Prague station tops list of the world's most stressful train and metro stops

Ever get stressed commuting in Prague? It’s no wonder if you do, based on a recent study by FleetLogging which named Prague’s Čakovice overground stop as the world’s most stressful train or metro station, alongside Minsk’s Uručča station.

Through the use of TesniStrength, an academic tool used to gauge stress levels in written text, FleetLogging analyzed the stress levels of Google Maps reviews for train and metro stations all over the world. The results aren’t good news for Prague’s public transport authorities, with Čakovice assigned a 100 percent stress score based on online reviews.

Analysis using TensiStrength suggested that all of the reviews left for Čakovice exhibited some level of stress. Nonetheless, and in Čakovice's defence, reviews for Uručča seem to indicate an even more negative experience.

“Not very reasonable guards, who do nothing useful, create an illusion of security, do not know how to communicate normally, and who waste my money and the money of other taxpayers,” exploded one disgruntled traveler through the Belarusian station.

Visitors to Čakovice were meanwhile left severely unimpressed by the quality of the station's pub and waiting room.

Surprisingly, public transportation networks around the world which are typically perceived as carrying greater levels of stress, such as London’s nightmarishly complex Tube system and the New York Subway, scored far lower on the stress indicator test. South Harrow was London’s most stressful Tube stop at 62.5 percent, while Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer was New York’s worst stop on 66.7 percent.

“Not a nice place to be at night,” wrote one reviewer for South Harrow, while a Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer commuter described a “dirty, smelly, overcrowded Subway, with guys hanging around harassing me and other women”.

The Prague metro map remains comparatively simple compared to the complex networks of London and New York. A new “D” line is, however, slated to start construction soon following the completion of a lengthy tender process. The D line will run between Pankrác and Nové Dvory, branching off from the existing C line. An additional section running north from Pankrác to Náměstí Míru is also planned for the future.

Prague Metro recently reported a sharp drop in passenger numbers for 2020 as a result of the Covid pandemic. A total of 251,423,000 passengers used the network last year, which is 40 percent less than in 2019. The most-used metro stop was Můstek, where lines A and B intersect, while the most-used section of the network was on line C, between Vyšehrad and I.P. Pavlova.

Passenger numbers on Prague’s public transport may be lower than usual. But as Covid restrictions ease and foreign tourists slowly return to the capital, more stressful days may lie ahead for commuters. And, if the FleetLogging report is to be believed, especially those unlucky enough to travel through Prague-Čakovice station.