Urban public transit, April 2024
Released: 2024-06-18
Highlights
In April, Canada's urban transit ridership reached 131.6 million trips—recovering 83.7% of its April 2019 level, pre-COVID-19 pandemic—the highest recovery rate to date.
Total passenger trips and operating revenue for selected urban transit agencies are available in table 23-10-0307-01.
Ridership recovery continues
Canada's urban transit networks provided 131.6 million passenger trips in April, up 15.5% (+17.7 million trips) compared with the same month in 2023 and marking 37 consecutive months of year-over-year increases.
Growth in employment in service sectors, including accommodation and food services, along with higher gas prices may have bolstered public transit ridership in April 2024, with passenger trips reaching more than 83% of the pre-pandemic level recorded in April 2019. While this represented the highest rate of recovery to date, there were 25.7 million fewer rides in April 2024 compared with the same month in 2019.
On a monthly basis, transit ridership edged down 2.0% from March to April 2024, albeit less than the seasonal drop of about 6% observed over the same period in 2018 and 2019, prior to the pandemic.
Financial situation continues to improve
In April 2024, transit agency operating revenue (excluding subsidies) was $316.6 million. This was an increase of 14.2%, or $39.4 million, from the same month the previous year, albeit $20.3 million below the pre-pandemic level recorded in April 2019.
Chart 1
Urban public transit operating revenue and passenger trips, monthly, 2019 to 2024
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Note to readers
Statistics Canada is publishing more detail from the Monthly Passenger Bus and Urban Transit Survey. The new table 23-10-0307-01—Passenger bus and urban transit statistics, by Urban transit agency—includes operating revenue and ridership at the city level for selected transit agencies. Statistics Canada appreciates the cooperation of the 15 transit agencies in making this information available to Canadians.
Survey data are revised on a monthly basis to reflect new information.
The data in this release are not seasonally adjusted.
This survey collects data on operating revenue (excluding subsidies) and the number of passenger trips from a panel of urban transit companies that represents at least 75% of revenue in each province and territory. Note that the panel is adjusted annually to maintain the 75% coverage and could differ slightly from what it was in the same month the previous year.
One-time payments from secondary and post-secondary institutions for academic-year student passes are typically reported as revenue during the early fall and early winter months.
Data before January 2017 can be found in table 23-10-0078-01.
Random tabular adjustment
The random tabular adjustment (RTA) technique, which aims to increase the amount of data made available to users while protecting the confidentiality of respondents, was applied to the totals of the Monthly Passenger Bus and Urban Transit Survey.
Using RTA, Statistics Canada identifies sensitive data and randomly adjusts values rather than suppressing them. The size of the adjustment is calculated to protect respondent confidentiality.
For more information on RTA, please refer to the article "Random Tabular Adjustment is here!," now available as part of the StatCan Blog.
The Transportation Data and Information Hub, a web portal developed jointly by Statistics Canada and Transport Canada, provides Canadians with online access to comprehensive statistics and measures on the country's transportation sector.
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).
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