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Stupid, Unsupported Clickbait Articles That Rate Transit Systems Around The World

doady said:
The San Francisco urban area has the second highest transit ridership per capita in the US, behind only New York.

Chicago and Philadelphia are about the same as Guelph. They aren't that great.
Click to expand...
This list doesn't state a particular methodology, but it alludes to there being a bunch of different factors, not just transit ridership per capita. Compared to the L, MUNI and BART kind of suck, and SEPTA has the best regional rail system outside of the New York metro area. Also, Toronto and Montreal have higher public transportation mode shares than San Francisco.
doady said:
I don't see what is the major difference between Kitchener-Waterloo, Mississauga, Brampton and Winnipeg. Similar-sized systems with similar ridership and similar service level. Add Quebec, London and Hamilton as well.

Canadian cities are pretty much all the same. It makes sense to rank US systems because there is so much variation between them, but rankings for Canada is just pointless.
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I specifically said that Ottawa should have been ranked higher. It was below Mississauga, Brampton, and Winnipeg. Edmonton and Calgary should also be higher because of their subway and light rail lines. KW has a summed population of around 350K. They have a light rail system and a better bus network than Brampton & London (per capita) and Hamilton altogether.
 
It may be a clickbaity list but I do agree with their #1 pick. Everything works in Singapore. Truth. and stuff.
 
Streety McCarface said:
This list doesn't state a particular methodology, but it alludes to there being a bunch of different factors, not just transit ridership per capita. Compared to the L, MUNI and BART kind of suck, and SEPTA has the best regional rail system outside of the New York metro area. Also, Toronto and Montreal have higher public transportation mode shares than San Francisco.
Click to expand...

BART is probably more comparable to SEPTA Regional Rail and Metra, and the service level is way higher than both. Even if you'd rather compare BART to L and SEPTA subway, it is a larger system than both, covering a much larger proportion of the metropolitan area.

Streety McCarface said:
I specifically said that Ottawa should have been ranked higher. It was below Mississauga, Brampton, and Winnipeg. Edmonton and Calgary should also be higher because of their subway and light rail lines. KW has a summed population of around 350K. They have a light rail system and a better bus network than Brampton & London (per capita) and Hamilton altogether.
Click to expand...

Grand River Transit provided 760k service hours in 2016, London Transit Commission 644k hours in 2018, Hamilton Street Railway 814k hours in 2014, and Brampton Transit 1.21M hours in 2018. The service hours per capita is almost identical for all systems, around 2.0 hours per capita. The ridership per capita is also the same for all systems, around 50 per capita. That's why it's pointless to rank them. They are all the same. Same ridership, same level of service.

Cities of similar size in Canada have very similar ridership and service level. There is little variation unless you look at cities of different sizes. But then it becomes nothing more than a population ranking. Toronto has the #1 system simply because it has highest population.
 
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Some numbers to compare Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia:

Code: 
SYSTEM       BOARDINGS SERVICE HRS  BUSES
			
TTC        945,611,700   9,500,000  1,926
GO Transit  76,206,600           ?    512
MiWay       55,700,000   1,584,873    463
Oakville T   4,194,200           ?    105
			
Muni       216,187,300   3,800,000    968
BART       126,507,900   2,189,000      0
AC Transit  54,061,800   2,149,000    630
Caltrain    18,855,700           ?      0
SamTrans    11,217,200     630,117    358
			
CTA        468,068,000   6,480,508  1,864
Metra       68,460,300           ?      0
Pace        34,564,800   1,968,000    780
			
SEPTA      300,359,500   6,413,330  1,472
NJ Transit  21,576,900           ?    383
 
doady said:
Some numbers to compare Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia:

Code: 
SYSTEM       BOARDINGS SERVICE HRS  BUSES
            
TTC        945,611,700   9,500,000  1,926
GO Transit  76,206,600           ?    512
MiWay       55,700,000   1,584,873    463
Oakville T   4,194,200           ?    105
            
Muni       216,187,300   3,800,000    968
BART       126,507,900   2,189,000      0
AC Transit  54,061,800   2,149,000    630
Caltrain    18,855,700           ?      0
SamTrans    11,217,200     630,117    358
            
CTA        468,068,000   6,480,508  1,864
Metra       68,460,300           ?      0
Pace        34,564,800   1,968,000    780
            
SEPTA      300,359,500   6,413,330  1,472
NJ Transit  21,576,900           ?    383
Click to expand...
Where did you get the data for the TTC? Their website is quoting 533M riders
www.ttc.ca

Section Two

The Toronto Transit Commission is the quick, convenient and safe way to get around Toronto. The subway system is linked with buses and streetcars to get you around Toronto on one fare, provided it's a one-way trip with no stopovers. You can travel on the TTC every day.
www.ttc.ca www.ttc.ca
 
Streety McCarface said:
Where did you get the data for the TTC? Their website is quoting 533M riders
www.ttc.ca

Section Two

The Toronto Transit Commission is the quick, convenient and safe way to get around Toronto. The subway system is linked with buses and streetcars to get you around Toronto on one fare, provided it's a one-way trip with no stopovers. You can travel on the TTC every day.
www.ttc.ca www.ttc.ca
Click to expand...

TTC saw 521M linked trips (revenue riders) in 2018, but to compare with US systems you must use unlinked trips (boardings) which include transfers. Likewise, Mississauga had 40M linked trips, GO 71M, Oakville 2.8M in 2018.

Numbers are from APTA website, which are supposed to be unlinked trips only, but some Canadian agencies like Brampton Transit and York Region Transit erroneously report linked trips, so they are not comparable to US numbers, which is why I could not include them here. Brampton is around 45M boardings, and YRT around 30M.
 
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doady said:
TTC saw 521M linked trips (revenue riders) in 2018, but to compare with US systems you must use unlinked trips (boardings) which include transfers. Likewise, Mississauga had 40M linked trips, GO 71M, Oakville 2.8M in 2018.

Numbers are from APTA website, which are supposed to be unlinked trips only, but some Canadian agencies like Brampton Transit and York Region Transit erroneously report linked trips, so they are not comparable to US numbers, which is why I could not include them here. Brampton is around 45M boardings, and YRT around 30M.
Click to expand...

This makes sense, but I think it's fair to note that most trips on US public transportation networks don't involve transfers, especially along rapid transit corridors. Even when they do, there is almost never more than 1 transfer made, compared to the TTC, where transferring twice or 3+ times is not uncommon. For instance, heading south on the Lansdowne Bus, transfer to line 2 at Lansdowne Station, Transferring to line 1 at Yonge, and Transferring to the 509 to get to Harbourfront Centre. For someone coming from STC, or Lawrence East, you're guaranteed at least 3 transfers (4 trips) when getting downtown. Some people require 4 (5 trips).

Our system is built on transfers (and it works extremely well, not trying to complain about it), soI just think it's important to consider that.
 
TTC relies on transfers way too much. That's why Bloor-Yonge station is overcrowded and they need to build DRL.

A lot of US systems are the opposite problem, good transit to and from city centre, but anywhere else is difficult.

Unlinked trips vs. linked trips for US and Canada systems in 2011:

Code: 
SYSTEM  UNLINKED  LINKED

NYCTA      3,304   2,304
CTA          532     407
LACMTA       457     349
MBTA         390     262
SEPTA        340     271

STM          727     413
Translink    356     235
OC Transpo   150     104
Calgary      149     102
ETS          128      83
Mississauga   49      33


CTA has all rail lines going to the Loop, SEPTA has Regional Rail, but otherwise around 50% transfers seems normal. Even Ottawa with a system designed for one-seat rides is close to 50%.

I think if US systems have fewer transfers, it's because they focus too much on rail and neglect the bus system. It's hard to transfer to another route if there isn't another route available to begin with. Canadian systems are more complete.
 
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