Manchester confirmed as second (slowest) city of the UK

Manchester's roads are the second slowest in the UK and the fourth slowest in Europe with an average speed of 17.4mph, according to a survey produced by traffic information website Keepmoving.co.uk.

Manchester ranks better only than London, Berlin and Warsaw out of the 30 major European cities studied between June and September 2007.

Cllr Roger Jones, chairman of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, said the results proved the case for investment in public transport. He added: "The Keep Moving figures concerning traffic congestion in Manchester come as no surprise to our region's politicians – or indeed anyone who regularly uses Greater Manchester's road network.

"The survey highlights the need for our Transport Innovation Fund bid to be successful so that we can fund the massive investment in public transport that Greater Manchester needs – tackling the rising congestion at the time and the place it occurs – as we continue to compete with other major European cities for inward investment and new jobs.

"Indeed, the survey does not even take into account the key blockages around the M60 which are some of the most congested roads in Greater Manchester."

At the end of July, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities submitted a bid to the Department for Transport for a funding package from the Government's Transport Innovation Fund. If successful, the bid would result in a £3bn public transport revolution for Greater Manchester followed by the introduction of a limited, peak-time congestion charge.

Keepmoving generates UK-based traffic speed information by analysing vehicle based GPS data in real time, a patented technology known as Floating Vehicle Data (FVD). Large quantities of vehicle based GPS data is also collected from vehicles travelling throughout Europe and over 10 million records were examined covering the four-month period.

The 30 slowest surveyed cities in Europe: