Saint John Transit on track to surpass pre-pandemic levels by end of the year

The Saint John Transit Commission recorded 695,092 rides between January 1 and April 30, 2024. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic caused a limit to transit services, the latest ridership numbers show that Saint John Transit has reached and exceeded ride totals for the same pre-pandemic time-period.

Ian MacKinnon, Director of Transit and Fleet Services, says he expects the Transit service to exceed pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. “We are on target to have the highest ridership year ever,” says MacKinnon. “If we continue at our current pace, we expect to be well over 2.1 million rides by year-end.”

These results are a positive measure of success of the Transforming Transit project. In 2022, Saint John Transit began implementing the project to ensure sustainability of operations, better serve current riders, attract new riders and adopt industry standards. They currently deliver public transit across 316.3 km², operating over 40 conventional buses, six electric buses and six specialized service (accessible transit) vehicles servicing 18 fixed routes and three new on-demand FLEX zones.

The Transit Commission credits a portion of the increases to the on-demand service. Since launching in January 2023, there have been more than 50,000 On-Demand Flex Service rides.

For more information on Saint John Transit, click HERE.