Public transport ridership in Quebec has practically returned to its pre-pandemic level, announces the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC).
• Also read: Quebec Tramway: the will of the Legault government “is not fake”, swears Mayor Bruno Marchand
• Also read: Quebec Tramway: Mayor Bruno Marchand welcomes the mandate granted to CDPQ Infra
• Also read: Councilor Gosselin maintains ambiguity on the tramway
Citizens are back on RTC buses, while the network has regained ridership of 93.1% compared to 2019, according to a press release issued Wednesday morning.
Objective exceeded
The RTC has therefore exceeded its objective for the year 2024, which was to reach the proportion of 88%, welcomed the president of the RTC, Maude Mercier Larouche.
“This success confirms the importance and relevance of offering adapted and sustainable transport options to the population, in a context where the impacts of road congestion are felt everywhere,” she said by way of press release.
15.2 million trips
The RTC emphasizes that “with more than 15.2 million trips made between April and September, ridership jumped 12.6% compared to the same period last year. This increase underlines a marked return of customers to public transport which tends to stabilize.
During the pandemic, the RTC suffered a major drop of 80% in its ridership, hurting the transport company’s revenues. In 2021, it had only regained 60% of its pre-pandemic traffic.
“These results highlight the commitment of all the teams who work together to offer a reliable and quality service to the citizens of the Quebec City metropolitan area,” underlined the general director of the RTC, Nicolas Girard.
