Airdrie Transit has set a new record this year for annual passenger trips, reaching the 500,000 mark.
The previous record was the 400,000 mark in 2019 before COVID-19 hit.
Chris MacIsaac, Team Leader of Transit and Active Transportation for the City of Airdrie was excited to reach the new milestone.
"To achieve half a million trips before the end of 2023 was both a surprise but a pleasant surprise for our service."
MacIsaac stated he hopes to double the record within a few years.
"We've always had the target to reach one million annual passenger trips by 2026. We got a little sidetracked due to the pandemic, but we're going in the right direction now."
While it does seem like one million will be a hard goal to reach by 2026, MacIsaac stated they are progressing nicely toward the goal.
"The way that we're growing our services, and we're seeing more demand, I think it's entirely achievable by the end of 2026."
When asked about which route has been the most popular, Airdronians travelling to and from Calgary has doubled since the start of the year.
"We're seeing quite a bit of growth both on our regional service connecting Calgary to CrossIron Mills to North Calgary and our local services."
The lowest ridership in recent years was back in 2021 during COVID-19 when they saw only 120,000 annual passenger trips.
"This achievement is largely in thanks to the loyalty of our customers who have continued to use our services over the years even through the lean years of the pandemic."
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Fri, Jul 26, 12:00 AM
Full-time, Permanent, Labour