The latest data on passengers boarding buses and trains in Calgary shows continued positive improvement in the number of passengers using Calgary Transit.

Data released on March 8 outlined the growth of passenger numbers on the city’s LRT lines and highlighted the work still to be done to get riders back on to buses.

January 2023 saw 7,244,600 passengers board trains and 3,693,500 on buses. The pre-pandemic month of January 2019 saw 6,960,000 passengers use the city’s LRT lines and 5,928,800 use busses.

This is the first time since the pandemic began that the number of passengers using CTrains exceeded pre-pandemic same-month-levels for 2019’s record transit usage.

Overall, the number of transit riders boarding buses and trains is at about 85 per cent of pre-pandemic January 2019 levels.

“Similar to increases seen in Vancouver and Edmonton, there has been a great improvement in our ridership numbers since the beginning of the year,” said Sharon Fleming, Director of Calgary Transit.

“As we move into spring, even more demand is expected, and we’re working to grow our service to keep up with those projections.”

Fleming had previously stated to LWC that she didn’t believe that a full recovery of transit service levels would occur before the end of 2023.

Calgary Transit said in a statement that they now believe, thanks to the January numbers, that a full recovery would come sometime during 2023.

“Calgary Transit is focused on the future and on building our service to grow along with our city,” said Chris Jordan, manager of transit service design for Calgary Transit.