Metro Vancouver transit overcrowding back at pre-pandemic levels

The latest statistics from Metro Vancouver's transit authority show that ridership has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels — but so too has overcrowding.

TransLink's annual service performance review says there were 233 million trips taken across the system last year, a 20.5 per cent increase from 2022.

But with the rebound in ridership comes complaints of overcrowding. TransLink says overcrowding levels last fall "generally mirrored fall 2019, with overcrowding occurring on around 10 per cent of all trips."

The region's transit authority says incoming funding will help alleviate some of the overcrowding on public transport, but a stable long-term funding plan is needed to serve commuters as Metro Vancouver's population continues to grow.

The news that overcrowding has returned to pre-pandemic levels is not surprising for Kenzi Fong, who lives in East Vancouver and commutes downtown daily.

"It's very overwhelming. I'm personally on the spectrum and so I deal with overstimulation," Fong told CBC News. "So having all those people ... bump into you is very frustrating.

"Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, I find a lot of people have lost social rules and, like, people aren't taking their bags off on trains, people aren't making room for other people."

The service review says overcrowding occurs when the number of passengers on a vehicle exceeds the authority's target capacity at any point during the trip, which could mean that all seats are occupied and standing space is full, with buses completely bypassing stops.

TransLink noted the 49 route from Metrotown to the University of British Columbia was among the busiest in the network with almost 60 per cent of weekday peak-hour, peak-direction trips being overcrowded.

CBC News found that overcrowding was one of the most common complaints listed in two months' worth of TransLink data obtained through a freedom of information request. 

While acknowledging overcrowding as a major issue, TransLink says its ridership recovery from the pandemic continues to be one of the best among North American transit systems.

Last fall, total boardings across the transit system worked out to be 87 per cent of those seen in fall 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major downturn in transit usage.

Dan Mountain, a TransLink spokesperson, says the recently-funded 2024 investment plan should give some short-term relief to customers facing overcrowding, as the authority will be able to increase service on 60 high-priority routes without decreasing it elsewhere.

"But we're continuing to look for a long-term solution that can help TransLink to keep up with population growth and help to continue to expand our system," Mountain told CBC News.