There are almost as many cars as people in Prague

In Prague, the number of cars increased again year-on-year. Last year, their number rose by 56,362 cars to a total of 1,217,344 motor vehicles, which is only slightly less than the capital’s population, which the Czech Statistical Office lists as 1,275,406 as of Jan. 1, 2022.

Most of the city’s vehicles are passenger cars. They account for 970,755 of the city’s fleet, according to the traffic yearbook of the Technical Road Administration (TSK) for the year 2021. In 2020, the authorities in the metropolis registered 925,716 passenger cars, while in 2019 it was 911,844.

The number of cars registered in Prague makes up roughly one-seventh of the total number of cars in the country. The most cars were added between 1990 and 2000 when their number doubled.

There are 4,067 kilometers of roads in the metropolis. The number of kilometers driven by drivers in the city also increased year on year. Drivers traveled 22.956 million kilometers around Prague last year. In 2020 it was 21.482 million kilometers. As in previous years, passenger cars drove the most. In the past two years, the intensity of traffic has changed. In 2020, it fell by 8 percent year-on-year, increased again last year, and almost equaled pre-Covid levels from 2019.

As in previous years, the busiest road was the Barrandov Bridge (Barrandovský most), over which 142,000 cars passed daily. This is 8,000 cars more than in the previous year. The second busiest is Strakonická between Dobříšská and Barrandovský most and the third is the South Connecting Road (Jižní spojka) between Chodovská and V Korytech.

Barrandovský most, which is currently being renovated, is also the busiest bridge across the Vltava. Hlávkův most is in second place and Radotínský most is in third place.

The busiest regular intersection is at Poděbradská and Kbelská, which sees 70,000 cars a day, and the Strakonická-Barrandovský most interchange, where 194,000 cars pass a day. The busiest tunnel is the Zlíchovský tunnel.

In a year-on-year comparison, occupancy in cars has not changed since 2010. In the center, it is kept at 1.3 people per vehicle. For comparison, in 1990 it was 1.71, and in 2000 it was 1.44 persons per car.