More people are taking the bus, according to the city’s latest transit ridership numbers.
Director of Saskatoon Transit Jim McDonald said 2018 saw an eight per cent increase in riders in 2018, with more than 8.7 million.
“It shows people are recognizing transit as a viable alternative,” McDonald said.
McDonald attributes the increase of riders to the changes the city has made to its transit plans, by adding more routes and having more frequent bus times.
“It has a lot to do with us listening to people and us putting service where people are actually going to take the bus,” he said.
“More importantly it’s getting service that’s more reliable. If we say it’s going to be there every seven minutes at peak, that means the person getting to a bus stop – if they just missed the bus, that’s about four minutes until they see headlights of the next bus coming along. That means something. Frequency is freedom.”
McDonald projects ridership will top one million riders per month in 2019.
