PER CAPITA	1972	1982	1987	1992	1997	2002
Revenue riders	91	160	146	130	107	120
Index (1982 = 100)	57	100	91	81	67	75
Peak Riders	55	78	87	73	61	67
Index (1982 = 100)	70	100	112	94	78	86
Bus km	35.6	93.5	87.8	84.3	69.1	73.1
Bus mi	22.1	58.0	54.4	52.3	42.8	45.3
Index (1982 = 100)	38	100	94	90	74	78
Standard Equivalent km	N/A	92.6	93.1	91.9	73.9	79.7
Standard Equivalent mi		57.4	57.7	57.0	45.8	49.4
Index (1982 = 100)		100	101	99	80	86
Total Operating Cost, 2002 CAD	105	255	280	226	231	243
2002 USD	US$ 67	US$ 162	US$ 179	US$ 144	US$ 147	US$ 155
Index (1982 = 100)	41	100	110	87	91	95
REVENUE : COST RATIO	0.98	0.60	0.57	0.56	0.58	0.59

 

1972 data were included above to provide historic reference.

“Standard equivalent km” is defined as “The total number of service kilometres if the total fleet was comprised only of 40 foot standard buses” (OC Transpo 2003). This indicator accounts for relative vehicle size, and therefore the increased use of articulated buses after 1982.

 

Trends - Per-Capita Ridership, Service and Operating Cost

 

Taking relative vehicle size into consideration (“standard equivalent km”), OC Transpo increased service from 1982 to 1992 at a rate matching the UTA population increase. However, the absolute number of “revenue riders” (“linked trips”) fell after 1984. Therefore, the number of revenue passengers per capita (an indicator known traditionally as “riding habit”) also declined after 1984. The absolute number of “weekday peak period riders” increased to 1985, then remained relatively static until 1989. For this reason, the number of peak riders per capita also declined after 1989.