Public transit commute times on TransLink’s network in Metro Vancouver are among the worst in Canada and the United States, based on a new comparison of select metropolitan regions around the world.
According to new data released by Moovit, a popular public transit app, Metro Vancouver has the worst commute time while using public transit, with an average commute each way taking 60 minutes to complete — equivalent to spending 20 months per lifetime riding public transit.
Greater Toronto is the second worst, with an average commute time of 55 minutes each way on public transit, while Miami is the third worst, with an average commute time of 52 minutes.
But how do these Canadian travel times compare to other major global cities, based on Moovit’s 2024 app data?
Average commute times on public transit reached 42 minutes in Venice, 47 minutes in Paris, 50 minutes in London, 51 minutes in New York City, 54 minutes in Rome, 58 minutes in Rio de Janeiro and 67 minutes in Mexico City.
Moovit analyzed a total of 50 metropolitan regions around the world, including about a dozen Canadian and American regions, with the only Canadian regions being Metro Vancouver and Greater Toronto.
Moovit did not provide possible reasons why these public transit systems have varying average commute times.
According to TransLink’s latest statistics, for the month of October 2024, Metro Vancouver’s public transit system recorded a total of 35.73 million boardings, with 21.84 million (61%) boardings on buses, 13.31 million (37%) on SkyTrain’s Expo, Millennium, and Canada lines, 0.43 million (1%) on SeaBus, and 0.15 million (0.4%) on the West Coast Express commuter rail.
In recent years, TransLink has reported growing traffic congestion that impacts the speed and reliability of the bus network. This has resulted in the need to invest in more bus-only lanes, traffic signal priority for buses, and other bus priority measures.
Without a comprehensive commuter or regional rail network, which operates at faster speeds (generally up to 160 km/h) with fewer stations over longer distances, metro systems like SkyTrain (up to 80 km/h) with its relatively closely spaced stations serve as both an urban rapid transit system and a de facto substitute for commuter rail.
Recent ridership data shows that Metro Vancouver’s TransLink system has the third-highest bus ridership in Canada and the USA and the second-highest public transit ridership per capita in Canada. Ridership on the SkyTrain network now rivals that of the Washington DC Metro, Chicago L, and Boston subway.
Furthermore, there are differences in the urban growth patterns and population centres of Metro Vancouver, which is more dispersed than many other major urban regions with more concentrated cores.