By Cheryl Jahn

Transit ridership heading upward

Oct 28, 2021 | 3:37 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Things are slowly returning to normal. Even some of the hardest-hit services during the pandemic, like Transit. As Council recently heard, the ridership numbers are creeping up.

Ridership numbers are at 63 percent of pre-pandemic levels and that is expected to climb incrementally.

“So for the next year, we’re expecting to hit about 65 to 70 percent, 2023-2024 we’re looking at 85 percent and then back to a hundred percent for 2025,” explains Michael Coulson, Transit Planner for the City.

Currently, city transit operates 35 buses and logs more than 4,336 kilometres per day. come the new year, the number of buses will jump to 38 and the city will be adding four thousand more service hours. Currently, half of the city’s ridership is made up of students from UNBC and CNC.

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And the hope is the increased service will attract more riders of the non-student persuasion.

“The new 105 express route will not just serve CNC students. It will also be coming to Sprunceland Mall and to Pine Centre Mall and to downtown. As well, the new service hours of the 15-UNBC will also come with a reduced travel time between downtown and UNBC.”

The changes that are planned for the new year were supposed to kick in this past September but were postponed. However, things may change again between now and January. As an example, preliminary numbers show Prince George’s population topping 80,000.

by Cheryl Jahn

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Transit ridership heading upward

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