The Newest Numbers in ‘Commuter Pain’ Worldwide

 We know traffic is bad, and it’s getting worse. But just how much do people hate their commutes around the world?

IBM did a survey of 8,042 commuters in 20 cities on six continents. What they found was a whole lot of unhappiness: worldwide, drivers report more stress and frustration related to commuting — though funny enough, many cities showed big jumps in respondents who said roadway traffic has improved either “somewhat” or “substantially” in the past three years. And they’re not wrong – many of the cities, including Bangalore, Mexico City, Beijing and New Delhi, have made huge investments to reduce road congestion, and they appear to have lessened some of the mess.

 There was some illuminating news about public transit: Forty one percent of commuters globally said improved public transportation would help reduce stress.

 And that’s in part out of desperation — 86% of respondents in Beijing, 87% in Shenzhen, 70% in New Delhi and 61% in Nairobi said traffic was a key inhibitor to their work or school performance. Meanwhile 67% of drivers in Mexico City, 63% in Shenzhen and New Delhi and 61% in Beijing said they’d decided against a car trip in the last month due to anticipated traffic.Here’s a rundown of the full “Commuter Pain Index”: