The Happiest Commuters in Bogotá

Darío Hidalgo shares survey results on happiness among bicyclists in cities around the world, starting in Colombia.

Across Colombia’s cities, bicycle users are the most satisfied commuters, according to a new survey. In 2016, 86 percent of bicyclists in 18 cities were satisfied with their commutes, compared to just 48 percent for mass transit and 74 percent for those using taxis.

In Bogotá in 2017, for the first time, there were more survey respondents using bicycles than cars – 9 percent vs. 8 percent – with a satisfaction rate of 85 percent for bicycles against 75 percent for private vehicles. Only 19 percent users of the city’s bus rapid transit system, TransMilenio, reported being satisfied with its service.

According to Hidalgo, the findings in Colombia are consistent with European cities, as reported in the Global Happiness Report. Still, a few caveats are necessary. As Hidalgo notes, the Global Happiness Report includes a lot of non-commute factors, so "these data don´t necessarily mean that putting a random person on a bicycle will make her happy, or that having many bicycle users will solve all of a city’s problems." Bicycling can help, however.