Passenger bus and urban transit, 2020

Released: 2022-06-03

Highlights

Because of lockdowns and travel restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant, but uneven, impact on Canadian passenger bus and urban transit industries in 2020.

Financially, total operating revenues reported by passenger bus and urban transit operators decreased 9.7% to $13.5 billion, compared with 2019. Total operating expenses were down 9.8% to $14.3 billion.

In terms of activity, the impact of the pandemic hit some types, such as charter and airport shuttle services, much harder than others. On the other hand, urban transit continued to operate as an essential service.

Urban transit

Canadian urban transit agencies, which account for roughly three-quarters (75.9%) of passenger bus and urban transit, reported operating revenues of $10.3 billion in 2020, down 6.2% from 2019. However, revenues were bolstered by a notable increase in operating subsidies, which were up sharply by 55.4% to $6.5 billion in 2020. This large increase was partly attributable to the federal Safe Restart Agreement announced in July 2020, along with various other municipal and provincial support programs.

The main impact of the pandemic was on public transit ridership, which fell 57.1% from 2019, down to 1.1 billion trips. As part of the efforts to contain the spread of the virus during the initial wave of the pandemic, various measures were taken and working from home was required for non-essential workers.

The proportion of the employed labour force working from home peaked at over 40% in April 2020. From April 2020 to May 2021, a study on working from home estimated that, on average, each 10% increase in the percentage of Canadians that worked from home was associated with an almost equivalent decline of 9.4% in the number of transit passengers.

Despite this loss in ridership, a certain service level was maintained, since urban transit was considered essential. In 2020, agencies provided 1.27 billion in vehicle-kilometres of service, or more than 95% of the 2019 level (1.33 billion vehicle-kilometres). As such, expenses remained more or less the same despite the decline in ridership and, consequently, in revenue.

According to the Monthly passenger bus release, in March 2022, two years after the onset of the pandemic, passenger volumes had recovered just over half (52.1%) of the March 2019 pre-pandemic level. Ridership has been slow to recover and, despite continued investments in transit infrastructure, a full recovery may prove to be slow.

Passenger bus services hit hard

Establishments in the charter bus and sightseeing industries and those in the interurban and rural bus transportation industries were hit hard by the pandemic in 2020. Compared with 2019, total revenues decreased by 57.7% to $287.9 million in the charter bus and sightseeing industries, and by 37.8% to $171.1 million in the interurban and rural bus transportation industries, largely because of lockdowns and travel bans to help combat COVID-19.

The school and employee bus transportation industry was less impacted by the pandemic financially, posting a slight decline in total revenue of 5.2% to $2.4 billion from 2019. Despite cancellations because of at-home learning, school bus service contracts, for example, are signed yearly and would have been negotiated before the pandemic and would therefore have remained in effect.

Chart 1 
Intercity revenues and expenses

Chart 2 
Canadian passenger bus and urban transit industries

Chart 3 
Canadian passenger bus and urban transit industries, equipment operated

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).