MiWay ridership rebounded faster than most Ontario transit agencies, watchdog report finds

Mississauga's transit system recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic faster than most of Ontario's biggest agencies, with MiWay ridership climbing back to 86.6 per cent of 2019 levels in 2022, according to a new report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

The report, which examines the ridership, revenues, expenses and subsidies of the province's 106 municipal transit agencies and two provincial agencies, ranked MiWay as the third-largest municipal transit system in Ontario. MiWay recorded 35.7 million passenger trips in 2022 and served a population of 0.8 million.

Suburban systems outpaced downtown counterparts

The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario found that suburban agencies generally weathered the pandemic better than the large downtown-focused systems, citing lower rates of remote work and faster population growth.

The contrast was stark. The Toronto Transit Commission, the province's largest agency with 321.0 million trips in 2022, recovered to just 60.6 per cent of its 2019 ridership. Ottawa's OC Transpo, the second-largest with 50.8 million trips, reached only 51.7 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Metrolinx, which operates GO Transit, fared worst of all, rebounding to just 45.4 per cent of 2019 trips.

Brampton Transit, Mississauga's neighbour to the north, was the standout, recovering to 98.1 per cent of its 2019 ridership.

Provincewide, Ontario's transit agencies recorded 590.9 million passenger trips in 2022, or 62 per cent of the 953.3 million trips taken in 2019. Ridership had bottomed out at 357.7 million trips in 2021 during the height of pandemic public health restrictions.

Agencies more dependent on government funding

The report also highlights a lasting financial shift for transit operators. In 2022, Ontario's agencies recorded $6.1 billion in operating expenses against $6.0 billion in revenues — $1.9 billion from fares and other own sources, and $4.1 billion in government operating subsidies.

That means subsidies covered 68.4 per cent of operating revenues in 2022, up sharply from 47.5 per cent before the pandemic in 2019, when fares made up the majority of transit agency revenues.

The report notes municipal agencies typically carry passengers shorter distances — an average of about seven kilometres per trip in 2022 — compared with 37 kilometres for Metrolinx, which serves urban centres as well as surrounding regions.

Beyond the historical data, the FAO projects provincial transit operating subsidies through 2028-29 and assesses the fiscal impact of new programs, including the One Fare initiative, which allows riders to transfer between participating systems without paying again. It also analyzes how subsidies are distributed across the province's economic regions on a per-resident basis.

The report was prepared at the request of a Member of Provincial Parliament and draws on data from the Ministry of Transportation, Metrolinx and the Canadian Urban Transit Association. Financial and ridership data were available up to 2022, with the FAO estimating figures for agencies with incomplete information and projecting later years through an economic and financial model.