Waterloo Region says Grand River Transit blew past its previous ridership record over the first week of September.
A total of 150,000 people boarded the buses and ION trains each day of the week, which is 40,000 more than the previous high in the spring.
Every time a passenger sets foot on a GRT bus or ION train that is counted as a boarding and the region says 130,000 people rode on buses, while another 20,000 took trips on LRT trains.
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“More people than ever are choosing to take transit as an affordable and sustainable method of transportation,” stated Coun. Colleen James, who chairs the planning and works committee for the region.
“Not only has our ridership recovered post pandemic, but it’s continuing to grow, showing how much our community values and depends on the service.”
The region says that public transit ridership is generally at its highest over the first two weeks of September when students return to school.
“We expect ridership to continue to be significantly higher than last fall,” said Doug Spooner, Director of Transit Services.
The region says there has been issued with crowds on some bus routes and says they are monitoring the situation.
“Our operators and staff are doing an incredible job of handling crowded buses, customer inquiries and fare product purchases,” Spooner explained.
“We know that there has been crowding on some buses, as a result of more people riding transit. We continue to monitor routes and trips for overcrowding and are ensuring we continually have all of our available buses on the road.”
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