The Watch
LATITUDE
CANADIANS IN GROWING NUMBERS CLIMB ABOARD TRANSIT In what many would view as wrong turn for urban transit, American cities are largely moving away from public options like buses and trains. The culprit is the rise of ride-sharing applications like Uber. But Canadians appear to be bucking the trend: we’re using public transit in higher numbers, it appears. The number of transit trips rose by 1.5 per cent in 2017—that’s an additional 30 million rides and the first aggregate increase since 2014. So say statistics released by the Canadian Urban Transit Association. Reasons for the boost include service improvements (longer hours and better routes, for instance), growing student populations, increased tourism, higher gas prices, and higher employment.
TRANSIT TRENDS Canadians are increasingly using public transit, because of improving service. Shown here is Calgary’s Blue Line. -photo courtesy City of Calgary
62 | PEG SPRING 2019
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