Slow going: New Jersey traffic has nothing on London

The distances and times for travel in London on the daily itinerary of the governor’s economic mission trip to the United Kingdom were not misprints:

• 5 miles: 50 minutes;
• 4.1 miles: 50 minutes;
• 3 miles: 40 minutes

If anything, there wasn’t enough time built in to get around the city that always is at a standstill. Just ask the delegates on the Choose New Jersey-sponsored trip that found it took 90 minutes to go fewer than 10 miles from the airport to the hotel.

The traffic jams in London are just the latest example of how the governor’s economic mission trips can provide unique insights into local culture you have to experience to understand.

On this trip, Choose New Jersey hired two full-time drivers from TBR Global that not only had the patience to drive in a city filled with roads that literally were built for another era – but knew a shortcut or two. If there was one.

“There are no secret routs,” driver Imran Kahn said with a laugh.

The comedic take is everywhere. Traffic might be at a snarl, but the drivers are not.

Cars not only share the road with the city’s famed double-decker buses, but they also have to increasingly navigate motorcycles, mini-bikes and bicycles, too.

Stunningly, they do it without honking their horns – and allowing lane changes.

Kahn, who has been driving in London for nearly five years, said he’s never seen it like this – and that it’s not just an increase in vehicles that is slowing things to a crawl.

“Everywhere we go, this road is closed or that road is closed,” he said. “I’m not sure what they could do better.”

It’s not due to a lack of effort.

Congestion pricing? Yup, they’ve got it here. It hasn’t helped congestion.

Then again, perhaps it’s just an age-old problem in London, a city created so long ago there is not enough room to expand the roadways.

One local offered this historical take: It takes the same amount of time to travel through London as it did 150 years – it’s just that 150 years ago everyone was on horseback.

Read the article here.