Transit ridership increases

MEDIA RELEASE:

WINNIPEG June 1, 2006 - There are about 13,000 more passengers riding transit every day compared to this time last year.

Winnipeg Transit experienced an increase of 8.9% in weekday ridership during the first three months of 2006.

On average, approximately 162,000 people were taking the bus daily (Monday-Friday) up from 149,000 in 2005. Transit use in Winnipeg has been trending up over the past three years and increased by 3.5% in 2005 (about 1% higher than the national average).

"The outstanding growth in Winnipegger’s Transit use is indicative of the growing awareness of Transit’s environmental and economic benefits.” said Winnipeg Transit Director Dave Wardrop.

The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) reports Canadian transit systems had continuous growth at an average rate of 2.53% and reported 1.63 billion trips in 2005.

• Winnipeg Transit had the second highest year-over-year increase of any Canadian city over 400,000
• Winnipeg Transit has seen ridership increases of: 66,000 (2003), 850,000 (2004) and 1.3 million (2005)
• Winnipeg Transit carried nearly 40 million revenue passengers in 2005