Metro Vancouver transit use reached an all-time high last year.
Numbers from TransLink‘s 2018 Transit Service Performance Review show that boardings are up by seven per cent, a record annual increase.
Bus boardings are up eight per cent, SkyTrain is up 5.7 per cent, and SeaBus is up six per cent.
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Surrey and Delta saw the largest annual increases in bus boardings with 16 per cent.
TransLink’s busiest bus route is the 99 B Line, which had more than 17-million boardings.
The busiest SkyTrain station is Waterfront, with just over 12-million boardings last year, a 4.5 per cent increase over the previous year.
TransLink said it has identified 52 routes that are overcrowded and is adding service hours to 32 of them before July.
It also said it plans to add 620,000 bus service hours over the next three years to deal with demand.
“Ridership is exploding, and our region is growing,” New Westminster Mayor and Mayors’ Council Chair Jonathan X. Coté said.
“If we are going to cure congestion, we need to invest in both new transportation infrastructure and service expansion to make commutes quicker and easier now, and into the future.”