Metro Vancouver transit commute longest in U.S., Canada

Commuting by transit takes longer in Metro Vancouver than anywhere else in Canada and the United States.

That’s according to a global study which suggests a typical bus and train rider in the region is spending 60 minutes on a one-way trip.

The research comes from Moovit, a transit-tracking app, and it is based on data and user experiences in major cities around the world.

If you add up those hour-long commutes, the study says a typical rider would spend one year and eight months riding transit in Metro Vancouver over their lifetime.

With Vancouver ranked the longest transit commute in the Canada-U.S. region, the company says Toronto is No. 2 at 55 minutes, followed by Miami at 52 minutes.

The worst city for lengthy transit commutes globally is Mexico City, with a typical 67-minute commute.

The study also asked app users what it would take to get them to take transit more often.

The top answers were higher frequency of service, lower fares, and reliable and accurate arrival times.

TransLink calls into question study’s methodology

Meanwhile, TransLink is calling the study results into question.

A spokesperson for Metro Vancouver’s transit authority points out that the survey only compares two Canadian cities — Toronto and Vancouver — and it appears to be limited to data from Moovit app users only.

The transit provider adds it makes sense Metro Vancouver would have longer trip times than Toronto, as the Lower Mainland’s huge service area means people make longer distance trips.

“While we can’t speak to the validity of the survey, this is why we’ve been advocating for more transit in the region to combat congestion or it will only get worse,” a TransLink spokesperson said in an emailed statement to 1130 NewsRadio.

TransLink has been pushing for more funding from senior levels of government to fund plans to expand service for the region’s growing population.

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