MOOVIT world survey: How does your transit commute compare to the rest of the world?

How does the experience of using public transit compare around the world? How long do you wait for the bus or train? And, what frustrates you most along the way? We surveyed nearly 12,000 transit riders to find out.

Transit takes time.

A. lot. of. time. Nearly 2 hours on average. Bogota and Los Angeles are in a dead heat for the most time spent on transit, with 134 and 133 minutes each day respectively. Imagine if LA residents could spend those hours working at minimum wage; they’d each make an extra $4,209 a year! Ouch.

Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and Buenos Aires passengers also report spending 2 hours every day on transit – a huge part of their daily routine. And New York is right behind, with 114 minutes per day on transit.

Bogota and Rio de Janeiro came in tied for second, with 41 min of wait time each day- over a week a year.

Looking on the bright side — if you’re headed to other European cities, things are a bit brighter. Barcelona reports the least time waiting, with only 22 min each day. And Paris, Barcelona, and Milan report the most efficient transit systems – those cities spend the lowest percentage of their total trip time just waiting for transit to arrive (23%-26% of the total trip time).

Waiting is not fun.

We asked people what bothers them the most about transit. Before using Moovit, most reported being most frustrated that they didn’t know when bus/train would arrive (81%). We also saw a correlation between satisfaction and lower wait times: passengers report being most satisfied with transit in London (96%), Barcelona (92%), and Paris (90%) after using Moovit.

Ok, so there’s some good news. We have zero control over delays, overcrowding, or that driver who woke up on the wrong side of the bed (if only!). But Moovit can help you find out what time transit will arrive, and cut down on that nasty wait time. In Santiago and Bogota, for example, having more info raised satisfaction more than 30%.