TransLink bus ridership is recovering faster than all other transit modes according to new data.
The Transit Service Performance Review (TSPR) details TransLink’s 2021 ridership and reveals that bus ridership bounced back strongest of all transit modes, reaching 62 percent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of last year.
Bus ridership recovery outpaced HandyDART (59 percent), SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium Lines (57 percent), the Canada Line and SeaBus (both at 54 percent) and the West Coast Express (26 percent). Since then, bus ridership recovery has grown to 71 percent in May of 2022.
“It’s gratifying to see the commitment to transit by the people of Metro Vancouver over the last two difficult years,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. “Transit has long been at the center of our communities and will continue to be imperative to Metro Vancouver life, economic growth and tourism.”
The report also shows that TransLink’s ridership recovery was stronger than most transit systems in Canada and the United States. With overall system-wide ridership recovery at 59 percent at the end of 2021, TransLink says it exceeded the average recovery rate of transit systems in Montreal, Toronto, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco. System-wide ridership has continued to grow and is currently at 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Key 2021 transit trends:
- There were 224 million boardings on Metro Vancouver’s transit system in 2021.
- There were 2.2 million unique customers on TransLink’s system last year, equivalent to 84 percent of Metro Vancouver’s population.
- System-wide ridership recovery was greater on weekends than weekdays.
- The Southeast sub-region (Surrey, Langley, White Rock, North Delta) led ridership recovery for Metro Vancouver, reaching 75 percent recovery in 2021. This led to an eight percent increase in service for the sub-region in 2021.
- RapidBus routes experienced some of the highest ridership in the region with three routes (R1, R4 and R5) ranking in the top 10 busiest bus routes.
- In fall of 2021, bus ridership accounted for 63 percent of TransLink’s total ridership.
- Bus routes serving industrial areas have recovered stronger on average than other routes.
HandyDART trends:
- 696,000 HandyDART trips were delivered in 2021, up 12 percent from 2020.
- There was an 11 percent increase in new HandyDART customers in 2021.
- HandyDART’s recovery was led by customers continuing to use the service to access critical health services like dialysis (24 percent of trips) or medical appointments (22 percent of trips)
- HandyDART on-time performance continued to be strong, with 94 percent of all trips arriving either early or on time.
