A new review published by TransLink shows that a large number of citizens in Metro Vancouver are turning to public transport, with 7.7 million more trips on transit in 2024 than in 2023, an increase of over 3%.
The data, which comes from the 2024 edition of the annual Transit Service Performance Review (TSPR), provides a glimpse into patterns and trends of how and where passengers are choosing to use transit across the local network, with driving data having been based on estimated vehicle crossings from a series of eight major bridges, as well as the George Massey Tunnel.
TransLink CEO, Kevin Quinn, said:As Metro Vancouver continues to grow, more people are turning to transit instead of driving which is a reflection of our system’s reliability.
Our 2025 Investment Plan is key to keeping this momentum going and meeting the demand of a growing region.
Across the regions, major events at BC Place and Rogers Arena saw growth in ridership of 29% for Stadium – Chinatown’s SkyTrain Station in 2024, with Taylor Swift concerts bringing in the largest number of riders ever recorded over a three-day period: an 116% ridership increase at Stadium–Chinatown, and a 64% increase in SeaBus ridership.
Elsewhere, RapidBus made up 15% of all bus boardings across six of its routes, with four routes having ranked in TransLink’s top ten most routes throughout 2024. The service routes averaged around 20,600 daily boardings throughout the year, an increase of five times over the average daily boardings of any average local bus route (3,900).
Ridership south of the Fraser saw an increase of 11.4%, with TransLink’s new 2025 investment plan set to expand services in order to address situations of overcrowding during the year, adding or upgrading seven routes and increasing services along 25 other routes.
Of the top ten bus routes utilised throughout the year, the 99 B-Line came in first place with 10,624,000 boardings, which was followed by the R4 41st Ave RapidBus at 8,803,000 and the 49 (Metrotown Station/UBC) at 8,499,000.
Finally, an additional investigation into HandyDART has shown that customer satisfaction for the service has risen to 8.8 out of 10, an increase from 2023, with 99.6% of trips requested delivered in full and 91% of all trips having arrived on-time.
Throughout the year, 1,166,000 HandyDART trips were delivered, with the vast majority of trips being for day programmes (35%), medical appointments (16%) and dialysis (14%).
TransLink has stated that its 2025 Investment Plan will seek to expand service, alleviate overcrowding and provide improves access to under-served areas.
