In my earlier article, Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work, I explored how Indians travel to their workplaces and how commuting patterns vary across states. Let's call it the first part of the series. Today, I look at what these journeys cost.
We are discussing the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation's Household Travel Survey 2025-26. It's an extensive dataset covering travel for work and education. The data shows that the average Indian spends Rs. 785 a month on commuting to the workplace. But the cost changes depending on where you live.
For instance, the rural average is Rs. 612, while in cities, it's Rs. 1,044. In Delhi (Rs. 2,038), people spend almost five times what those living in Madhya Pradesh (Rs. 428) spend monthly. This disparity may stem from multiple factors, including the cost of living, job types, salaries, commute modes, distance, income levels, and more.
Urban Commuting Costs are Usually Higher
The most insightful data is the urban-rural difference.
Urban workers usually spend Rs. 432 (or 1.7x) more than their rural counterparts. In some states, it is much larger. In Nagaland, average monthly costs jump from Rs. 350 in rural areas to Rs. 1,255 in urban areas, almost four times. Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh also see wider gaps.
These differences could arise from longer distances, higher fares, greater reliance on paid transport, or simply a different mix of jobs.
There are exceptions too. In Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and a few smaller states, rural workers actually spend more than urban workers.
Then there's the gender gap. Commuting costs rise nearly three times for women moving from villages to cities, from Rs. 307 to Rs. 884 a month. For men, the increase is smaller, from Rs. 674 to Rs. 1,076, or 1.6 times. Nationally, women spend Rs. 533 a month commuting, compared with Rs. 835 for men. The figures show how commuting costs vary by both gender and where people live.
Are Walkers and Cyclists Pulling Down the Average?
But then comes the next question: are commutes in villages actually cheaper, or does the choice of transport matter?
The survey does not give a mode-wise breakdown of commuting costs. As we saw in Part 1, how people travel to work varies across states. Walking and cycling account for nearly 39% of journeys nationwide. These are almost free modes of transport. People don't incur costs every month.
In Bihar, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh, they account for around 57% to 69% of workers' primary modes. These states also report lower commuting costs.
To explore this further, I recalculated the cost by excluding workers choosing to walk and cycle. This adjustment provides an estimate of how the figures might look if we consider only those who pay for transport. I used a simplistic approach to arrive at these numbers: Adjusted costs = Reported costs  (100 - Combined share of walking and cycling).
Adjusted Costs Change the Picture
If we exclude these zero-cost journeys, the average rises from Rs. 785 to Rs. 1,287. The change is large in rural India, where the average jumps from Rs. 612 to Rs.1,224. In cities, it increases from Rs.1,044 to Rs.1,294. As a result, the urban-rural gap shrinks from Rs. 432 a month to just Rs. 70.
That tells us something important. Rural commuting looks much cheaper partly because more people walk or cycle. The same may be true for some states with low average costs. In other words, the difference arises due to choice of mode rather than the cost of buses, trains or private vehicles.
This is not a criticism of the survey. Walking and cycling are real commuting choices, so it is entirely reasonable to count them as zero-cost modes. The exercise asks a different question: what does commuting cost look like for workers who actually spend money? Seen this way, much of the low-cost rural advantage disappears, and that's obvious. Fuel costs for scooters and operating costs of buses don't differ much within the state.
Of course, this is only a rough exercise, and we need better data to estimate actual costs per mode of transport accurately.
Still, this matters. When people move to towns and cities for work, they also need to think about the cost of getting to work, along with rent, food and other expenses. For many workers, this can be expensive. Policymakers should keep that in mind when thinking about migration, jobs and the cost of living in cities.
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