As of a few years ago, 36% of poor adults work at least half the year and 25% work full time. Original sources cited here:

http://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2011/why_the_poor_dont_wor...

You could be right that transit takes up a lot of time, but why rely on anecdote? Stats are available. I linked to them. And if it wasn't 1:30AM (in India) when I posted that, I'd probably have munged them myself.