Cap on international students leading to drop in Ontario transit ridership
Global News
Brampton, Mississauga and parts of Waterloo Region were among the suburbs where people flocked back to the bus, leading to overcrowding and setting records.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership on Toronto’s buses, streetcars and subways struggled to rebound.
But it surged back in nearby cities.
Brampton, Mississauga and parts of Waterloo Region were among the suburbs that rapidly recovered from COVID-19, setting records for the number of passengers and struggling with overcrowding.
Then, the federal government put a cap on the number of international students who could study in Ontario. The move appears to be directly linked to suddenly plummeting ridership in those cities, which are now recording millions fewer rides.
“In 2024, federal policy changes reduced immigration inflows and began to affect ridership,” the City of Brampton wrote in a statement to Global News. “Demand slowed late in the year and declines continued into Spring and Summer 2025, resulting in a revenue shortfall.”
Mississauga, for example, saw its student ridership drop 24 per cent last year and its total number of riders fall by 10 per cent.
“A 10 per cent drop in ridership does seem significant,” Mississauga’s Miway transit director Maureen Cosyn Heath acknowledged. “Certainly, the policy change is an impact on that.”
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Brampton, Mississauga and parts of Waterloo Region were among the suburbs where people flocked back to the bus, leading to overcrowding and setting records.