T he annual IBM survey of the daily commute in a cross-section of some of the most economically important international cities reveals a startling dichotomy: While the commute has become a lot more bearable during the past year, drivers’ complaints have spiked.

The Commuter Pain Survey reveals that in a number of cities, more people are taking public transportation rather than driving, when compared with last year’s survey. In many cities, there were big jumps in the percentage of respondents who said that roadway traffic has improved either “somewhat” or “substantially” in the past three years.

Figure 1: The IBM Commuter Pain Index ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in 20 international cities. From right to left, cities are plotted from least painful starting with Montreal and gradually increase to the most painful, Mexico City.

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