IBM's first parking survey released Wednesday shows that drivers in Nairobi take the longest time to find parking. In a survey of 8,042 drivers in 20 international cities, including 403 drivers in Nairobi, those in Nairobi averaged 31.7 minutes against a global average of 19.8 minutes. Globally , most drivers took an average of between 11 to 20 minutes to find a parking spot while most of the drivers in Nairobi spend between 27 to 30 minutes to find a parking spot.
Commuters in Bangalore, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Mexico City, Paris and Shenzhen also reported means significantly above the worldwide average. Seventeen percent of drivers in Milan and Beijing and 16 percent of drivers in Madrid and Shenzhen spent 31 to 40 minutes looking for parking.
Interestingly, IBM's global parking survey showed that drivers in both developed and emerging economies face many of the same parking frustrations, regardless of where they live or their ranking in the recently released Commuter Pain Index.

In the past year, nearly six out of 10 drivers have abandoned their search for a space at least once, and more than a quarter have gotten into an argument with a fellow motorist over a parking space. 43% of drivers in Nairobi had gotten into an argument with another driver over a parking spot compared to a global average of 27%.

In addition to the typical traffic congestion caused by the daily commute and gridlock from construction and accidents, reports have estimated that over 30 percent of traffic in a city is caused by drivers searching for a parking spot. Not only do inefficient parking systems result in congestion and increased carbon emissions, they also waste commuters' time, lead to lost productivity and economic opportunities and can lead to inefficient city services.

Nearly three out of four commuters surveyed in Shenzhen (80 percent), Beijing (74 percent), Nairobi (76 percent), Singapore and Mexico City (73 percent), and Madrid (69 percent) reported not reaching their intended destination because they gave up looking for parking. Conversely, respondents in Chicago (63 percent), Stockholm (62 percent), Montreal (58 percent) and Toronto (57 percent) rarely experience this frustration.

"Clearly, drivers worldwide are facing frustration and pain, not only during the daily commute, but also when searching for a parking spot," said Tony Mwai, Country General Manager, IBM East Africa.

"It's easy to see how this parking 'pain' can impact productivity of citizens and economic opportunities in a city. The ability to combine transportation information being collected with a better understanding of their citizens' parking needs can help cities not only better match parking supply with demand from commuters, but also better anticipate and avoid gridlock as well as make significant inroads to reduce congestion."

The IBM Parking Index is comprised of the following key issues: 1) longest amount of time looking for a parking place; 2) inability to find a parking place; 3) disagreement over parking spots; 4) received a parking ticket for illegal parking and 5) number of parking tickets received.

The cities scored as follows: New Delhi: 140; Bangalore 138; Beijing 124; Moscow 122; Shenzhen 122; Paris 122; Milan 117; Nairobi 111; Madrid: 104; Singapore 97; Mexico City: 97; Stockholm: 90; Johannesburg: 87; London: 86; New York City: 85; Montreal: 85; Buenos Aires: 80; Toronto: 77; Los Angeles: 61; and Chicago: 51.

Other highlights of the survey are as below.

Gobally, one in four (27 percent) respondents self-reported being involved in an argument with a fellow driver over a parking space within the last year. Drivers in New Delhi (58 percent), Bangalore (44 percent), Nairobi (43 percent) and Milan (37 percent) were the most vocal with each other over a specific parking spot. The survey indicates that the most mild-mannered drivers, at least when it comes to avoiding arguments about parking, are in Chicago (89 percent), Los Angeles and Stockholm (87 percent), Montreal (85 percent) and Singapore (83 percent).

Nine in ten respondents in Madrid and Johannesburg reported that they had not received a ticket for parking illegally within the last year, significantly above the global average. Chicago, Los Angeles and Nairobi closely followed them.

Even though the majority of drivers in Bangalore (70 percent), Moscow (69 percent) and Paris (62 percent) said they had not received a ticket in the last year, they still managed to, on average, rack up the most illegal parking tickets -- 9 (Bangalore), 8.5 (Moscow) and 7 (Paris).

Globally, drivers have spent an average of nearly 20 minutes in pursuit of a coveted spot. African drivers averaged both the shortest and longest times searching for parking in the last year when compared to the other 18 cities -- Johannesburg averaged 12.7 minutes and Nairobi averaged 31.7 minutes.

Thirteen percent of drivers in Nairobi reported driving around for more than one hour for a parking spot within the last year. On the other end of the spectrum, citizens in Chicago (28 percent), Montreal (24 percent) and Stockholm (24 percent) fared much better, finding a spot in less than five minutes.