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Commute Times in Gujranwala: How Long Will You Spend in Traffic? (A Freelance Photographer’s Panic Diary)

@Hugo Barrett2/8/2026blog

so you’ve heard gujranwala’s traffic is bad? let me tell you it’s not just bad it’s like watching a traffic jam auditioning for a horror movie. i’m a freelance photographer here, and my camera’s battery dies faster than i do in those 45-minute drives to client meetings. you know what’s worse? the fact that monsoons turn the main road into a glacier of honking white vans. real talk? if you’re not stuck in traffic by 9 am, you’re either late or hallucinating.

let’s get data-y for a sec. according to whoever didn’t lie to me (a source from the gujranwala group on reddit), the average commute from gujranwala to lahore is 1 hour 20 minutes. but that’s the dream number. reality? more like 1 hour 55 minutes if you’re driving and 45 minutes if you ride that cursed public bus that smells like last week’s dal. here’s a table i snatched from a local blog (i didn’t read the entire thing, promise):

*| mode of transport | cost per day | time | reliability |
| car (with driver) | 2,500 pk rs | 1h20m | ‘maybe’ |
| public bus | 200 pk rs | 2h15m | ‘definitely not’ |

but why bother with tables? i just check the app 5 times during my commute. half the time it tells me there’s a ‘heavy traffic’ buffer that never existed. you wanna know what’s wild? the app’s data is so accurate, it once blamed a traffic jam on a ‘dog in the road.’ congrats, google, you’ve perfected modern communication.


i overheard a guy at a dhaba say, ‘the only time this road isn’t a disaster is when it’s raining so hard it floods your socks. then everyone’s home before 6 am.’ i asked him if that was wishful thinking. he spat out, ‘no, i saw it last tuesday. a truck stuck in a drainhole became a local legend.’ classic gujranwala logic.


weather-wise? we’re living in a ‘humidity soup’ right now. it’s not hot it’s not cold it’s that in-between stage where your sweat smells like your anxiety. neighbors? if you count uber drivers as neighbors, then yes. i once stumbled upon a street artist painting a mural of a man riding a goat. the goat was wearing a crown. this is gujranwala, folks. we don’t do boring.

now here’s what locals warn you about. drunk advice from a tourist at a kfc: ‘avoid the ring road at 5 pm. it’s like the gujranwala equivalent of a hydration shortage.’ another person at a market warned me, ‘if you miss the first bus, you’re not just late you’re cursed.’ and someone at a yoga studio (i swear they all know everything) said, ‘traffic here is a metaphor for life. you’re either stuck in it or avoiding it with a dosha imbalance.’


so here’s the kicker: i embedded this map to show you gujranwala isn’t some hidden gem. it’s a real place with real traffic. if you’re coming from lahore, take the gujranwala interchange and pray. if you’re a tourist, don’t. you’ll spend more time in traffic than at monuments.

[[1]](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Guide-g1873330-Gujranwala-Pakistan-Traffic.html) - because tripadvisor is the only place where people write, ‘don’t come here unless you want to honk at ghosts’

[[2]](https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Gujranwala&find_loc=pakistan) - yelp lists ‘traffic as a five-star experience’ which is wild

[[3]](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gujranwala/) - the local subreddit is 80% photos of cows crossing highways

[[4]](https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/12345-gujranwala/) - instagram has half a million posts of people trying to find a coffee shop and failing


ps: if you’re a freelancer, commute times here will make you lose clients. lose sanity. lose all hope. but hey, at least you’ll have great stories for your portfolio. maybe.

*i just saw a ladybug on a tree. it looked sad. maybe it was stuck in traffic too.

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About the author: Hugo Barrett

Just a human trying to be helpful on the internet.

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