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By: Frank Clayton, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow and Fadwa El-Hussini, HBA, Research Assistant

September 28, 2026

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In this blog, we examine trends in the number of transit trips taken across major regions since 2019 and in selected metropolitan areas since 2023, utilizing data released by Statistics Canada. It follows the same approach as last year鈥檚 CUR transit blog.^[1]

Four key findings:

• Canada鈥檚 transit ridership recovery lost momentum after reaching a post-pandemic high in 2024, with ridership in 2025 still 18% below 2019;
• Quebec and Ontario combined continue to show the weakest recovery after bottoming out during the pandemic;
• After a weak 2025, ridership growth in metro Toronto and metro Vancouver continued to slow again in the first half of 2026. Slowing growth is coming off of a strong post-pandemic rebound in 2023 and 2024;^[2] and
• Toronto鈥檚 overall performance masks a divergence in ridership patterns between the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Metrolinx鈥檚 GO Transit service. TTC ridership has softened while trips taken with Metrolinx continued to grow, with GO鈥檚 share of combined TTC and Metrolinx trips increasing from 12% in 2023 to 16% in the first half of 2026.

Background

Urban transportation data are important for understanding how people move through cities by car, public transit, walking and cycling. However, Canada lacks a single comprehensive national database covering all urban trips. The Census of Canada provides information on travel to work by mode, but only every five years.

Since January 2017, Statistics Canada has published monthly passenger counts through its Monthly Passenger Bus and Urban Transit Survey. The survey reports operating revenues and passenger trips for urban and intercity transit operators that account for at least 75% of industry revenues, with most recorded trips occurring on urban transit systems.

Initially, the data were reported only for broad regions: Quebec and Ontario; the Prairies, British Columbia and the territories; and the Atlantic provinces. Beginning in February 2024, Statistics Canada also began publishing monthly ridership data for selected transit agencies, enabling more detailed comparisons across some metropolitan areas.

The agency-level analysis in this blog is limited to transit systems included in Statistics Canada Table 23-10-0307-01. As a result, the CMA figures represent the agencies reported by Statistics Canada rather than the total ridership of every transit operator in each metropolitan area (see Figure 1).

Urban Transit Ridership by Major Region, 2019-2026 (January-June)

The regional data show that the sharp recovery in transit use following the pandemic stalled in 2025 and the first half of 2026 (see Figure 2), with the number of trips taken still below pre- pandemic peaks.

Highlights include:

• Canadian transit ridership reached a post-pandemic high of 1.59 billion passenger trips in 2024, before slipping to about 1.55 billion in 2025;
• Despite that recovery, national ridership in 2025 remained 18% below its 2019 pre-pandemic level of 1.89 billion trips;
• Quebec and Ontario combined continue to lag the most, with 2025 ridership 20% below that in 2019, while the Prairies, British Columbia and territories remained 14% below their pre-pandemic peaks; and
• The recovery in ridership petered out in 2024, with ridership falling slightly in 2025 and 2026.
• Overall, Canada鈥檚 rapid post-pandemic rebound peaked in 2024, with transit usage remaining below pre-pandemic peaks in the first half of 2026.

Passenger Trips by Census Metropolitan Area, 2023-2026 (January-June)

Figure 3 presents passenger trips for the enumerated transit agencies within five larger census metropolitan areas (CMAs) for which StatCan began releasing data in January 2023. Unfortunately, there are missing recent data points for two CMAs: Montreal (January 2005 to June 2026) and Calgary (June 2025 to December 2025).

Ridership generally strengthened across the major CMAs between 2023 and 2024. Still, the pattern became more uneven in 2025 and remained soft into 2026, with Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton reporting year-to-year declines in ridership.

Highlights include:

• Toronto鈥檚 recovery peaked in 2024 with 494 million trips taken, before edging down to about 490 million in 2025; ridership weakened further in the first half of 2026;
• Vancouver followed a similar trajectory, peaking in 2024 before declining modestly in 2025 and remaining below the previous year鈥檚 level in the first half of 2026; and
• Edmonton was more resilient in 2025, continuing to add ridership even as Toronto and Vancouver softened, although its ridership also declined in the first half of 2026.

Overall, the CMA results suggest that the post-pandemic recovery was strongest through 2024, became more mixed in 2025, and remained generally weak into 2026.

Transit Passenger Trips in the Toronto CMA: TTC and Metrolinx (GO), 2023-2026 (January-June)

Figure 4 shows the relative ridership performance of the TTC and GO in Toronto starting in 2023.

Toronto鈥檚 overall transit ridership masks opposing trajectories between the TTC and GO.

Highlights include:

• TTC ridership reached a recent high of 424 million trips in 2024, before weakening in 2025 and continuing to soften during the first half of 2026;
• In contrast, GO鈥檚 ridership increased from 55 million trips in 2023 to 77 million in 2025;
• The contrast became even clearer in the first half of 2026, when Metrolinx ridership increased by 3% while TTC ridership declined by 6% compared with the same period in 2025; and
• Metrolinx鈥檚 share of combined TTC and Metrolinx passenger trips increased from 12% in 2023 to 16% in the first half of 2026, reflecting its much faster ridership growth.

Conclusion

Transit ridership looks to have entered a period of stagnation, rather than continuing the strong recovery seen right after the pandemic. The pattern is evident across the country and in major metropolitan areas, though the degree of weakness varies. Toronto and Vancouver have also eased off after reaching a 2024 recovery high, while combined Quebec and Ontario are still well below pre-pandemic ridership. 

On a deeper level, the Toronto experience showcases how uneven this stagnation has been. While the TTC has experienced a decline in ridership, Metrolinx has continued to grow, setting off on a different trajectory within the same metropolitan area. 

The latest numbers suggest that the more important question is no longer how to bounce back from the pandemic, but why transit ridership has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and whether the current plateau will hold. Given the persistence of stagnant ridership, it raises a broader question about modal substitution: are travellers shifting between transit systems, such as from the TTC to Metrolinx, or away from conventional public transit toward cycling, walking, ride-hailing and private vehicles?

End Notes

[1] Frank Clayton and Diana Petramala. 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Transit Trips Recovering at Varying Rates 鈥� GO Outpaces TTC in   2024 and Early 2025.鈥� Centre for Urban Research and Land Development. June 17, 2025. Online. 

[2] Unfortunately, there are gaps in recent data for metro Montreal and Calgary so they cannot be considered in this year鈥檚 analysis.

References

Clayton, Frank and Diana Petramala. 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Transit Trips Recovering at Varying Rates - GO Outpaces TTC in 2024 and Early 2025.鈥� June 17, 2025. Centre for Urban Research and Land Development. [Online]. Available: /centre-urban-research-land-development/blog/blogentry99-canada-transit-trips-recovering-at-varying-rates-go-outpaces-ttc/.

Statistics Canada. .

Statistics Canada. .