London voted world's best city for public transport

LONDON - It will be news for most Londoners accustomed to being packed on underground trains or facing long waits for buses, but the capital has been voted the best city in the world for public transport.

One-quarter of international travellers picked London as the easiest city to get around, ahead of New York (16 per cent) and Paris (12 per cent). Los Angeles came bottom in the survey by TripAdvisor.

But London's public transport is also considered to be the most expensive, according to the survey.

Nearly a quarter of the 2,000 respondents, and 62 per cent of Britons polled, voted London transport the most expensive.

London cabbies topped the poll as being the best, while New York, Mexico City and Paris were considered to have the world's worst taxis.

Nearly three in five said they had been "taken for a ride" during their travels by taxi drivers overcharging and/or taking them on a wrong or longer route.

Washington DC, which was voted fourth overall, was considered to have the cleanest and safest public transport system.

More than 70 per cent of travellers said they use public transport while holidaying in a city away from home and three-quarters of the respondents said a city's public transport system was a consideration when determining where to visit.

Nine per cent of respondents said they would avoid using public transport because of recent concerns about terrorist threats.

"London's public transport services get a lot of bad press but it seems that the international travelling community think it's the tops all round, even taking into account that it is also thought to be the most expensive, " said TripAdvisor's director of communications Michele Perry.

- REUTERS