Bus ridership nationwide remains below pre-pandemic rates despite record high gas prices, Statistics Canada data showed yesterday. The trend contradicts the rationale for a carbon tax that was to encourage commuters to burn less fuel, said the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)..“The carbon tax is so harmful because it punishes many Canadians for doing what they need to do to put food on the table,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the CTF. “Many Canadians cannot take public transit to work. They need to drive to support their families and the carbon tax makes that more expensive.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, Statistics Canada yesterday in a report Urban Public Transit May 2022 said national ridership totaled 94.5 million trips in May. It was 39% below pre-pandemic ridership in May 2019. Fare revenues fell from $336.2 million to $217.3 million..Gasoline prices over the same May to May period jumped 47%, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The national average pump price for gas increased from $1.34 per litre to $1.97..The CTF's Terrazzano said data showed the climate change rationale for taxing fuel made no sense. “These numbers are more proof the carbon tax doesn’t work,” said Terrazzano..“The carbon tax is up, gas prices are through the roof, yet urban transit ridership is down,” said Terrazzano. The latest ridership figures of 94.5 million trips in May is a fraction of peak ridership in October 2019 at 169.1 million trips..The Canadian Urban Transit Association yesterday did not comment. The Association in a document Why Public Transit Needs Extended Operating Support said national ridership is so low more subsidies are needed to offset losses..“Depressed ridership will be a multi-year event,” wrote the Association. “In one example, Québec’s transportation agency covering the Montréal area is forecasting steep financial losses through 2024.”.Cabinet from the outbreak of the pandemic budgeted $2.35 billion in special transit grants under a Safe Restart Agreement, the first direct federal subsidy of transit fares. Funding was prompted by the threatened 2020 layoff of 1,500 drivers and conductors by one of Canada’s largest transit operators, the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority..New data on poor transit ridership amid high gas prices confirmed 2016 in-house research by the Department of Natural Resources. “People rely on their vehicles as their primary mode of transportation,” said the Public Opinion Research On Energy Issues. Higher costs for fuel “would not affect their driving habits but would only increase personal expenditures,” said the report.
