Urban public transit, April 2022
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Released: 2022-06-17
Highlights
The number of urban transit passengers in Canada continued to climb in April, reaching 88.2 million trips.
With an easing of restrictions and fewer Canadians working from home, ridership has recovered 56.1% of its April 2019 pre-pandemic level, a two-year high.
Ridership continues to climb
Canada's urban transit agencies carried 88.2 million passengers in April―up 70.9% from the 51.6 million in April 2021―marking the 13th straight month of year-over-year increases. While April 2022 recovered 56.1% of the ridership from April 2019, the rate of recovery appears to have slowed since reaching 50% in September 2021.
On a monthly basis, April experienced an unseasonable bump with ridership edging up 2.7% from March. While April's Labour Force Survey did not point to large employment gains, it noted that fewer Canadians reported working from home in recent months. In April, 19.0% of workers usually worked exclusively from home, down from 24.3% in January.
Prior to the pandemic, May typically had about the same number or even fewer transit riders than April, as some commuters and students switched to more active modes such as walking and biking. However, in spring 2022, with the price of gasoline continuing to soar as the summer driving season approaches, more commuters may be tempted to leave their vehicles parked.
Revenues keeping pace
In April, transit agency operating revenues (excluding subsidies) reached $198.3 million―an increase of 60.3% or almost $75 million from April 2021. Despite this large jump, it accounted for 58.9 cents of every dollar of operating revenue earned in April 2019, before the pandemic.
Chart 1
Urban public transit operating revenue and passenger trips, monthly, 2018 to 2022
Note to readers
Data for the most recent quarter are subject to revision. 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 revenues 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 a year earlier.
Data prior to January 2017 can be found in Table 23-10-0078-01.
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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