COVID Changed Our City. Why Public Transit Needs to Change Too.

Around the world the COVID-19 pandemic had drastic impacts on public transit. Public health directives resulted in abrupt reductions in movement, with shared transportation like trains and buses experiencing a lot of the impact.  

This drop in public transit ridership and revenue could not have happened at a worse time. We know that public transportation is a powerful solution to the interconnected crises of climate and housing, and to meet net-zero goals, experts believe we must double transit capacity by 2030. Environmental Defence and Équiterre released a study earlier this year showing increasing transit ridership in Canada could cut 65 million tonnes of GHG emission.  

It is no surprise then that there has been overwhelming interest in the recovery of public transportation. Around the world, transit operators, city and elected officials, advocates, citizens, and media want to know the key factors to a successful recovery. This is especially true in Ottawa where a return to 2019 ridership and revenue has not been easy. OC Transpo is falling far below the national trend and in recent days the Mayor has been raising the alarm about funding.  

To start to understand this complex issue, we looked across North America to see what’s happening in other places that aren’t experiencing ridership and revenue challenges to the same extent. 

Figure 1: Urban public transit operating revenue and passenger trips in Canada

Source: Statistics Canada

What has been working and where. 

There is no magic solution, but some trends are becoming clear across the continent. While we’ve broken them out to focus on different aspects, often success has been found when several of these factors are combined. 

1. Focusing on buses 

Bus-based public transit has returned to or surpassed 2019 ridership in many places. Buses serve all parts of the city, meaning they often meet the transportation needs of many different people for all sorts of trips. They can also more easily adapt to change; bus timetables can be tweaked, dedicated lanes can be added, and routes can be changed relatively easily. Train-based transit, on the other hand, is less flexible, and, in most North American cities, built to serve work-based commuting travel patterns more than other types of trips.  

Examples: In Edmonton, Alberta, bus service returned to 100% of 2019 levels in February 2023 and has been growing from there. In Sarnia, Ontario, bus service began to exceed 2019 ridership levels in 2022. Buses in Vancouver, BC and Moncton, NB are now often overcrowded with transit agencies trying to find ways to increase bus service and efficiency.

  

2. Easier for Smaller Systems 

In Canada, smaller cities with smaller public transit systems have tended to bounce back more quickly. These cities often do not have a rail system at all, and their mobility patterns focus less on the downtown commute. Some of these cities are growing rapidly with their public transit systems growing alongside, and in some cases even struggling to keep up with so many riders.  

Examples: In Brampton, Ontario ridership has doubled since 2019. In Windsor, Ontario ridership is 13% higher than in 2019 with an 80% increase in riders from 2022-2023. 

3. Investing in Service 

Changes brought about by the pandemic and its financial implications led many transit agencies to reduce levels of service. However, it was transit systems that maintained or even significantly improved service back to 2019 levels or higher which are doing the best in terms of ridership.  

Examples: In British Columbia, provincial funding meant BC Transit was able to avoid making cuts to service or staff. The Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure credits this investment as the reason ridership has returned and expanded. By fall 2023, BC Transit announced it had returned to 2019 ridership numbers across its 57 different local public transit systems. 

In Calgary, Alberta service hours were reduced by 17% in 2020 when travel levels were at the lowest, but the transit authority recognized that improving service would be important to their recovery. By the fall of 2023 service hours were back at 2019 levels with hours expanding in 2024 and 2025. Calgary Transit believes this focus on service led them beyond a ridership recovery on buses and C-Train to break a system-wide ridership record.  

In Washington D.C., another capital city with large government workforce, the transit authority intentionally invested in providing more transit hours to serve riders. They hired more staff and improved frequency and now run more service than ever before. This has led to one of the best rebounds of any large metros in North America. While not quite back to 2019 levels, in February 2024 overall ridership was at 83% and weekend and bus ridership is now above 2019 levels.  

4. Providing All-Day Reliable Service for Everyone 

The increase in weekend ridership in Calgary and Washington hints at the success that can be found in focusing on service and routes outside of 9-5 downtown commutes. Many cities are seeing ridership increases on weekends, evenings, and on routes to non-downtown destinations. Transit that works all day, every day, for all sorts of destinations also serves other policy goals (such as making life more affordable, helping us reach climate targets, supporting the economy), and provides more equitable access to transportation. It makes transit a more convenient and efficient mode of transportation for everyone.  

Examples: Grand River Transit in the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario has expanded service with a focus on evenings, weekends, and major destinations like post-secondary institutions and shopping centres. As a result, they boasted their highest ever ridership levels in 2023. They account for this success based on how more people can depend on their reliable service for all of their transportation needs.  

5. Experimenting with fares and passes 

Changes in travel patterns, but also new fare collection technologies, have presented a challenge to transit agencies who traditionally relied on large volumes of monthly pass purchases. For example, in Ottawa, you can now pay with their mobile wallet, credit, or debit card and have your fare capped at the daily or monthly rate making it less likely that people would purchase a monthly pass. Some transit agencies have seen ridership increase as a result of new approaches to fares and passes. The Canadian Urban Transit Association produced a report looking at a variety of fare policies that could help bring back ridership. 

Example: In Albany, New York a program allows businesses and organizations to purchase transit passes for employees at a discounted rate. More than 40 businesses and organizations are part of their Universal Access Partners program (with numerous other benefits for employers and employees). The transit agency believes this is part of the reason they are 150% over 2019 ridership levels. 

In Washington, D.C. weekend fares were reduced to $2. In Alexandria, Virginia, Kansas City, Missouri, and for some routes in Boston, seniors in Montreal, and for seniors and youth at some times in Burlington, ON transit fares are free. Fare free transit is a great solution for ridership, but it would require major changes to the way we think about transit.    

Ottawa needs transit that works 

Looking at these trends can help us uncover why Ottawa’s transit system has been struggling. Our transit system serves a large population spread fairly thinly over a big geographic area; we have a train network; the transit authority is providing less service than in 2019*; and the system continues to focus on downtown and peak commuters over off-peak travel.  

While we can’t (and shouldn’t!) get rid of our rail system or reduce the overall size of our system, ridership growth could be found by learning from what is working well both in other places and here at home.  For example, not all Ottawa routes are struggling. Routes outside of downtown that target other important destinations (for example, the 88 which services Algonquin College, and 80 which serves Westboro, Nepean, and Barrhaven), are at 95% of pre-pandemic levels, and network-wide weekend ridership has recovered beyond 2019 levels. 

When transit works it gives people real options for their transportation. It improves traffic congestion, air pollution, and mitigates climate change. It helps people get to work, school, and anywhere else they need to go. Transit provides businesses with a reliable workforce. Transit is a public service that supports all aspects of city life, but OC Transpo’s current reliance on commuter traffic and user fees makes it vulnerable in a rapidly changing world. We think it’s time for a rethink. 

We encourage the City of Ottawa to look to successes in other cities: invest in service, value and support off-peak travel, and experiment with fare strategies.  

What can you do? 

If you’re not already making use of OC Transpo, try to when it’s feasible for you, especially if it can replace a car trip. Right now, ridership matters, and tapping your payment card is one way to support the system. 

There are other options too, if you aren’t able to make use of transit in its current form. Tell your councillor (and CC the mayor) that you need them to fix transit. Tell them what your transit trips look like, or, if you don’t use transit, what it would take for you to do so. Express support for experimentation, off-peak service, re-thinking the transit funding paradigm, and ensuring this essential service is properly supported.  

*While OC Transpo used to produce an annual report that included hours of revenue service provided, they stopped in 2014 due to changes from O-Train construction. We do know that if service isn’t lower than in 2019 now, it will be when the fall schedule and New Ways to Bus changes are implemented.