Large meta-studies come to the conclusion that while drivers feel a higher level of ‘control’ over their journeys, sometimes, as long as services are of a good quality and on time, public transport users show lower levels of stress and higher levels of mental wellbeing. Interestingly if people have walked or cycled as part of their journey, happiness increases even further.

We’ve been very focused on transport recently at Creative Concern, an ongoing stream of work that just reached a bit of an apex as we helped our wonderful colleagues at the International Association of Public Transport ( UITP ) launch the first ever World Public Transport Day on 17 April.

The launch rolled out across over 70 countries and saw people across the world coming together to celebrate all that public transport systems bring to our lives, our cities and our economies. We had a ‘sentimeter’ tracking the overall feelings expressed by the many thousands of posts, stories and stunts that took place: we registered 96.7% ‘joy’ in the global conversation. There’s that happiness factor again.

Conversely, when we’ve been out and about here in the UK doing panels, focus groups and workshops for the likes of the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom, Urban Transport Group, or more recently the team at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, it’s striking how little enjoyment people express about their driving experience. We hear about too much speeding, aggressive driving, congestion, not finding somewhere to park, even LED-headlights that make night-driving a squinting white-knuckle ride; sitting in Carriage C or on the Number 42 with a book and your airpods in? Definitely preferable.

And to go a little further, the places we go are emotional as well as physical. There’s a lot of love out there for public transport – more than we possibly thought, and even before we helped launch a global day in its honour. Given the chance, people will literally dance and sing about the tram, the bus or the train that makes life work and that takes them to places old and new. Public transport connects us to places, to family and friends, it joins us together in a completely different kind of way. Stand in an arrivals area of a busy station and just watch how many hugs get given out as the very warmest of welcomes. It’s also the person you chat to on the train, the bus driver you see every morning, and the engineers who keep it all moving. Transport delivers us to gigs and culture, job interviews, days out, major family moments, even conventions with thousands of others who share our passion for some quirky bit of sub-culture.

A kaleidoscope of human emotions and experiences, tapping in, and tapping out.

If you’d like to engage the other hemisphere on this one too, there’s an incredibly rational and compelling economic, social and environmental case to be made for public transport too. It’s the ultimate tool for sustainable placemaking.

Compared with private cars, mass public transport can produce about 45–50% less CO₂ and roughly half or more of key pollutants per passenger‑kilometre. One full bus can replace around 40 cars, a metro or tram will displace up to 600 cars and a lovely commuter train up to 1,500 – all dramatically cutting emissions and air pollution per person moved.

All over the world we measure this contribution in very real and economic terms. Barcelona has worked out that its public transport network generates about €30.7 million per year in environmental savings alone, part of a wider €706.5 million in combined social and environmental payback. In Washington DC, using public transport is around 20 times safer than driving, avoiding nearly 30 deaths, about 2,500 injuries and saving US$950 million a year in collision costs alone. In Europe, public transport contributes €130–150 billion per year to the economy and creates roughly 25% more jobs than equivalent investment in road infrastructure.

And this is the fairer way to get moving around, too. In the Netherlands for example, a car‑owning family spends about €400 per month on mobility, compared with roughly €17 for families relying on public transport. Studies in Europe, North America and Asia for example all show the same thing: public transport widens access and economically empowers far more people than places that are designed for, around and because of the car. Public transport also makes mobility work for people with disabilities, and reduces their need to spend out on taxis, or being reliant on others. Empowering, once again.

World Public Transport Day was for sure, 96.7% joy. In fact I think we’d be allowed to round it up to 100% to be honest. More importantly though, it was a success, because right across the world people seized upon the chance to do something they’d clearly been wanting to do for some time. Film a reel of themselves dancing and singing on a platform. Dress up, do something daft or just have fun. At the more advanced end, they lit up the Burj Khalifa and did a light show on Niagara Falls (yes, that really happened).