Much of the ridership lost during the pandemic has returned to Guelph Transit, as the local bus service is seeing about 70 per cent of its pre-COVID ridership levels.
“We’re seeing a great bounce back in numbers,” said Courtney McDonald, the city’s manager of transit business service. “Recently, our numbers have been really good.”
Prior to the pandemic, Guelph Transit saw an average of between 135,000 and 140,000 riders, which McDonald said fell to about 70,000 per week during 2020 and 52,000 per week in 2021.
However, so far this year the weekly average is about 94,000 rides, though since the start of the school year the weekly average has been in the range of 135,000 to 140,000 riders – down from the weekly pre-pandemic average of 170,000 riders for this time of year.
Much of the lower level can be directly linked to a reduction in service that followed the implementation of public health standards such as physical distancing and an increase in people working from home.
“I think we’re doing well. When we’re chatting with our other municipal comparators of similar size, we all seem to be around the same for bouncing back,” said McDonald. “It’s what we had expected. We anticipate it will continue to grow as more time goes on.”
With those services added back, along with a few additions, much of the ridership has returned.
Last year city council approved a 10-year plan for Guelph Transit that includes moving routing away from the current hub and spoke system, which requires many riders to transfer downtown in order to reach their destination, to a grid-like system intended to offer more direct and less lengthy rides.
This has resulted in a number of changes implemented this year, including establishing on-demand service for holidays, as well as the addition and expansion of some routes.
Pending budget approval early next year, additional route extensions and enhancements are planned.
“We’re really hopeful … that’s going to help build our ridership as we’re adding in new routes, new service, expanding hours and going into new areas we haven’t serviced before,” said McDonald. “We’re hopeful that’s going to bring us back and hopefully exceed our pre-COVID levels.”
It’s difficult to predict when Guelph Transit will see pre-pandemic ridership levels, the business manager said, noting, “we’re getting there, slowly.”
