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Transit averages over 1.6 million riders daily during week one of the Games

Transit averages over 1.6 million riders daily during week one of the Games

West Coast Express unloaded about 2,000 people into Waterfront Station from its 12:30 p.m. train on Friday, February 19.
West Coast Express unloaded about 2,000 people into Waterfront Station from its 12:30 p.m. train on Friday, February 19.

Well: our media team has sent out the transit ridership numbers for week one of the Games, and it turns out that an average of more than 1.6 million people a day have used bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express!

(I should add here that we usually transport about 700,000+ riders a day: so this is more than double that!)

We don’t have the exact figures at the moment, but the preliminary daily averages are super impressive:

  • Bus – up 34% to 975,000
  • SeaBus – up 200% to 48,000
  • West Coast Express 19,538 – up 78% from February 2009
  • SkyTrain
    • Expo/Millennium is up 54% to 369,700, including a single-day record of 488,000 on Sunday Feb. 14, when the normal Sunday average is around 150,000
    • Canada Line averaged over 207,000 per day (in the 28-day period ending Jan. 28, Canada Line ridership averaged just under 94,000)

The TransLink Trip Planner also handled 51,000 online requests on Friday, Feb. 19. And our Customer Information call centre has also received a record number of inquiries: over 7400 calls on Friday, answering more than 88 per cent within a minute. (You can call Customer Information at 604-953-3333, and they’re open from 5:30am until 1:30 the next morning, with additional phone lines and staff brought in for the Olympics period.)

As you may know, extended February services have been helping us serve you during the Olympic period—that includes longer trains and rush hour service levels for longer periods on all SkyTrain lines, 10-minute service on SeaBus using three vessels, and the equivalent of 180 extra buses on hand to help out busy bus routes, at the direction of our transit supervisors on the ground. And let’s not forget the 200 cheery transit hosts who are helping people all over the system!

And our CEO points out that you folks out in Metro Vancouver are really making this happen.

“Much of the credit for making this work has to go to the people of Metro Vancouver,” continues Mr Jarvis. “They’re the ones who’ve answered the bell to reduce motor vehicle traffic in the downtown core by 30 per cent during Games Time and have sought out public transportation options. What’s more, reports from our field staff show that the public have shown legendary Canadian politeness and hospitality to our visitors from around the world, to do our region proud!”

Check out the full press release for more.

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