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If you think your Oyster card is to blame for your bank balance’s permanent residence in the red, then you might be on to something. New research has confirmed that London’s travel cards are by far the most expensive in the world. FML, TfL.
A monthly travel card in London costs £135 on average, according to the Deutsche Bank study.
Dublin came in second place with monthly travel setting residents back £102, while Auckland comes in third at £95. Mumbai is the cheapest city to get around, with a monthly travel card costing over 12 times less than in London at £11.
And in more depressing news about our cost of living compared to the rest of the world, London is the fourth most expensive for rent, and among the top ten most costly for gym membership.
Plus, our average wages aren't even in the world's top ten. At £2,150 our income is a third lower than in New York and sees us rank lower than Oslo, Copenhagen, Sydney and Tokyo.
Oh, and to top it all off, we only rank 33rd for quality of life. Though if you can stop yourself from crying into your Oyster wallet for a minute, the report offers a more positive way of looking at things: ‘London [and other big cities] rank very low mostly due to high living costs, crime, pollution and commuting time,’ it explains.
But here's the clincher: ‘This is highly subjective and one person’s long commute may be another person’s chance to catch up on Netflix’. Sure, whittling away the highest amount money in the world to be crammed under someone’s armpit for an extended period really isn’t so bad when you can catch up on the newest episodes of House of Cards.
Though, surprisingly, London isn't the most expensive city in the world.