British Columbia

Metro Vancouver transportation authority says ridership recovery outpacing others in North America

TransLink says its recovery of ridership that plummeted during the pandemic has been stronger than those of many other North American transit networks, although it still hasn't rebounded entirely.

Company says ridership has rebounded to 70% of pre-pandemic levels

An old person taps on a fare gate at a train station. They are wearing a facemask and have short white hair.
A commuter passes through a TransLink fare gate at Waterfront Station in Vancouver, British Columbia in April 2022. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Metro Vancouver's transportation authority says its recovery of ridership that plummeted during the pandemic has been stronger than that of many other North American transit networks, although it still hasn't rebounded entirely.

A statement from TransLink says ridership across its system has rebounded to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels after reaching 59 per cent last year.

The 2021 transit service performance review released Wednesday says Metro Vancouver's recovery rates exceeded those of transit systems in Toronto, Montreal, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco.

It says bus ridership led the way at 62 per cent of pre-pandemic levels last year, while SkyTrain lines bounced back to between 54 and 57 per cent.

The review says the region that includes Surrey, Langley, White Rock and North Delta saw the greatest recovery, reaching 75 per cent last year.

The West Coast Express route through the Fraser Valley was at 26 per cent. TransLink says there were 846,000 daily average boardings across its network on weekdays and a total of 224 million boardings in 2021.