Everyday, at the break of dawn, daily-wage workers begin making their way to construction sites, workshops and other worksites. A little later, office-goers get ready for the day, stepping out in pressed clothes and making their way to air-conditioned workplaces by car, bus, metro or local train. Different jobs, different destinations, but one thing ties these journeys together, the cost of getting there. Up until now, the government didn’t have a solid report on the commute cost, but recently it took its first-ever nationwide household travel survey which says that India spends an average of INR 785 a month for travelling to work.
The National Statistics Office (NSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) conducted a survey between July 2025 and June 2026, which cited the commute cost an average Indian bears everyday. According to the study, the average worker commute cost was INR 785 per month, with workers commuting to a fixed workplace spending INR 1,044 per month in urban areas and INR 612 per month in rural regions.
It also cited that an average male worker spends a little more than that of his female counterpart. For a man the report came up to INR 835 per month on fixed-workplace commutes while for a woman it was INR 533 per month. The survey was in context to travellers commuting more than 1km to reach their workplace.
The travel time is also taken into consideration which of course varies from rural areas to urban localities. For those travelling to a fixed workplace, the average journey takes about 25 minutes. Rural workers spend around 23 minutes on the journey, while urban workers take slightly longer at 27 minutes.
The differences become more interesting when viewed across regions. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh record average travel times of roughly 20 to 23 minutes, while some southern states report longer journeys with Bengaluru of course leading the time chart. In parts of the Northeast, including Assam and neighbouring states, average travel times are considerably shorter, at around 15 to 19 minutes.
When it comes to beating the traffic and moving along smoothly, two-wheelers are India's clear favourite, accounting for 37.1 percent of rural worker commutes and 52.3 percent of urban ones. For students, walking is clearly the dominant mode at 37 percent when it comes to cost-cutting, followed by buses at 29.5 percent and bicycles at 15.8 percent.
Public rail-based transport, including metros, suburban trains, monorails and trams, makes up around 5 percent of urban worker commutes nationally. In some states, however, the dependence on rail is far greater: it accounts for 20.7 per cent of commutes in Maharashtra, 16.5 per cent in West Bengal and 14.4 per cent in Delhi. Metros often help beat the traffic and help travellers commute in a comparative luxe with its ACs and better regulations.
Railway usage for overnight journeys is about 14 percent among rural households and around 22.7 percent among urban households.
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