McGill study shows how most Canadians view public transit as essential service

The Canadian Mobility Survey, a McGill-led study, is hoping to show that public transit is an essential service.

Researchers at McGill’s School of Urban Planning are looking to demonstrate the important role that public transportation plays in Canadians’ lives and their daily routines, and how their lives can be fulfilled without the use of a car.

“The purpose of the survey is understanding how people use transit in Canada, what is their perception of transit, what is their travel behavior in general, what are their problems, what levels of accessibility they need, and all aspects of transit use and travel behavior in general,” explained Hisham Negm, a research assistant at McGill.

The survey is currently underway in multiple major Canadian cities. The initial results of the study show that the majority of Canadians view public transit as an essential service.

They also support the idea of increased provincial funding in order to help with the financial difficulties they are currently facing.

“During the pandemic, the ridership really declined. So to maintain the levels of service, the transport agency starting putting a lot of money into it without getting the return. So they got into a deficit where they are now lacking some funding. They wanna compensate for that money. So the big question right now is where should this funding come from?” asked Negm.

Over 21,500 Canadians were surveyed and preliminary results so far show that 97 per cent think that public transit is essential in their region. Some Montrealers we spoke to agree.

“I think it’d be really hard to get around places. As a student, I use public transport every day. I wouldn’t be able to go to class if we didn’t have the metros or anything like that,” said one Montrealer CityNews spoke to.

Another saying, “I myself don’t use it very much so you know I don’t have much to say in that regard but yeah I think it’s important to a lot of people.”

For those wishing to participate in the survey they can visit mobility-canada.ca

“The next step is to conduct in-depth interviews with a range of demographics. So we need to understand from different genders, different income levels, different household structures and see where they’re living, suburban areas, urban areas, rural areas, and understand how these different people understand and interact with public transit and their service levels,” said Negm.