Highlights
Ridership recovery appears to pause
In June 2024, transit riders took an estimated 125.8 million trips on Canada's urban transit networks, an increase of 5.2% (+6.2 million trips) from June 2023, marking the 39th consecutive month of year-over-year increases.
Passenger trips in June 2024 remained over four-fifths (82.9%) of the level reported in the same pre-pandemic month in 2019 for the fifth consecutive time since January 2024. However, June was down from the 87% recovery observed in May 2024.
There were about 26.0 million fewer passenger trips in June 2024 compared with the same month in 2019, as volumes continue to lag pre-pandemic levels.
Prior to the pandemic, passenger counts typically declined by an average of 3.0% from May to June, with more vacations and fewer students. However, June 2024 saw a steeper decline, with ridership down by 6.9% (-9.3 million passenger trips) from May.
Financial situation remains a concern
n June 2024, transit agency operating revenue (excluding subsidies) was up 6.3% from the same month in 2023 to reach $304.8 million. Of concern, however, considering this is $26.3 million less compared with the same month in 2019, before the pandemic.
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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 prior to 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, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).