Fewer post-secondary students leads to dip in GRT ridership
Posted Jun 9, 2025 01:18:30 PM.
Last Updated Jun 10, 2025 11:08:23 AM.
Grand River Transit (GRT) is seeing declining ridership so far in 2025.
A report from the transit agency shows ridership in the first quarter of this year has dropped more than 16 per cent compared to 2024, and a leading factor is changes in the post-secondary sector.
“GRT’s first quarter ridership has declined 16.5 per cent compared to 2024 because of fluctuations in post-secondary student populations,” said the report. “Student ridership has been impacted by recent changes to federal immigration policies, reduced postsecondary enrolment, and campus consolidation.”
Neil Malcolm is director of transit services for the Region of Waterloo and told The Mike Farwell Show that GRT is reevaluating service expansions based on the data.
“Really it’s about deploying our resources where they’re most needed,” Malcolm said.
He said they want to make adjustments to reflect the current ridership and deliver bus service where people are using it, while attracting new riders.
Among the changes outlined in the report are suspending remaining service expansions that were planned for 2025, removing extra trips that were added to routes to address student crowding, and discontinuing shuttle services.
The report indicates the adjustments would lead to $1.37 million in annual operational savings for GRT.
It will be presented on Tuesday afternoon at the Region of Waterloo’s Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Development Committee meeting.
