London Transit Commission can’t agree on urgency to address 1.8M drop in ridership

London Transit Commission discusses last year's sudden drop in ridership. CTV’s Daryl Newcombe says the situation may require urgent action.

“I am very concerned about the ridership decline,” Coun. Sam Trosow said following a meeting of the London Transit Commission.

None of Trosow’s colleagues on the commission supported his initial motion to request a report at the next LTC meeting on April 27 outlining local strategies to encourage a ridership rebound. However, a modified motion requesting the report for a June meeting was approved in a 3–2 vote.

“There are a number of external variables that constrain us, but as a commission we have to do a much better job of identifying what is within our control and what we can do better, even if it means moving some resources around,” Trosow told CTV News after the meeting.

A staff report summarizing the bus system’s performance last year found total ridership dropped from 19.23 million rides in 2024 to 17.46 million in 2025 — a decline of 1.77 million trips.

The report suggests most of the decrease can be attributed to a reduction in the number of international students attending Fanshawe College and Western University.

“This is a bit of a blip due to other policy decisions,” said Coun. Skylar Franke, chair of the London Transit Commission. “So it’s not necessarily that people are not riding because they don’t need the bus — there are just fewer people available to take the bus.”

A surge in international student enrollment following the pandemic contributed to overcrowding and schedule adherence issues, which affected customer satisfaction.

LTC administration said reduced ridership could improve overall service quality and lead to more sustainable and predictable growth.

“If we can provide more service — more frequency, more routes and more availability — people are looking for that when making the choice to take the bus,” officials said, noting service improvements are tied directly to increased funding.

Mayor Josh Morgan pointed to recent council investments aimed at improving transit service.

“We’ve added 18,000 conventional transit hours and 10,000 paratransit hours,” Morgan said. “This is the investment we’ve made. Council has also approved, for the first time ever, a property tax assessment growth business case to add additional service.”

The staff report also highlighted a steady decline in per-capita ridership, with residents taking an average of 41.8 rides in 2023, 39.2 in 2024 and 38.2 in 2025.

“The rides per capita measure has been on a steady decline over the period, indicating that service growth is not keeping pace with population growth,” the report states.

Morgan said the city’s Bus Rapid Transit system is expected to improve service once it launches. Funding currently used for traditional bus routes along future BRT corridors could be reallocated to routes elsewhere in the city.

“There are routes operating along those rapid transit corridors that will be replaced by rapid transit routes with higher frequency,” he said. “The other piece council is doing is adding significant residential density along those corridors.”

Franke said she believes the arrival of BRT will encourage more Londoners to use transit.

“If you build it, they will come,” she said. “When Bus Rapid Transit is operational, we’ll start to see an increase in ridership.”

The East London Link route is expected to launch in late 2027, followed by the Wellington Gateway in 2028.

However, Trosow said greater urgency is needed to reverse ridership declines in the short term, noting there may be an opportunity to attract new riders amid higher gas prices.

“We have to communicate better, but we have the expertise here to be running a much better transit service than we’re running,” he said.