TimeOut ranks Prague's public transport as the second best in the world

Prague has the second-best transport system in the world, according to a survey by leisure magazine TimeOut. 

A study that encompassed over 50 cities asked locals one question: “Is it easy to get around your city by public transport?” Remarkably, 96 percent of people in Czechia’s capital agreed. This is certainly not the first time that Prague has scored so well in public-transit rankings.

In the 2022 Expat Insider report, Prague was also ranked the second-best city for transit and travel options, out of 50 countries internationally assessed. A separate 2019 study, for example, found that Prague had the sixth-fastest public transport in the world. 

In 2017, the city’s public transit was ranked the fifth-best in the world by the International Automobile Federation. 

Perhaps surprisingly, a joint study by the Oliver Wyman think tank and the University of California’s Institute of Transportation Studies in 2022 did not feature Prague in its top-10 global ranking for best public transit systems.

Prague is also investing heavily in improving the city’s public transport – in March it confirmed it would spend about CZK 11.5 billion on transport-related developments. Metro line D alone will take up CZK 5 billion of this funding.

The metro system, currently about 65 kilometers long, is to become even more accessible and inter-connected this decade, with the planned opening of the new D line. It will link the south of the city, from náměstí Míru to Písnice in Prague 12. 

One downfall of Prague’s transit system is its lack of direct connection from Václav Havel Airport to the city center – one Czech journalist writes that this makes it “practically incompatible” with a list of the world’s best public transport systems. However, a direct train connection is set to be completed within the next 10 years. 

With millions of people using Prague’s public transport every week, the well-connected network is a fundamental pillar of the city on which so many rely. TimeOut’s survey shows that, on a global perspective, the transit system is extremely well-run.