In Rome, car trips are decreasing but driving time is increasing: the GO-Mobility study

In Rome you take the car less often, but for longer trips. And in the end we spend more time driving: 62.1 minutes per day per vehicle, compared to 52.6 six years earlier, almost 10 minutes more. In the meantime, the North of the country has reduced the gap with the South: cars were going at 5.1 km/h in 2019, reaching 1.8 km/h in 2025, a symptom of exponentially growing traffic that consumes time and slows down travel in metropolises.

“The speed of cities” explains it, the study by the GO-Mobility Observatory based on Floating Car Data provided by Targa Telematics-Viasat. The analysis was presented yesterday in Rome together with the "Connecting data and mobility" manifesto and concerns 15 metropolitan cities using "over one million monitored vehicles, 158 million trips and 5.7 billion GPS points, over seven years", explains a note.

In the metropolitan area of ​​the capital, comparing October 2019 with October 2025, daily trips per vehicle dropped from 2.59 to 2.20. Short trips are also decreasing: those under five kilometers go from 48.6% to 41.5% of the total. However, the average distance increased, from 9.9 to 13.5 kilometers, and the average duration of each trip, from 20.3 to 28.3 minutes. The result is that daily time behind the wheel rose from 52.6 to 62.1 minutes. The numbers describe a different use of the car, with fewer trips but longer on average. They do not say, on their own, how much of the increase in times depends on traffic.

But let's go back to the study on the speed of vehicles. The study shows a change in the geographical map of speed in Italy. In the metropolitan areas examined, the average advantage of the North over the South and the Islands is reduced: it was 5.1 km/h in 2019, it is 1.8 km/h in 2025. In the North the average speed drops by 8%, equal to 2.4 km/h; in the South and on the Islands it grows by 3.5%, equal to 0.9 km/h. Among the most marked reductions are Venice (−12.1%), Milan (−9.8%), Bologna (−7.7%) and Genoa (−7.6%). Palermo (+7.7%) and Messina (+6.4%) move in the opposite direction. In 2025, considering the entire metropolitan area, the highest speeds are recorded in Sassari, with 33.1 km/h, and in Bologna and Bari, both at 31.5 - explains the dossier - The lowest are in Naples (23.9), Catania (24.1) and Genoa (24.4)".

But it is enough to narrow the lens on the territories for the values to change. Milan drops to 17 km/h, Florence to 16.9, Palermo to 17.5, Turin to 17.7 and Naples to 17.8. Rome is at 24.3 km/h. On average, the capitals are 8.6 km/h slower than their respective metropolitan areas. The greatest distance is in Turin, 13 km/h; the smaller ones in Rome and Genoa, 4.3 km/h. A single ranking of the slowest cities is impractical: it would risk mixing very different territories and routes.

The Manifesto sets out six objectives: making data available and accessible; connect sources and clarify measurements; improve the quality of data for necessary uses; preserve data and knowledge over time; make sharing practicable; support the work of those who produce and use information. The proposal is to arrive at a national strategy supported by a Transportation Data Act, a framework law to give continuity to the management of mobility data.

«We cannot start from scratch every time an administration has to update a plan or verify a service», says Daniele Mancuso, CEO of GO-Mobility. The speed of cities offers an example of the point: the data is there, but to decide where to intervene it is necessary to read it together with that on public transport, accessibility and the distribution of activities.

«We live the paradox of data without information. And this paradox is more striking in transport and mobility: people and vehicles leave digital traces of their movements every day. Yet, those who need them to make decisions or develop a service often fail to use them", observes Ennio Cascetta in the preface to the Manifesto. «But on issues that are decisive for public choices, we know little or very little», continues Cascetta. “The cost of all this ultimately weighs heavily: inadequate decisions, lost economic opportunities and lack of accountability.”