Public Transit

Canada is far behind hi-speed commuting in Europe, mostly because the current model is based on share corridors for freight and passengers. Nonetheless, there are plans to connect major cities by high-speed rail, mainly in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. The progress has been slow, but the opportunities on the horizon are amazing.

Canada has a large and well-developed railway system that today primarily transports freight.  There are two major publicly traded transcontinental freight railway systems, Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP). The federal crown corporation Via rail provides nationwide passenger services. The next major upgrade is the change from diesel to clean energy sources such as electrification and hydrogen.

More than 150 cities across the world have embarked on LRT projects. In Canada, LRT is either operational, planned or in construction in several cities from coast-to-coast. Public rates of ridership in LRT projects in operation show levels around 85% before the pandemic. The LRT pipeline across Canada surpasses 50 Billion Canadian Dollars and construction periods from 2020 to 2040.

Bus Rapid Transit has been growing fast in Canada. More and more cities are creating dedicated corridors for faster public transit, allowing people to consider taking the bus instead of commuting by car. BRT also enables the reduction of GHG emissions.

Parking facilities are limited public resources located according to population growth and increase in the use of means of transportation. Canada has more than 18 million registered automobiles, and just in 2019, more than 12 million Canadians have reported used a bicycle. People who commute need to find parking facilities for their vehicles. The trend is to create more parking facilities in the cities' outskirts and interconnected with public transit allowing the commuters to park their cars and do the long commuting by public transit. More and more facilities are planned to be built by transport authorities and municipalities across major Canadian cities.