Urban public transit, November 2022
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Released: 2023-01-20
Highlights
In November, Canada's urban transit recorded more than 115 million passenger trips for the third straight month. With many people resuming in-person work and other activities during the fall, the industry has now recovered roughly 70% of its ridership from November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recovery remains on track
Canada's urban transit networks provided an estimated 116.5 million rides in November, up 27.9% (or 25.4 million more rides) from November 2021, marking the 20th consecutive month of year-over-year increases.
In November, ridership reached its third highest level since the pandemic began in March 2020, as many commuters returned to offices, schools and other destinations. While the November Labour Force Survey reported only modest employment gains, the proportion of workers who have hybrid work arrangements continued to edge up, while those who usually work exclusively from home was little changed.
Despite this continuing recovery, transit ridership still lagged behind its pre-pandemic levels, with about 48.3 million fewer rides in November 2022 compared with the same month in 2019.
On a monthly basis, transit ridership edged down by 0.7% (or 800,000 fewer rides) in November 2022 compared with October, slightly below the typical seasonal decline observed prior to the pandemic.
Financial situation continues to improve
Total operating revenues (excluding subsidies) reached $274.9 million in November, up 23.5% (+$84.4 million) from November 2021 levels, but down $84.4 million compared with November 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 the previous year.
One-time payments from secondary and post-secondary institutions for academic-year student passes are typically reported as revenue during the fall months.
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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