Ontario has passed B.C. as the province where the highest percentage of commuters use public transit, as commuting patterns normalize across the country to pre-pandemic levels.
In Ontario in May, 13.5 per cent of commuters used public transit, up from 11.7 per cent in May 2023, according to data Statistics Canada released this week. The trend in B.C. is going in the opposite direction: down 1.5 percentage points to 13 per cent of commuters using public transit in May, from 14.5 per cent of commuters using public transit in May 2023.
Given that Metro Vancouver has more accessible public transit than other areas of the province, it is no surprise that the region has a disproportionally high number of transit-riding commuters. The trend of declining ridership was also more pronounced in Metro Vancouver than in the rest of the province. About 20.5 per cent of Metro Vancouver commuters used public transit in May, according to Statistics Canada, down two percentage points from 22.5 per cent in May 2023.
TransLink's data for May tells a different story, but it includes all ridership, not just for those who commute to work. TransLink found that there were 35.47 million transit boardings in May, up from 33.9 million boardings in May 2023. BIV has previously reported on how Metro Vancouverites were quicker than other Canadians to return to using public transit as the pandemic started to wane, in 2022.
Toronto is the Canadian metropolis with the highest percentage of transit-riding commuters, with 22.7 per cent in May, up from 20.6 per cent in May 2023, according to Statistics Canada.
Canada-wide, 11.4 per cent of commuters used public transit in May, according to the nation's number cruncher. That was up from 10.1 per cent in May 2023.
The changing patterns for modes of transportation used when commuting comes as more Canadians commute to work, and fewer remain working full time from home.
The number of Canadian commuters reached 16.5 million in May 2024, continuing an upward trend that followed notable declines recorded during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The number of commuters was up 3.7 per cent to 585,000 in May 2024, compared to May 2023, Statistics Canada said. In addition to workers being more likely to commute to a workplace than work at home, the increase in the total number of commuters was also driven by more people having jobs.
The share of workers mostly working from home has fallen every year since May 2021, leading to more commuters. In May 2024, 18.7 per cent of employed people in Canada worked mostly from home, down 1.4 percentage points from May 2023, and down 3.7 percentage points compared with May 2022.
Driving and being the vehicle's sole occupant remains the dominant way most Canadian commuters get to their workplaces.
Canada-wide, 81.5 per cent of commuters drove to work in a car, truck or van in May, with 89.5 per cent of those drivers being alone in their vehicles, Statistics Canada said.
B.C. was the province where commuters were least likely to drive a vehicle to work, with only 77.5 per cent of commuters doing so in May, up from 76.8 per cent in May 2023, according to Statistics Canada. B.C. ranked second, after Nova Scotia, as the province where the highest percentage of commuters either walked or rode a bike to work: 8.2 per cent, compared with Nova Scotia's 8.6 per cent.
British Columbians' commutes tend to be slightly longer than the Canadian average: 26.6 minutes versus 26.4 minutes. Those in Prince Edward Island have the shortest average commute time, at 17.9 minutes, while those in Ontario have the longest average commute time at 29 minutes.
