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The 16 most expensive cities in the world for commuting to work

wellington new zealand public transportation
It may be cheaper than driving, but commuting by public transport can still be pretty pricey. Shutterstock/Milosz Maslanka
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  • Commuting to work via public transportation is usually cheaper than driving everywhere.
  • But in these major cities, a monthly pass for public transportation may still be a major expense.
  • The most expensive cities for commuting to work are in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

 

Next to housing, transportation is one of the largest recurring expenses people face. In a major metropolis, that likely means a fair amount of time packed into the subway, trolley, or bus getting a little too acquainted with your fellow city dwellers.

The good news: It's better for the environment, and, depending on where you live, it may be cheaper than owning a car. 

The bad news: It can still be really expensive. 

In London, the most expensive city in the world for public transportation, you'll need to shell out nearly $197 for a month of riding the Tube. In New York City, a monthly transit pass costs $121. 

That's according to a recent report by Deutsche Bank, which analyzes the cost of living and compares prices among the largest cities around the world. 

The report sources prices from Expatistan, a site that tracks cost-of-living expenses in over 200 countries, for a "monthly ticket public transport" in nearly 50 cities. 

Here are the 16 most expensive cities in the world for commuting via public transportation each month. All prices are in US dollars.

15. Oslo, Norway — $89.40

oslo subway
TravelingOtter/Flickr/Attribution

14. Zurich — $94.70

zurich public transportation
Shutterstock/Roman Babakin

13. Berlin — $97.50

berlin public transportation
Shutterstock/AR Pictures

12. Stockholm —$98.50

stockholm public transport
Shutterstock/Grisha Bruev

11. Chicago — $101

chicago public transportation
Shutterstock/f11photo

10. Wellington, New Zealand — $102.50

wellington new zealand public transportation
Shutterstock/Milosz Maslanka

9. Frankfurt, Germany — $106

frankfurt public transportation
Shutterstock/Jorg Hackemann

8. Amsterdam — $108.40

Amsterdam public trasnportation
Shutterstock/Steve Photography

7. Melbourne, Australia — $110.40

melbourne public transportation
Shutterstock/TK Kurikawa

6. Toronto — $113.50

toronto public transportation
Shutterstock/mikecphoto

5. New York City — $121

new york city subway skyline
Shutterstock/itoodmuk

4. Sydney — $127.10

Sydney public transportation
Shutterstock/wang song

3. Auckland, New Zealand — $137.10

auckland public transportation
Shutterstock/ChameleonsEye

2. Dublin — $143.80

Dublin public transportation
Shutterstock/abd

1. London — $196.50

London public transportation
Shutterstock/ugurv

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Alex Morrell
Alex Morrell was a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering Wall Street at large.Prior to Insider he was a staff reporter at Forbes Magazine covering billionaires and their businesses. He's previously written and worked for the Associated Press, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. He's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a master's in business and economic journalism from Columbia University. Selected recent stories:How our insatiable appetite for electricity is giving rise to traders who make money from power-grid bottlenecksBehind a Wall Street headhunter's rapid ascent lie accusations of harassment and abuseSchonfeld's growing pains: Ryan Tolkin reckons with his greatest challenge yet as returns dry up at the $13 billion hedge fundHow a California hedge fund bulldozed the state's labor laws to impose some of the harshest noncompetes on Wall StreetFear and loathing on Wall Street: Inside the paranoid, hyper-competitive onslaught to prevent quant traders from defecting to rivalsMillennium has quietly minted billions off of America's passive-investing craze. Now rivals are racing to catch up.The bubble has popped on the mighty index-rebalance trade, and the overcrowded strategy is wreaking carnage across hedge fundsInside the rapid rise and fall of Coatue's quant fund: How a 23-year-old Wharton wunderkind seized power, alienated employees, and blew a $350 million opportunityFor years, Chase and Citi credit cards offered a generous, under-the-radar benefit that protected customers. And then the bots arrived.
Rachel is a senior features reporter at Business Insider. Rachel has reported on Bon Appétit's culture of racism, safety concerns among pilots who fly for Amazon, and the 2019 trucking "bloodbath." She has appeared on ABC News, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, France24, and other major outlets to discuss her coverage. She was a Stigler Center Journalist-in-Residence at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in the spring of 2019. Before joining Business Insider, she was a journalist in Seoul, South Korea. Her articles were published in The Washington Post, Forbes, Foreign Policy, The Ringer, Quartz, CityLab, Business of Fashion, The Verge, and others. She's also published research on the Korean and Japanese economies in SAGE Business Researcher, a business school textbook.  Originally from Metro Detroit, Rachel studied history at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her Twitter account is @rrpre If you'd like to get in touch with Rachel, please email her at rpremack@bjinnox.com or rpremack@protonmail.com