Report: Vancouver Leads North American Cities in Transit Ridership Growth

Vancouver's success in growing its ridership of public transit is thanks, in no small part, to large investments in rail and bus service.

1 minute read

April 2, 2018, 8:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


TransLink Canada Line

Eric Buermeyer / Shutterstock

"Ridership on Metro Vancouver’s transit system grew more than any other in Canada and the U.S. last year," reports the Vancouver Sun.

"In 2017, TransLink ridership increased by 5.7 per cent over the previous year, with a total of 406.8 million boardings," according to article. "In 2016, ridership was up 4.5 per cent from 2015 (384.3 million boardings)."

This information comes from a report released by the American Public Transit Association. The report fins that only four cities of more than a million people had growing ridership in 2017: Vancouver, Montreal, Seattle, and Phoenix.

"TransLink attributes the growth to a strong economy, high gas prices and transit improvements, such as the December 2016 opening of the Evergreen Extension to the Millennium Line and the addition of more than 200,000 bus-service hours in 2017."

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