Urban public transit, October 2023
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Released: 2023-12-14
Highlights
In October, Canada's urban transit ridership reached 136.0 million trips, the highest monthly level since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total ridership in October was over four-fifths (80.4%) of the pre-pandemic level from October 2019.
Ridership hits a new high since the pandemic, but recovery is slowing
The total number of passenger trips taken on Canada's urban transit networks was 136.0 million in October, up 16.3% (+19.1 million rides) from October 2022.
Despite little change in Canada's employment during October 2023, public transit ridership reached its highest monthly total since the pandemic, but the recovery rate appears to have slowed since reaching 82.3% in September.
Despite the recovery observed to date, transit ridership still lagged its pre-pandemic levels, with 33.2 million fewer passenger trips in October 2023 compared with the same month in 2019.
On a monthly basis, public transit ridership increased by an average of 4.4% from September to October in the two years (2018 and 2019) prior to the pandemic. However, ridership in October 2023 was up marginally (+0.8%), marking a pause in the recovery.
Financial situation steady
In October, transit agency operating revenues (excluding subsidies) were up 15.4% from the same month in 2022 to $320.8 million, but they were $44.8 million below the October 2019 level, before the pandemic.
Chart 1
Urban public transit operating revenue and passenger trips, monthly, 2019 to 2023
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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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