Staff Report #3
June 29, 2026
To All Commissioners
Re: 2025 Ridership Assessment
Recommendation
That:
- The Commission APPROVE a one-year pilot partnership with Transit App to provide real-time and detour information for customers at an annual cost of $158,587; and
- The report be RECEIVED for information.
Background
At the March 30, 2026 meeting, the Commission received the 2025 Conventional Transit Service Performance report which included reporting on annual ridership as well as a recommendation to proceed with a one-year pilot program with Transit App in response to ongoing customer requests for enhanced real-time information. At that meeting, the Commission directed Administration to report back with a detailed assessment of the decline in ridership experienced in 2025 as compared to 2024 including any recommended initiatives that may result in increased ridership going forward. The Commission also requested Administration to undertake an assessment of a City of London initiative with Smart Commute, to assess whether it would provide similar benefits to transit riders that Transit App would provide. Details with respect to both of these directions are set out in the remainder of this report.
2025 Ridership Assessment
The 2025 budget included the addition of 18,000 hours for allocation system-wide to the service areas identified as the highest priority, noting that requests for new routes or significant frequency improvements on existing routes could not be undertaken with this limited number of hours. As such, the 2025 Service Plan focused on improving frequencies, addressing reliability concerns and addressing crowding conditions in existing service areas. The conventional transit network includes 38 routes and six community bus routes, all of which have requests for improvements of some nature. Limited improvements on four routes were included in the 2025 service plan.
While growth service hours are typically anticipated to result in some ridership growth, the nature of the changes included in the 2025 service plan were focused on improving current conditions and maintaining the current ridership base. As such, no significant ridership growth was included in the 2025 budget, in fact, a ridership decline was budgeted based on the anticipated decline in tuition pass program participants resulting from the newly established caps on foreign student enrollment. The table below provides actual versus budget comparison of ridership and service hours for 2025.
2025 Ridership and Service Hours – Actual versus Budget
| Description | Actual | Budget | Percent Better (Worse) |
| Revenue service hours (millions) | 0.716 | 0.734 | (2.5)% |
| Ridership (millions) | 17.462 | 18.089 | (3.5)% |
| Rides per capita | 38.2 | 39.6 | (3.5)% |
| Rides per revenue service hour | 24.4 | 24.7 | (1.2)% |
| Service hours per capita | 1.6 | 1.6 | — |
While declines in ridership were anticipated in the 2025 budget, the extent to which the tuition pass program ridership was impacted was underestimated, resulting in an unfavourable ridership performance against budget.
The following table provides a summary comparison of ridership actual versus budget for 2025 in the four broad fare categories.
Conventional Transit Ridership 2025 (millions)
| Fare Category | Budget | Actual | Variance | % Variance |
| Cash | 0.785 | 0.741 | (0.044) | (6)% |
| Ticket/Stored Value | 5.012 | 5.071 | 0.060 | 1 % |
| Monthly Passes | 2.784 | 2.800 | 0.016 | 1 % |
| Tuition Passes | 9.508 | 8.850 | (0.659) | (7)% |
| Total | 18.089 | 17.462 | (0.628) | (3)% |
As set out in the table, with the exception of the tuition pass category, ridership performance against budget saw only minor variances against budget.
Cash
The cash ridership category is subject to fluctuation based on external factors. Historically, cash ridership declines immediately following a fare increase, and during periods when the overall economy is struggling. While cash payment can be viewed as a convenience, it is also the highest cost per ride of all fare categories, and as such, when riders are looking to reduce expenditures, many will shift to the ticket/stored value category in an effort to save money. By way of example, a customer who uses the bus three times a week (to/from) for the entire year would spend approximately $1,100 paying cash or $825 paying the adult ticket fare. The following table provides a summary of cash ridership for 2025 versus budget.
Conventional Transit Cash Ridership 2025 (millions)
| Fare Category | Budget | Actual | Variance | % Variance |
| Cash | 0.785 | 0.741 | (0.044) | (6)% |
Given the state of the economy in 2025, the 6% unfavourable variance from budget in cash fare ridership is not surprising given the real economic impacts began to surface after the 2025 budget was finalized and were not anticipated in the forecasts. It should also be noted that the decline in cash ridership is more than offset by the increase in ticket/stored value ridership, which supports the assumption that the decline in cash ridership was more a shift than a loss of overall riders.
Ticket/Stored Value
Similar to the cash ridership category, the ticket/stored value category is also subject to fluctuations based on external factors. Ticket ridership tends to increase (shift from cash) during periods of high inflation or recession, and in some cases, ridership in this category will decrease as riders who use the service often switch to the monthly pass category in an effort to save money. Typically a rider needs to ride 48 times in a month to make a monthly Citipass a more economical option than ticket/stored value. Of note, monthly passes are transferable, meaning they can be shared amongst family members that need access to transit during different times. By way of example, two family members who both ride the service 36 times in a month would pay approximately $190 in ticket fares, but they could purchase a Citipass for $112 which provides unlimited access to transit for the month.
The table below provides a further breakdown of ticket/stored value ridership by category for 2025 as compared to budget.
Conventional Transit Ticket/Stored Value Ridership 2025 (millions)
| Fare Category | Budget | Actual | Variance | % Variance |
| Adult | 3.482 | 3.520 | 0.038 | 1 % |
| Youth | 0.670 | 0.687 | 0.017 | 3 % |
| Senior | 0.568 | 0.564 | (0.003) | (1)% |
| Child | 0.239 | 0.250 | 0.010 | 4 % |
| Total | 4.959 | 5.021 | 0.063 | 1 % |
As the detail in the table indicates, all categories in the ticket/stored value category performed very close to budget expectations, and in total were 1% favourable.
As previously stated, given the state of the economy in 2025, it is likely that the favourable performance in the ticket ridership category is the result of a shift from the cash ridership category.
Monthly Pass
Monthly pass ridership needs to be assessed in a slightly different manner given a decline in ridership in this category doesn’t necessarily equate to a linear decline in the number of passes purchased. Ridership in this category is based on the actual number of times the pass is used for a ride, and as such, riders that use their pass less frequently than in the past may result in a decline in ridership but not a linear decline in the associated revenue.
The following table provides a further breakdown of monthly pass ridership by category for 2025 as compared to budget.
Conventional Transit Monthly Pass Ridership 2025 (millions)
| Fare Category | Budget | Actual | Variance | % Variance |
| Citipass | 1.684 | 1.661 | (0.023) | (1)% |
| Weekday | 0.239 | 0.254 | 0.015 | 6 % |
| Income Related | 0.409 | 0.443 | 0.034 | 8 % |
| Youth | 0.400 | 0.390 | (0.010) | (3)% |
| CNIB | 0.051 | 0.052 | 0.002 | –% |
| Total | 2.757 | 2.800 | 0.043 | 1 % |
The following table provides a summary of the total number of passes sold in each of the categories for 2025 as compared to the budget. It is important to recognize that this is the total number of passes sold over the entire year, and that this number does not reflect individual riders (based on the assumptions that many monthly pass riders purchase a pass every month and that passes are transferable).
Conventional Transit Total Pass Sales 2025
| Fare Category | Budget | Actual | Variance | % Variance |
| Citipass | 36,296 | 35,769 | (527) | (1)% |
| Weekday | 7,174 | 7,551 | 377 | 5 % |
| Income Related | 8,366 | 9,947 | 1,581 | 19 % |
| Youth | 11,676 | 11,205 | (471) | (4)% |
| Total | 63,512 | 64,472 | 2,347 | 2 % |
When assessing the two tables in conjunction, it is evident that the overall ridership growth in this category was the result of an increase of sales of the Income Related passes in 2025 being higher than budget. The slight downward shift in Citipass sales is likely related to the same economic factors that impacted the other categories noting that it is common during these periods that riders evaluate their fare choice based on the most economical option. Riders that are not making regular use of their Citipass on weekends, may choose to convert to a Weekday pass (which provides unlimited rides during weekdays only) and then rely on ticket fares for any weekend trips. The variances in the Citipass, Weekday and Youth pass categories are considered negligible noting the numbers are representative of the entire year’s pass sales.
The increase in the Income Related Pass sales and related ridership is also likely related to the current economy. The remaining fluctuations are considered negligible noting the variance represents sales over an entire year.
Tuition Pass
Tuition Pass ridership is limited to those post-secondary institutions that participate in the tuition pass program. Currently Western participants include both the full-time undergraduate cohort and as well as the graduate student cohort and Fanshawe participants include all full-time students. The ridership in this category is similar in nature to the monthly pass category as it is related to both the number of passes in circulation as well as the overall use of each pass. Rides per pass vary significantly in this category given the universal nature of the program which requires all participates to pay an annual fee which provides for unlimited access to public transit services regardless of whether they intend to use transit.
Conventional Transit Tuition Pass Ridership 2025 (millions)
| Fare Category | Budget | Actual | Variance | % Variance |
| Western Undergrads | 3.502 | 3.480 | (0.022) | (1)% |
| Western Graduates | 0.583 | 0.709 | 0.126 | 22 % |
| Fanshawe | 5.424 | 4.661 | (0.763) | (14)% |
| Total | 9.509 | 8.850 | (0.659) | (7)% |
Tuition passes in circulation fluctuate throughout the calendar year as they are based on the number of students enrolled in the program at any given time. Typically the fluctuations are tied to the various semester periods at the participating institutions, noting that programs start at varying periods throughout the calendar year. Ridership in this category is based on the actual number of times a card is tapped to record a ride. When ridership budgets are prepared, Administration works with partners to estimate the enrollment for the following year, and ride factors based on previous year’s usage are applied. In the case of the 2025 budget, the enrollment numbers utilized for Fanshawe were significantly higher than what occurred, resulting in an unfavourable budget performance.
Ridership Assessment Summary
As indicated in the Conventional Service Performance Report dated March 30, 2026, the unfavourable ridership budget performance is the result of the impact of the cap on foreign students on enrollment being more significant than budgeted. Excluding this category from ridership performance would result in actual ridership being approximately 31,000 riders over budget, equating to a less than 1% positive variance. It should be noted that every transit system in Canada that has tuition pass programs in place has experienced similar declines in ridership in 2025, with ridership declines ranging between 5% and 25%.
Initiatives to Increase Ridership
Increasing public transit ridership can be achieved through a number of measures, including but not limited to service improvements, enhanced user experience, and affordability measures, all of which require increased investment (both operating and capital) or a realignment of investment which generally result in trade-offs that net out to no significant change in ridership. This assertion is supported by the recent Voice of the Customer results in terms of customer priority and satisfaction levels outlined in the table below.
2025 Voice of the Customer Service Priorities
| Service Characteristic | Importance Ranking | Satisfaction Level | Area of Improvement |
| On-time Performance | 34% | 46% | Service Improvement |
| Frequency of Service | 11% | 59% | Service Improvement |
| Coverage | 10% | 74% | Service Improvement |
| Travel Time | 7% | 65% | Service Improvement |
| Real time Timeliness Info | 7% | 49% | Customer Experience |
| Information re: Planned Service Changes | 7% | 62% | Customer Experience |
| Bus Stop Locations | 5% | 74% | Service Improvement |
Each of these elements is discussed in greater detail below, both in terms of initiatives already included in the Business Plan and supporting Service Plans as well as other initiatives that may be considered.
Service Improvements
The Commission’s 2024-2027 Business Plan, and supporting Service Plans were prepared in response to the City of London Strategic Plan and the approved 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget (operating and capital).
The approved multi-year budget provides for the addition of 18,000 hours in each of the four years 2024 through 2027. Given the approximate 300,000 hours of unmet service requests, the preparation of the service plan needed to prioritize use of the annual 18,000 to the areas of service experiencing the greatest difficulty (i.e. crowding, schedule adherence, etc.). To put this challenge into perspective, 18,000 hours represents an approximate 2% increase in service each year, a growth rate that was surpassed by population growth during the same timeframe. After undertaking a review of current system performance the 2025-2029 Service Plan identified the following as priorities to be addressed over the Plan horizon:
- Address major performance issues across the system (on-time performance and crowding issues)
- Continue to improve access to transit within 400m of all London addresses
- Consider alternative service delivery where appropriate
- Modify routes to reflect the implementation of Rapid Transit providing connections into RT corridors
- Adjust routes experiencing crowding to support high levels of ridership
- Realign services to reflect ridership demand
- Reduce travel time discrepancy between car and transit
While the Service Plan identifies specific changes that should be considered in each of the years, the annual review process gives consideration to each of the priorities identified and reconciles that against both the planned changes and the current realities being experienced on the service. This approach has been critical as the ridership patterns have adjusted post pandemic, and again with the reduction in tuition pass participants in 2025. The priorities set out above were constructed based on available resources within approved budgets, and as such, were not expected to result in significant ridership gains, but rather to provide a more reliable service to existing riders.
In addition to the improvements identified in the service plan, in 2025, the Commission approved an Assessment Growth Business Case that would see transit service expand into four areas that are not currently served. The assessment growth hours will see service expansion into the Cedarhollow, Innovation Park/Commissioners/Sheffield, Kains/Upperpoint Blvd and West Byron areas of the City, which are some of the fastest growing areas in the city. These service improvements, which are scheduled to be implemented in 2028 are anticipated to attract new riders to the service, resulting in overall ridership growth.
Going forward, Administration recommends continued Assessment Growth Business Case submissions which will continue to expand transit services to areas of the City not currently served. While this approach will result in ridership gains, it needs to be recognized that the current Assessment Growth approach, which requires approval prior to the purchase of the required expansion buses, will be a slow process given the delivery time for buses. Further discussion between LTC Administration and Civic Administration is required in advance of the next multi-year budget to identify an alternative approach that would provide for the option to purchase growth buses in advance of the approval of the Assessment Growth Business case approval, which would provide for the ability to implement the service improvements in the year the business case is approved, versus two years later when the buses arrive.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Enhancements that improve the overall customer experience can include ease of access to up to date service information as well as infrastructure improvements on buses and at bus stops. A number of initiatives have taken place over the period of the current Business Plan including:
- Redefinition of bus shelter criteria to allow for additional shelters to be installed throughout the City
- Retrofitting a bus with a new style of seat and asking customers to provide feedback (noting a change in seat style would be implemented as new buses are ordered)
- Improved messaging at temporary stop locations
- Solar powered lights at bus stop locations that are not well lit at night
- Real-time next bus information at select stops throughout the city
- Review of alternative fare payment options (eg. debit/credit)
- Implementation of Alternative Service Delivery in difficult to serve areas of the city
Looking forward, the launch of the first rapid transit corridor will provide enhanced levels of service in terms of frequency, but also with respect to the rapid transit stations which provide for an enhanced customer experience with larger waiting areas.
As the report recommendation sets out, Administration is recommending a one year pilot program with Transit App to provide a pay-wall free mobile application for real-time trip planning, detour visualization, dynamic alerts and up to 4 push notifications per year. This initiative will modernize communications and enhance accessibility by allowing for turn-by-turn directions to access bus stops. This recommendation is in response to the feedback received over multiple years from the voice of the customer survey, where customers continue to rank access to this information as a key factor in their satisfaction with the service (noting as set out in the earlier table, the 2025 survey respondents indicated a 49% level of satisfaction, stressing they would like to be able to access information through an App versus the web-based option that is currently offered).
Subsequent to the March meeting, Administration did follow up with civic Administration with respect to the Smart Commute application they are using in an effort to determine whether it may be an option to provide transit riders with access to the real-time data they have been requesting. The Smart Commute application is intended for customers who are looking to connect with another party to share a trip. It has not been designed to provide real-time information and has limited application for transit trip planning. Features such as detours and stops closures are not shown on the app. Through discussions, there may be an opportunity to add realtime information in the future, but this would come with additional development and ongoing maintenance costs and has not been used in any other municipalities at this time. In addition to discussions with civic Administration regarding the capabilities of Smart Commute, Administration also reached out to other transit systems in the GTHA to determine whether any were making use of it. While there were some systems that indicated they had signed on to be a partner in the Smart Commute project in their jurisdiction, they also had partnerships in place with an App provider to provide real-time transit and trip planning tools for their riders.
As of September 2025, 14,765 unique London Transit riders were using Transit App. While passengers are able to access the information without a partnership established, there are limitations including limited access to route information or the need to purchase a subscription. Requiring a paid subscription to access transit information can be a barrier to transit access for marginalized members of the community. As many passengers are already familiar with the use of the App transitioning will be a seamless process allowing full access to the App’s features for all passengers in London.
Transit App is a Canadian company, which currently partners with over 180 transit agencies including over 30 agencies in Canada. A partnership with London Transit would make it easy for visitors from other cities to access real-time transit information when travelling in London. The app provider has indicated that approximately 4-6 weeks are required to have the app fully functional for LTC users, which means this could be available and communicated to riders as part of the fall service changes.
The one-year pilot program will provide the opportunity to assess whether this approach leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction with respect to access to service information and whether this approach is something that should be considered for a longer term. The cost of this one-year pilot has been included in the 2026 operating budget. Subsequent to Commission approval to proceed, a contract will be finalized, and a communication campaign will be prepared to ensure customers are aware of this new access to real time information.
Affordability Measures
It is well documented that a key attraction to public transit is affordability. As discussed earlier in this report, shifts away from more expensive fare categories are experienced during period of economic instability. In addition, significant shifts are often experienced immediately following a fare increase, when customers seek to determine which fare option provides them with the best value. As such, fare increases are often scheduled to coincide with significant service improvements to ensure that customers continue to feel they are receiving value for their investment. While affordability was not identified as a key concern in the 2025 Voice of the Customer survey, any fare adjustments considered for the next multi-year budget will require careful assessment in order to mitigate any loss of ridership.
There are currently five fare subsidies in place that provide for a discounted transit trip in London. These subsidies are provided by the City of London, noting each of them is intended to target a specific group which has been identified as requiring financial assistance for their use of public transit. The subsidized programs include a discounted price for senior tickets, youth and low income passes, and free transit access for children and riders with visual impairments.
In addition to the programs currently in place, a pilot program which will provide free transit access to grade 9 and 10 high school students at Clarke Road Secondary School will launch in the fall of 2026 and be in place for a two year period.
The City of London recently completed a review of the subsidized programs currently in place, and Council directed civic Administration to report back prior to the next Multi-Year Budget, with program options to consider, including costing, based on the findings in the Subsidized Transit Program Review including:
- maintaining the current subsidized transit programs;
- implementing limited program modifications to enhance access; and
- implementing a universal income-based program
London Transit Administration will continue to work with civic Administration on these assessments, noting any changes to the fare subsidization will have a potential impact on LTC operating revenue and related ridership.
Looking Forward
As set out earlier in this report, service improvements and customer experience enhancements, coupled with affordability are the keys to increasing public transit ridership. The ridership decline in 2025 provided relief to a system that was experiencing significant crowding and schedule adherence issues, which could not be adequately addressed within approved budget allocations. The reduced pressure on numerous routes resulting from the ridership decline provide for a more stable system as the starting point for the 2027 service plan, and mitigate the need to redirect resources to address issues that had not been prioritized in the Five Year Service Plan. Continuing to address existing customer concerns and requests going forward will be critical to ensure the system is functioning at a level that is providing the existing customer base with a viable and reliable transit service. Once the system network is performing at the desired level, consideration can be given to the adoption of new programs to attract new riders to transit (eg. employer sponsored passes, park and ride passes, etc.). Implemented programs of this nature at a time when the system is struggling with the current ridership levels are likely to result in a poor first experience for new riders, and will negatively impact the success of such programs.
For 2027, Administration recommends that the Annual Service Planning process continue to be followed, based on the Five Year Service Plan, which continues to prioritize routes that are experiencing difficulties, as well as to enhance routes that will be feeding the new rapid transit corridor. This will be accomplished through prioritized use of the 18,000 annual service hours as well as any service realignments that are identified through the annual route performance assessment, which ensures that service levels on all routes in the system are consistent with the ridership levels. In addition, a new Assessment Growth Business Case will be tabled for Commission consideration which will identify additional new areas of the city that would benefit from access to public transit services.
With respect to the 2028-2031 multi-year budget, Administration will reassess operating and capital budgets to ensure that appropriate request for additional service hours and related bus requirements, as well as other programs that will enhance the customer experience are included in the draft budgets presented to the Commission for approval. These improvements will be targeted at continuing to meet the demands of existing riders as well as attracting new riders.
Recommended by:
Katie Burns, Director of Planning
David Butler, Director of Operations – Conventional
Mike Gregor, Director of Finance
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager