams produce, on average, 50% more CO2 than moving traffic. Traffic jams are real killers for the environment!

What are the main causes of traffic jams?

The reasons range from construction to accidents and general traffic volumes at rush hour. The latter is particularly true for commuters in metropolitan regions where the roads are often congested during and because of rush hour traffic.

But the increase in commercial traffic also contributes to the problem of traffic jams. Trucks and cargo-vans often travel on the same roads as private vehicles, further exacerbating the situation.

How can we improve here?

The problem will probably never go away completely. Of course, you can simply avoid traffic jams by switching to taking the train. Sure - but we all know too well how likely you are to get to your destination on time. Especially in rural areas, the connections are often a rather sparse offering.

But something we can all improve is vehicle utilization. During rush hour, cars are still only occupied by 1.2 people on average. Public transport also only has a capacity utilization of just 18%.

An increase in capacity utilization from around 1 person per car to 2 people per car would mean that traffic would be reduced by 50%. This is exactly where uRyde comes in. By sharing your trips in real time, you can not only make an important contribution to better mobility and actively solve the traffic jam problem, but you can also significantly reduce your costs by sharing travel costs up to €0.30 / km with your passengers.

Less traffic creates more mobility, because the many shared journeys mean you still remain flexible and mobile.

You can find out exactly how ridesharing via uRyde works here .