Urban public transit, November 2023
Released: 2024-01-22
Highlights
In November, Canada's urban transit systems logged over 135 million passenger trips, the second highest monthly total since restrictions came into force in March 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall ridership reached 82.1% of November 2019 levels, marking the second highest rate of recovery since the onset of the pandemic.
Ridership recovery continues
Canada's urban transit networks provided 135.3 million passenger trips in November, an increase of 15.3% (+18.0 million trips) from November 2022, continuing a string of consecutive monthly year-over-year increases since April 2021.
While employment remained steady in November 2023, the number of urban transit passenger trips in Canada recovered over four-fifths (82.1%) of its pre-pandemic November 2019 volume—the second highest rate of recovery to date.
Despite this continuing recovery, passenger volumes continued to lag pre-pandemic levels, with about 29.5 million fewer rides in November 2023 compared with the same month in 2019.
On a monthly basis, transit ridership edged down by 0.5% (or 700,000 fewer rides) in November 2023 compared with October, slightly lower than the typical seasonal decline observed prior to the pandemic.
This monthly change in ridership from October to November varied across the country. For example, on the east coast, Halifax transit posted a month-over-month increase (+3.3%), while on the west coast, British Columbia transit posted a decline (-2.5%).
Financial situation steady
In November 2023, transit agency operating revenues (excluding subsidies) were up 14.5% from the same month in 2022 to $327.1 million, albeit $32.2 million below November 2019, 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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