Which Countries Have the Highest and Lowest Public Transport Costs Worldwide?

Public transport cost refers to the amount passengers pay to use services like buses, subways, trams, and trains. This cost varies widely depending on government subsidies, labor and fuel costs, infrastructure investment, and the overall cost of living in a country.

The comparison of public transport prices across 173 countries reveals significant disparities when indexed to a global average of 100. At the top of the list is Iceland, scoring 377.73—approximately 3.78 times more expensive than the global average. This is followed by Sweden (362.36), Japan (338.21), Norway (336.83), and the United Kingdom (331.58), indicating that Northern and Western European countries, as well as Japan, tend to have the highest relative costs.

These higher scores are often attributed to factors such as high labor and energy costs, investment in infrastructure, and limited government subsidies in some cases. For instance, Scandinavian countries maintain extensive transport systems in low-density, high-cost environments, contributing to elevated fare levels. In Japan, complex urban rail networks operated by private firms, combined with high service reliability and maintenance costs, help explain its position near the top.

Countries in the middle of the distribution include France (239.07), Germany (251.93), and the United States (151.89), whose public transport costs are around 2.4 to 1.5 times the global average. South Korea, often cited for its affordable and efficient subway systems, ranks 45th with a score of 148.89—about 1.49 times the global average.

Toward the lower end of the chart are countries such as Syria (15.64), Ethiopia (31.77), and Algeria (34.46). Syria, with the lowest score in the dataset, has public transport costs just 0.16 times the global average. These lower-cost countries are often characterized by lower labor costs, limited infrastructure, and sometimes government-subsidized transport systems. However, low prices do not necessarily indicate high accessibility or service quality.

This index-based approach provides a useful lens to understand the relative burden of public transport costs across countries. Unlike absolute fare comparisons, which can be misleading due to currency value differences and purchasing power disparities, this method standardizes the metric around a global average. It helps highlight how much more or less a country’s average fare level compares to a globally representative baseline.

Interestingly, many of the countries near the global average—such as China (99.85), Iraq (99.03), and North Macedonia (100.77)—suggest some degree of affordability and balance between operational cost and subsidy. Countries slightly above or below the average may offer reasonable fare systems with varying levels of coverage, accessibility, and infrastructure maturity.

Overall, the data suggest that high-income, urbanized countries tend to have more expensive public transport, which may reflect higher quality and reliability but also higher cost burdens for users. Conversely, many low-income countries offer cheaper fares, but often at the cost of reduced service scope, frequency, and comfort. Therefore, cost alone does not fully explain the overall effectiveness or accessibility of a country’s public transportation system.