George Town, Penang, has snatched the crown for Malaysia’s Most Congested City 2024.
The city known for its mouth-watering street food is now also famous for something less appetizing – making drivers sit in their cars for a whopping 27 minutes just to travel 10km.
Let’s look at Malaysia’s “Traffic Pain Rankings” for 2024:
- George Town (27min) – “The Grand Champion of Gridlock”
- Kota Bharu (23min) – “The Surprise Challenger”
- Ipoh (22min) – “Bronze Medal in Bumper-to-Bumper”
- Johor Bahru (20min) – “The Southern Slowdown”
- Kuala Lumpur (17min) – “The Capital’s Consolation”
- Butterworth (15min) – “Penang’s Other Traffic Trap”
- Shah Alam (13min) – “The Selangor Snail”
- Kajang (13min) – “Tied for Last But Still Stuck”
From Sleepy Colonial Streets To Global Traffic Superstar
The study, conducted by navigation guru TomTom, analyzed 500 cities worldwide, and George Town managed to secure an impressive 73rd place globally.
That’s right – this little Malaysian city is playing in the big leagues of traffic jams.
The secret recipe for George Town’s traffic success includes:
- A maze-like road network
- Heritage buildings that can’t be demolished
- Narrow colonial-era streets
- Peak hour madness
- Tourist crowds hunting for char kuey teow
- Random tropical downpours
Will Penang’s Future Finally Rise Above Its Traffic Troubles?
So next time you complain about traffic in your city, remember – somewhere in Malaysia, someone is probably still trying to move 10 meters in George Town.
But wait, there’s hope.
The upcoming Penang LRT might be the light at the end of this very congested tunnel.
Expected to begin construction soon, this RM10 billion project promises to whisk commuters above all that gridlock below.
Penang LRT (Mutiara Line)
– 2 depots (reclaim silicon island (SI) + sg nibong)
– SI to Komtar : 45 minutes (23.7km)
– SI to Penang Sentral : 49 minutes (28.4km)
– Macallum to Penang Sentral = 5.78km
– Macallum to Komtar = 0.46km
– KOMTAR (interchange with future metro lines) pic.twitter.com/2iYA9IjRy5— Malaysia Updates (@malaysia_covid) January 11, 2025
