It’s official: London’s public transport is now the most expensive in the world

To the despair of commuters across the city, train fares across London went up last weekend. That’s right, on March 2, the daily cap for Zone 1 travel rose by 40p from £8.50 to £8.90, while the cap for travelling across zones 1, 2 and 3 increased to £10.50. 

And, we hate to break it to you, but those price hikes have officially made London’s underground train network the most expensive in the entire world. That’s according to research carried out by the Telegraph. 

The paper looked at the cost of ten major metro systems across the globe. It acknowledged that it’s difficult to make perfect comparisons between each metro system, since each uses different pricing structures. But it’s when we compare their standard prices that London seems particularly extortionate. 

Its survey found that while Berlin is still more expensive when it comes to single tickets in the central zone (£2.80 versus £3.14), London pips it to the post for 24-hour tickets. London’s highest daily cap is £16.30 (for zones 1 to 6) while the German capital’s equates to just £10.17. 

Prices in Paris and Washington are also significantly cheaper (starting at £1.65 and £1.78 respectively). TfL’s standard £2.40 single fares are triple those in Seoul (77p) and Tokyo (95p) and twice the price of those in Madrid (£1.24). 

These are the metro prices in 10 major world cities (with prices for single tickets in central zones and 24 hour/ one day ticket)

1. London: £2.80-£2.90 and £8.90-£16.30 
2. Berlin: £2.15-£3.14 and £8.19-£10.17
3. New York: £2.29, one day ticket N/A
4. Barcelona: £2.19 and £9.55
5. Washington DC: £1.78 and £10.65
6. Milan: £1.82 and £6.28
7. Paris: £1.65-£2.07 and £9.93
8. Madrid: £1.24 and £8.24
9. Tokyo: 95p and £4.23
10. Seoul: 77p, one day ticket N/A

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson said: ‘Other international cities have a much larger proportion of their costs covered by government subsidies or dedicated taxes, with subsidies and taxes in many major European and North American metros accounting for around 40-60 per cent of their revenues.

‘If these weren't in place, fares in those countries would likely either be more in line with, or more expensive than, TfL’s fares. We are committed to keeping fares as affordable as possible while ensuring public transport is as safe, reliable and accessible as possible. Furthermore, bus and tram fares, which are already among the lowest in the UK, have been frozen for a further year until March 2026.’

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