The makers of a popular GPS navigation device say — for the third consecutive quarter — that Vancouver is the most congested city in Canada, and the second worst in North America.

The TomTom congestion index is based on data collected from millions of real trips by vehicles using the navigation devices,

The company says it has analyzed the data to compare travel times from when road are empty with when they are congested for 57 metropolitan areas in North America.

North American congestion rankings

  1. Los Angeles: 34 %
  2. Vancouver: 34%
  3. San Francisco: 33%
  4. Honolulu: 31%
  5. Seattle: 27%
  6. Toronto: 26%
  7. New Orleans: 25%
  8. San Jose: 25%
  9. Montreal: 24%
  10. Chicago: 24%

Once again, Los Angeles kept its unenviable crown as most congested city on the continent, but Vancouver remains a close second place with an overall "congestion level" of 34 per cent for the summer of 2012, an increase of one per cent from the spring rankings.

According to the company, travel times in Metro Vancouver are 45-per cent longer during the morning rush hour and 61-per cent longer in the evening rush hour, when compared with times when traffic is flowing freely.

TomTom estimates that means over the course of a year, a daily 30-minute commute would add up to spending about 83 extra hours stuck in traffic.