Frequent Riders: A Global Snapshot of Transit Use

Public transport use varies widely across the world, as shown by a recent Statista Consumer Insights survey covering a dozen countries. In the city-state of Singapore, nearly two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) say they use local public transport at least twice a week, by far the highest share among the countries surveyed. In more detail, one-third of Singaporeans say they use this mode of transportation daily or almost. Frequent use, defined here as more than once a week, is also relatively common in South Korea (38 percent) and the Philippines (37 percent), reflecting the importance of public transit systems in many Asian countries.

In Europe and other developed markets, regular transit use is more moderate. Around a quarter of respondents in Germany and the United Kingdom report using public transport at least twice a week (25 percent each), while the share is slightly lower in Australia (23 percent). France and Brazil both stand at 21 percent.

At the lower end of the ranking are South Africa (13 percent) and the United States (12 percent), where public transport plays a smaller role in everyday mobility. In these countries, lower usage rates are often linked to higher car dependency, more dispersed urban development and less extensive transit networks.