TransLink ridership grew in 2024, but advocate warns service gaps remain

CBC News

· Posted: May 22, 2025 12:20 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

TransLink says Metro Vancouver saw beardown transit ridership maturation past year, particularly successful fast-growing communities southbound of the Fraser River, but a transit advocacy radical says the information reveals widening work gaps crossed the region.

According to TransLink's 2024 Transit Service Performance Review, the portion saw astir 241 cardinal journeys past year, up 3 per cent from 2023.

The highest maturation successful ridership was recorded successful Surrey and Langley, wherever autobus boardings accrued by much than 11 per cent. That maturation was driven by beardown colonisation increases and targeted transit investments, including the motorboat of the R6 RapidBus way on Scott Road, the study says.

"Transit request is increasing passim overmuch of Metro Vancouver," TransLink spokesperson Dan Mountain said. "It's a testament to however reliable our strategy is for radical to determination around."

WATCH | Metro Vancouver transit ridership grew successful 2024, says TransLink:

Mountain said RapidBus services, which connection less stops and faster work than section buses, accounted for 15 per cent of system-wide autobus ridership successful 2024.

"Despite having lone six routes passim our strategy with implicit 200 routes … RapidBus was a backbone to our autobus system," helium told CBC News. 

According to the report, Metro Vancouver present has the second-highest per capita transit ridership successful Canada, surpassing the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and ranking conscionable down Greater Montreal.

While ridership roseate sharply successful areas with accrued service, it dropped successful regions that saw cuts, including Vancouver, the University of British Columbia (UBC), Burnaby, New Westminster and the North Shore. 

Bus boardings successful the Vancouver/UBC area fell by 2 per cent compared to 2023.

That displacement successful work is drafting interest from the transit advocacy group Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders, which said ridership trends present intelligibly travel changes successful work frequency.

"What we saw is transit ridership is up a batch successful places wherever work is up," said Denis Agar, executive manager of Movement. "And ridership is down importantly successful places wherever work is down. It sounds benignant of obvious, but the numbers are truly significant."

Agar says ridership on the 323 way on 128 Street successful Surrey has jumped much than 60 per cent since 2019 amid service increases, while the country saw small caller lodging construction.

In contrast, Vancouver's 8 Fraser way saw the steepest driblet successful ridership of immoderate corridor — present astatine conscionable 47 per cent of pre-pandemic levels — aft work reductions.

"These are routes that utilized to beryllium the backbones of the system, and present they're benignant of an afterthought," said Agar.

TransLink acknowledges that work reallocations were a stop-gap measurement to code overcrowding successful high-growth areas similar Surrey. 

WATCH | New concern program to code TransLink deficit: 

"Coming retired of the pandemic, we were faced with hard choices," Mountain said.

"We didn't person capable operating backing to support ridership levels the aforesaid passim the region… to summation services [in high-growth areas], we had to reallocate ridership from immoderate places for a fewer years."

TransLink was facing a structural shortage of much than $600 cardinal annually due to the fact that of an operating backing shortage. 

But the transit authorization says its 2025 Investment Plan volition importantly trim the structural backing deficit, keeping operations afloat funded done 2027. The program includes backing increases done fares, spot taxes, and provincial contributions.

"Luckily, what we present person is simply a caller concern plan, which allows america to summation work passim the region," Mountain said. 

Still, Agar says the consequences of past work cuts are already being felt. 

"What I'm disquieted astir are the radical that don't person an alternative," helium said. "They extremity up staying home, bumming rides disconnected friends, oregon spending mode excessively overmuch connected Uber. Their state and mobility are conscionable little than what it utilized to be."

TransLink said it's committed to improving entree and equity successful transit but some the transit authorization and advocates hold that stable, semipermanent backing is indispensable to conscionable increasing demand.

"If we proceed to put successful transit, we tin incentivize radical to instrumentality transit implicit driving," Mountain said.