| Index Term | Definition | Real-World Example | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | A 1-10 scale of traffic density. (1=light traffic, 10=standstill) | RHI 8+ = Add 30+ minutes to your trip. | | PMP (Peak Movement Period) | The 60-90 minute window of worst congestion within rush hour. | 8:00–8:45 AM or 5:15–6:00 PM. Avoid leaving during PMP. | | SC (Saturation Ceiling) | The point where adding one more car doubles the delay. | When highway speeds drop below 25 mph (40 km/h). | | Offset Window | The time just before or just after rush hour when traffic is 50% lighter. | Leave at 6:30 AM instead of 7:00 AM, or 9:15 AM instead of 8:30 AM. |
05:30–07:00 — Low single digits. Streets are waking; transit runs ahead of the surge. 07:00–09:00 — Rapid climb into the 50s and 60s as offices open; major corridors hit 75 locally. 09:00–11:00 — Partial recovery into the 30s; late commuters keep variability high. 16:00–18:30 — Second spike, often sharper — evening social patterns and freight overlap, pushing index peaks higher than mornings on some routes. 19:00 onward — Gradual descent back toward single digits. index of rush hour
At 7:00 AM, the city began to breathe. The TomTom Traffic Index would creep from a peaceful 1.0 (free-flow) toward the dreaded peak . For Elias, a delivery driver, a 1.5 index meant his 20-minute route now took 30 minutes. He watched the red lines on his dashboard—digital "veins" of the city—pulsing with the movements of thousands of commuters. | Index Term | Definition | Real-World Example
These components combine into a composite score that can be scaled (0–100) and visualized over time, route, or mode (bus, car, bike, rail). | 8:00–8:45 AM or 5:15–6:00 PM