Think you've got a bad commute? IBM feels your pain. The tech giant surveyed over 8,000 commuters in 20 cities around the world to find the city with the unenviable title of having the worst commute on Earth:
According to IBM, the cities with the most "commuter pain"--hours spent in traffic, high price of gas, high stress, etc.--include Shenzen, Beijing, and Nairobi. The least painful commutes take place in Chicago, London, and Montreal. Overall, there has been a decrease in traffic since IBM first conducted its survey four years ago, largely because of high fuel prices and weak economies.
I've lived and commuted in NYC, London, Chicago, and Beijing, and spent considerable time in Montreal, Paris, Shenzhen, Denpasar, and Bangkok.
Of course, that's not all of them, but that experience, this result is fairly accurate to how much effort I spent at each place offsetting my commute: books-on-tape, changing commute times, etc
"I once spent a bad day..." that's not an average, that's an outlying worst-case. 10 yrs ago today it took me 12 hours to get home, but that's an aberrant single datum.
I can only feel sorry for Mexico City, if it's worse than Shenzhen. Wow... but the Mexicans I talk to never complain!