The Burrow
Oct 27, 2025
Public transport is key to having a productive and efficient city. It’s critical to transport workers, students and commuters, plus mass transit can reduce the number of drivers on the road, helping scale back a city’s emissions.
Public transport is great, but it isn’t usually free. So, which countries and cities have the most expensive public transport?
The travel insurance comparison experts at Compare the Market have gone through the numbers for one-way tickets and monthly passes, giving them an indexed score out of 10 for 123 countries.
So hop on board as we take a look at the data.
Taking the top spot as the country with the most expensive public transport is Iceland, scoring 8.75/10. Iceland had the most expensive average one-way ticket price at AU$7.94. Iceland also had the 11th most expensive monthly price at $131.85.
At the city level, Iceland’s capital Reykjavik was the most expensive city for public transport fares at $7.94, beating out 318 other cities in the analysis.
Switzerland is known for being very pricey to live in, and the public transport costs are no exception. Switzerland has the third-highest one-way ticket average at $6.36 (just beaten by Norway at $6.54), and the third-highest monthly travel pass price at $149.70.
Three of the top 10 most expensive cities for public transport were in Switzerland. Basel had an average fare of $7.49, Lausanne had an average fare of $7.31, and Zurich had an average of $7.11.
Continuing a top-three European sweepstake of the most expensive countries for public transport is the Netherlands. The Netherlands had the fifth-most expensive one-way ticket at an average of $5.67, and the ninth-highest monthly pass average at $139.68.
Sitting between the Netherlands and Switzerland – two of the most expensive countries for public transport – is the small European nation of Luxembourg, where public transport is completely free. Since 2020, trains, trams and buses have been free for locals and tourists – unless you wish to purchase first-class tickets, which aren’t free.1
Ranked as the second-cheapest nation is Nicaragua, which had the third-cheapest one-way ticket price at AU$0.21 and the third-cheapest monthly pass cost at $9.02. While Malta had a cheaper monthly pass average cost, it had a much more expensive one-way ticket cost, which is why Nicaragua is ranked second.
Based on index score, Sri Lanka is ranked as the third cheapest country overall. However, when looking at fares and monthly passes, Sri Lanka had an average fare of $0.27 – the fifth cheapest – and the fifth-cheapest average monthly pass cost of $9.93. Other countries that had slightly cheaper monthly pass costs, like Egypt, but they had higher one-way fares, which helped Sri Lanka make the podium in third place based on its overall index score.
The top 10 most expensive and top 10 cheapest countries for public transport are displayed in the tables below. Click here to view the full list of 123 countries and 319 cities.
| Country | One-way Ticket average (AU) | Monthly Travel Pass (AU) | INDEX SCORE |
| Iceland | $7.94 | $131.85 | 8.75 |
| Switzerland | $6.36 | $149.70 | 8.27 |
| Netherlands | $5.67 | $139.68 | 7.55 |
| Denmark | $5.61 | $140.33 | 7.53 |
| Sweden | $5.82 | $135.41 | 7.52 |
| Norway | $6.54 | $115.73 | 7.41 |
| United Kingdom | $5.07 | $141.80 | 7.23 |
| New Zealand | $3.51 | $175.80 | 7.21 |
| Australia | $4.59 | $140.13 | 6.88 |
| Finland | $5.58 | $104.76 | 6.50 |
| Country | One-way Ticket average (AU) | Monthly Travel Pass (AU) | INDEX SCORE |
| Luxembourg | $0.00 | $0.00 | 0.00 |
| Nicaragua | $0.21 | $9.02 | 0.39 |
| Sri Lanka | $0.27 | $9.93 | 0.45 |
| Syria | $0.15 | $12.75 | 0.46 |
| Pakistan | $0.27 | $10.61 | 0.47 |
| Madagascar | $0.35 | $10.97 | 0.53 |
| Mongolia | $0.23 | $13.53 | 0.53 |
| Egypt | $0.44 | $9.56 | 0.55 |
| Tajikistan | $0.39 | $11.82 | 0.58 |
| Vietnam | $0.45 | $11.39 | 0.61 |
| Expensive city | Average one-way ticket price (AU) | Cheapest city | Average one-way ticket (AU) |
| Reykjavik, Iceland | $7.94 | Luxembourg, Luxembourg | $0.00 |
| Basel, Switzerland | $7.49 | Belgrade, Serbia | $0.00 |
| Lausanne, Switzerland | $7.31 | Batumi, Georgia | $0.17 |
| Munich, Germany | $7.16 | Alexandria, Egypt | $0.23 |
| Zurich, Switzerland | $7.11 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | $0.24 |
| Rotterdam, Netherlands | $6.99 | Kolkata, India | $0.26 |
| Trondheim, Norway | $6.84 | Colombo, Sri Lanka | $0.26 |
| Stockholm, Sweden | $6.77 | Rawalpindi/Lahore/Islamabad, Pakistan | $0.27 |
| Stavanger, Norway | $6.69 | Astana, Kazakhstan | $0.30 |
| Frankfurt, Germany | $6.63 | Jakarta, Indonesia/Kathmandu, Nepal | $0.32 |
Australia was ranked the ninth most expensive in the world for public transport costs. In 2023’s edition of the data, Australia was ranked as the third-most expensive. Areas in the state of Queensland have moved to $AU0.50 for public transport.2 This has drastically reduced the cost of public transport in a number of cities, and lowered Australia’s national average.
If you’re planning on travelling to a new city, public transport can be a convenient way to get around. Executive General Manager of General Insurance, Adrian Taylor, explained that travel insurance can cover the cost of a variety of things, including travel-related bookings.
“Sometimes things go wrong, and your pre-paid bookings might be missed. This includes accommodation, events, flights, but also public transport tickets,” Mr Taylor explained.
“If you can prove you pre-purchased a ticket or monthly pass that you can’t use due to an insured event outside of your control, travel insurance can cover the money lost on the travel pass, subject to any policy excess.
“Further, if you need extra accommodation or alternative transport to continue your holiday or get home, travel insurance can cover related expenses to, subject to the policy terms. Be sure to read through the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD) for details.”
Public transport average prices were sourced from Numbeo on 29/08/2025 and are subject to change, and are averages based on user-submitted costs. To create an index, the national average one-way fare and national average monthly pass were given a score out of 10 for each country, with the most expensive getting a score of 10 and the lowest getting a score of zero. All other nations received a score between zero and 10 based on their costs in comparison to each other. These two scores out of 10 were then averaged together to create an equally weighted index score.
The city-specific prices referred to in the article did not form part of the index and did not impact national average calculations. The sources for the particular data points are listed below.
The figures were converted into Australian dollars using an exchange rate of $1 USD to $1.50 AUD, using information from Google’s currency converter tool, accurate as of 12/09/2025, which is subject to change.
References:
1 Public Transport. Luxembourg. 2025.
2 50 cent fares are here. Translink. 2025.
Previous edition of the content available here.