Edmonton Transit ridership returns to pre-pandemic level
Posted February 10, 2023 1:07 pm.
According to Edmonton Transit Services (ETS), ridership has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
ETS is one of the first transit systems that has been able to reach this milestone, as the city averaged 1.2 million rides per week in January.
“I’m very proud that Edmonton is among the country’s leaders in bus ridership recovery. This is an important achievement and sets us on a strong path towards full ridership recovery. It reinforces that transit is an important part of enabling mobility in the region,” said Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, Branch Manager of Edmonton Transit Service.
“Although there may be ridership fluctuations in the months ahead, these figures are very encouraging.”
While ridership has improved, ETS says improvements are in the works and will be phased in throughout 2023. Those improvements include the following:
- 500 additional buses during non-peak hours;
- The expansion of Arc to include more rider fare groups;
- Hiring additional Transit Peace officers;
- And increasing On Demand Transit services.
“We still have work ahead of us. We’re going to continue to implement changes to make transit more convenient, reliable and safe for Edmontonians,” said Hotton-MacDonald. “This year, we will be making a number of service improvements to help build on this momentum.”
During the pandemic, ridership levels dropped to 30 per cent and the city averaged 350,000 riders per week. By January 2022, ridership had doubled.
