Booming ridership south of the Fraser leading the surge

TRANSLINK says more people in Metro Vancouver are choosing transit over driving as their primary option to get around, according to new data from TransLink. In 2024, there were 7.7 million more trips on transit, an increase of more than three per cent over 2023, outpacing a one per cent increase in driving across the region.

“As Metro Vancouver continues to grow, more people are turning to transit instead of driving which is a reflection of our system’s reliability,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. “Our 2025 Investment Plan is key to keeping this momentum going and meeting the demand of a growing region.”

The data comes from TransLink’s newly released 2024 Transit Service Performance Review (TSPR), an annual snapshot which tracks patterns and trends of how and where people are using transit across the network. Driving data was based on estimated vehicle crossings from eight major bridges and the George Massey Tunnel.

Regional Trends:

• TransLink continues to rank among the highest-performing transit agencies in North America.
  • Second highest per capita transit ridership in Canada, surpassing the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and just behind Greater Montreal.
  • Third highest total bus ridership across all Canadian and American transit agencies despite a smaller population than most agencies.
• More major events at BC Place and Rogers Arena resulted in a growth in ridership by 29 per cent at Stadium–Chinatown SkyTrain Station in 2024.
  • For example, the Taylor Swift concerts brought in record-breaking ridership, as Stadium–Chinatown saw the most riders ever recorded over a three-day period, with 116% ridership increase at Stadium–Chinatown, and 64% increase in SeaBus ridership.
• RapidBus drove significant ridership growth in 2024, making up 15 per cent of all bus boardings across just six routes.
  • Four of the RapidBus routes were among TransLink’s top ten most used routes last year.
  • RapidBus routes averaged 20,600 daily boardings in 2024 – more than five times the average daily boardings of the average local bus route (3,900 boardings).

Subregional Highlights:

• Ridership south of the Fraser (Surrey, North Delta, White Rock, the City of Langley, and the Township of Langley) grew by 11.4 per cent, which was more than anywhere else in Metro Vancouver.
• South of the Fraser River faced significant overcrowding
  • New service from the R6 RapidBus and additional bus service approved in the 2024 Investment Plan helped ease pressure.
  • The 2025 Investment Plan will further expand service south of the Fraser by adding or upgrading seven routes and increasing service on 25 other routes.

Waterfront Station surpassed 10 million boardings last year for the first time since 2019.

The 99 B-Line is still the busiest bus route in the region, followed closely by several RapidBus routes.

Strong performance for HandyDART:

A separate deep dive into HandyDART finds high user confidence:

• Customer satisfaction was 8.8 out of 10, an increase from 2023 and the second highest score ever recorded.
• 99.6 per cent of trips requested by HandyDART customers were delivered.
• 91 per cent of all trips arrived on-time.
• 1,166,000 HandyDART trips were delivered in 2024.
• The majority of HandyDART trips delivered in 2024 were for day programs (36%), medical appointments (16%), and dialysis (14%). The remaining trips supported work, education, and miscellaneous purposes.

TransLink says looking ahead, the 2025 Investment Plan will be implemented to better meet the needs of Metro Vancouver residents. Starting this September, it will expand service, alleviate overcrowding, and provide improved access to previously under-served areas.