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The tax hike, if approved, would help finance a $7.5-billion transit expansion — including a replacement for the Pattullo Bridge linking New Westminster and Surrey.

One of the study’s authors, Nick Cohn, said one of the main factors in Vancouver’s score was the “automatic bottlenecks” at the mouths of bridges leading to the downtown core.

“In Vancouver, the southern suburbs have been growing really, really quickly but the jobs are not all focused on the south,” said Mr. Cohn, a senior traffic expert at TomTom. “That means that there are big commuter flows that have to cross just a few river crossings.”

The study bases its ranking of 218 cities on what TomTom calls a congestion level, which is determined by comparing times when traffic is

“free-flow” to peak periods. So Vancouver’s overall congestion, 35%, means an average trip would take more than a third longer than if that driver was unencumbered by traffic.

During the evening rush-hour in Vancouver, commutes are 66% longer, TomTom said.

Toronto’s overall congestion was 31% — a four-point increase from 2013.

Mr. Cohn suggested the increase was in part due to rampant construction.

Ottawa, with a congestion of 28%, saw its peak traffic during a very narrow point — leading Mr. Cohn to suggest that Ottawa’s public servant-dominated workforce was driving to work and driving home at the same time.

Calgary, with 22%, and Edmonton, with 23%, aren’t “hemmed in” by major bodies of water like their congested counterparts, Mr. Cohn said.

By comparison, Istanbul topped the global ranking with 58% overall congestion.

“Let’s keep Canada in perspective. Canadian cities did better than cities in the U.S. and Europe,” Mr. Cohn said, before admitting that he was giving little comfort to “the person stuck on [Ontario’s] 401 and trying to get to work.”