TransLink says it is experiencing its highest boost in ridership in 18 months, with several Burnaby bus routes seeing huge gains.
The four weekdays after Labour Day brought the largest jump in ridership since March 2020, with an average increase of 17% when compared to an average weekday in August.
But these Burnaby bus routes saw far bigger jumps - as high as 71%.
Routes serving post-secondary institutions made strong gains towards pre-COVID ridership levels over the first week of in-person classes, including Route 49 Metrotown Stn/Dunbar Loop (71%), Route 145 SFU/Production Stn (55%) and Route 25 Brentwood Stn/UBC (62%).
There were approximately 120,000 more average weekday boardings system-wide than the week before, said TransLink. An increase in ridership is typical for early September, but the back-to-school bump TransLink has seen in 2021 is five percentage points larger than the 12% increases in 2019 and 2018.
System-wide boardings are at about 55% of pre-COVID ridership. Ridership varies by mode, location and destination, with post-secondary routes leading the recovery.
“The early data we are seeing with students now back to in-class learning at the post-secondary level is very encouraging,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn, in a statement. “I’m optimistic about ridership growth as we move into the fall. We are seeing people eager to get back into routines of work and school and we hope people make transit their first choice in getting to and from their daily activities.”
