New York City has outpaced London, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong as global business centers—and investment in public transportation is one of the reasons why, according to the Global Cities Index released April 2 by Bloomberg Rankings.

The study judged 66 of the world’s busiest commercial urban centers on 25 variables across five criteria: business activity, labor force, access to media and information, cultural amenities, and political influence. Government and corporate leaders cited public transit investment as a major consideration, along with education, public safety, sustainable energy production, and conservation.

A.T. Kearney concluded that New York’s diverse economy—driven by media, arts, fashion, technology, finance, and a diverse labor force—made the city the world’s most attractive to conduct business.

“Our goal was to find a measure that would help corporate and government decision-makers determine which of the world's cities will best attract and shape the future flow of people, ideas, capital and goods,” said Mike Hales, a partner at A.T. Kearney, a Chicago-based consulting firm that helped Bloomberg conduct the study.

The selection of New York for the top spot is the fourth in recent months. Studies published in The Economist and Euromoney magazines also cited the city as the world’s leading urban business center, and the city received the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize for “leadership and achievement” in conservation and safety policies last month in Singapore.

“With more than half the world's people now living in cities, and with three-fourths of the people on Earth expected to be city dwellers by midcentury, cities around the globe, including New York, must confront all the effects of this urban growth,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in accepting the award in Singapore. “Such projects can also be catalysts for private-sector investment.”