Sudbury transit expects to set new ridership record in 2024

The number of Sudburians riding public transit is expected to hit another record this year.

If the current trend continues, some sixmillionpassengers will have taken the GOVA bus service by year's end, surpassing the previous record of fivemillion riders from 2023.

"We saw a massive increase in terms of ridership," said Brendan Adair, Greater Sudbury's director of transit services.

He believes the Rural and Northern Immigration Program (RNIP) is a factor that explains the growth in demand for public transit.

"Anticipating over 515 allocations this year and with over 2,700 newcomers to our community over recent years, we're confident that many choose GOVA as their mode of transportation," he said.

To meet that growing demand, the city is adding 11,000hours of service to the transit system this fall, but that could mean more crowded buses this summer.

"What people may experience when using the service is, you know, full buses which is what we saw in our our lots of our main routes. And when we have full buses sometimes that high level ridership during peak times can cause our system to be delayed," said Adair.

Gerad Egers has always relied on public transit, but arecent route change has increased his commute between Barrydowne Road and the Donovan neighbourhood by an hour.

That's forcing him to make a dreaded change of his own.

"I don't drive. I may change that just for work purposes... probably get a license and a vehicle now," Egers said.

Adair saysthe cityplans routes and schedules with the best intentions, but it's impossible to meet everyone's needs.

"We acknowledge that there is going to be aspects of our service that don't align with somebody's work schedule or or personal commitments," he said.

But Egers worries that focusing on existing ridership data to plan out the transit system will dissuade some people from ditching their cars in favour of taking the bus.

"Let's just have a regular schedule and just run it, whether people are riding it or not. I mean spend the money. How do you expect people to transition with the current state of things?" he said.