Traffic Congestion in Europe: INRIX Belgium Traffic Scorecard Provides Revealing Look at Traffic Congestion in Cities Nationwide

By Inrix, PRNE
Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Thursday morning from 8:00-9:00 worst time to be on Belgium's roads; London ranks second to Paris as the most traffic clogged city in Europe

KIRKLAND, Washington, November 3, 2010 - INRIX(R), the leading provider of traffic information, released the INRIX
Belgium Traffic Scorecard, a comprehensive country-wide perspective and
city-by-city analysis on traffic congestion. A comparison among six different
countries found that Paris is the most congested city on the continent,
followed by London.

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Generally, Belgium drivers spend more time in traffic compared to drivers
in France, but less than in the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany. With roads
clogged with traffic congestion on average 26 hours a week across the
country's worst bottlenecks, traffic has a major impact on consumers' daily
commute, the Belgian economy and the environment.

The scorecard revealed that the worst place and time to be on Belgium's
roads is in Brussels on Monday from 8:00- 9:00 where it takes more than 58
percent longer on average compared to the same journey in uncongested
conditions. Overall, the journey or Travel Time Tax(1) (T3) for Belgium, The
Netherlands
and Luxembourg was 21 percent, meaning that a random journey
along these roads during peak weekday driving hours takes 21 percent longer
on average compared to the same journey in uncongested conditions. The
region's T3 is the slightly behind the United Kingdom, slightly ahead of
Germany, and nearly 50% greater than France.

By analyzing traffic on major motorways in the region's 22 largest
metropolitan areas, the Scorecard provides a comprehensive snapshot into the
intractable issues of urban traffic congestion. According to the report, the
Top 5 Most Congested Cities in Belgium(2) span all regions and the worst
hours are:

    1. Brussels : Drivers waste 65 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst
       Hour = Monday 8:00-9:00
    2. Antwerpen : Drivers waste 64 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst
       Hour = Friday 17:00-18:00
    3. Gent : Drivers waste 33 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst
       Hour = Thursday 8:00-9:00
    4. Liege : Drivers waste 17 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst
       Hour = Tuesday 8:00-9:00
    5. Charleroi : Drivers waste 26 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst
       Hour = Friday 16:00-17:00

"With roads in Belgium clogged with traffic congestion on average 26
hours a week across the region's worst bottlenecks, traffic continues to have
a major impact on European mobility, the economy and the environment," said
Hans Puvogel, GM of INRIX Europe. "Our business is built on knowing what's
going on with traffic day in and day out in 20 countries. The Scorecard, and
the data powering the report, will contribute enormously to a better
understanding of traffic congestion on French's roads helping governments and
businesses free people and commerce from gridlock."

Belgium's Traffic Patterns & Worst Bottlenecks

The INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard takes a micro look at traffic
problems all across the region - zooming in on the total hours spent in
traffic, worst day of the week for commuting and average speeds for the top
22 cities across Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg, along with hundreds
of other details including the identification of the worst traffic
bottlenecks the country's drivers crawl through every day. Unique patterns
evolving out of the region's traffic congestion include:

    -- Worst Traffic Day: Thursday
    -- Worst Week Day Morning: Thursday
    -- Worst Commuting Hour: Thursday 8:00-9:00
    -- Worst Afternoon Commute: Friday
    -- Best Week Day for Traffic: Friday
    -- Best Week Day Morning: Friday
    -- Best Week Day Commuting Hour: Friday 6:00-7:00
    -- Best Week Day Afternoon: Monday

In analyzing and ranking the worst traffic bottlenecks across Belgium,
the most congested segment is in Antwerpen, a 0,48 km section of the outer
ring of R1, direction Berchem at the Linkeroever interchange, which was
congested 45 hours a week, with an average speed below 31,2 km/h when
congested. According to the report, the Top 10 Worst Traffic Bottlenecks in
Belgium are:

    1.  Antwerpen: R1 heading Berchem up to Linkeroever
    2.  Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Expo Rom. Stwg.
    3.  Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Wemmel
    4.  Brussel: R0 heading St Stevens Woluwe up to Zellik
    5.  Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Strombeek Bever
    6.  Antwerpen: E17 heading Antwerpen up to Antwerpen West
    7.  Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Zaventem Henneaulaan
    8.  Antwerpen: R1 heading Rerchem up to Antwerpen Zuid
    9.  Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to R22
    10. Brussel: R0 heading St Stevens Woluwe up to Groot-Bijgaarden

About the INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard

The INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard uniquely measures Belgium's traffic
congestion problem by going beyond the traditional limitations of road
sensors and statistical sampling techniques to evaluate real-time traffic on
almost every major metropolitan roadway. It leverages INRIX's Smart Driver
Network, the first truly national traffic data collection network which uses
a crowd-sourced based approach to collecting traffic information.

Each data report from these GPS-equipped vehicles and devices includes
the speed, location and heading of a particular vehicle at a reported date
and time with commercial vehicles reporting every minute for up to 7 hours
per day. With the world's largest traffic network, INRIX generates the most
comprehensive and timely congestion analyses to date, covering the Benelux
region's 22 largest metropolitan areas. INRIX then processes and blends other
relevant traffic-related data such as road sensors, traffic accident and
incident data and other resources to provide the most comprehensive and
accurate traffic information available.

Rankings and scorecards of the Most Congested Cities in Belgium, along
with an executive summary of the report findings are now available at the
INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard website at euscorecard.inrix.com. The
extensive data powering the INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard is immediately
available under license for further analysis and review by government
agencies and commercial organizations including transportation industry
organizations.

To learn more about the Scorecard's findings, you can also register for a
free webinar planned for November 10, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET where
INRIX Vice President of Public Sector Rick Schuman and GM of INRIX Europe
Hans Puvogel will provide a detailed review of key findings and INRIX traffic
data can be applied to improving transportation planning, traffic management
and measuring system performance.

About INRIX

INRIX(R) is a leading provider of traffic information with more than 100
customers and industry partners including the Ford Motor Company, MapQuest,
Microsoft, NAVIGON AG, TeleNav, I-95 Corridor Coalition, Tele Atlas, TTI,
deCarta, TCS, Telmap, ANWB and ADAC. INRIX's strategic partnerships across
Europe extends the delivery of the highest quality data and broadest coverage
available for personal navigation, mapping, telematics and other
location-based service applications in the car, online and on mobile devices.

INRIX Traffic Services leverage sophisticated statistical analysis
techniques, originally developed by Microsoft Research, to aggregate and
enhance traffic-related information from hundreds of public and private
sources, including traditional road sensors and the company's unique network
of more than 3 million GPS-enabled vehicles and cellular devices. INRIX
delivers highly accurate real-time and historical traffic information today
for 20 countries across North America and Europe. To experience the traffic
technology revolution behind the next generation of navigation and
location-based service applications, go to www.inrix.com.

(1) Travel Time Tax (T3): T3 expresses the average amount of extra time
it takes to travel relative to free-flow travel. A T3 of 30%, for example,
indicates a 20-minute free-flow journey will take 26 minutes during the peak
travel time periods, a 6-minute (30%) journey time penalty. For each road
segment, a T3 is calculated for each hour of the week, using the formula T3=
Reference Speed (RS) minus Hourly Average Speed (HS)/RS. Note if HS > RS, T3
is set to 0%. T3 is a direct derivative of Travel Time Index, a common metric
used in congestion analyses.

(2) Overall Congestion vs. Travel Time Tax (T3): Overall congestion
quantifies and ranks the total congestion in a region. Larger regions tend to
have more roads and more locations where congestion occurs, hence more
overall congestion. Travel Time Tax (T3) equalizes all regions by dividing
out the difference in the size of each region's road network - giving a more
driver centric view of congestion. For example, London and Birmingham have
comparable T3 (25.0% vs. 24.3%) - this implies that an average commuter in
both cities faces similar delays. However, London has roughly 5 times more
people and more than 3 times more road miles of major highways. So at a
system level London has much more overall congestion while individuals in
both regions each face similar congestion levels.

An analogy is power consumption - the amount of power consumed in each
home is similar to the T3; while the amount of total power consumed in a
region is similar to overall congestion. Both measures - power used in each
home (T3) and power used overall in the region (overall congestion) - are
relevant and thus measured.

(3) Based on a one-way uncongested commute of 30 minutes during peak
travel hours

Jim Bak of INRIX, +1-425-284-3825, jimb at inrix.com; or Klaas Klunder of Hotwire BNL, +31-(0)6-34-73-55-63, Klaas.Klunder at hotwirepr.com, for INRIX

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