Transit ridership is on the rise in the Tri-Cities but most residents still prefer their cars for getting to and from work.
According to Statistics Canada census data released this week, 73.3% of all residents in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody drive to work every day, compared to 16.3% who take public transit.
The census figures were compiled in 2016, so they would not capture the impact the Evergreen Extension has had on travel patterns.
Still, Coquitlam had the highest level of transit ridership (17.9%) and Port Coquitlam had the lowest (12.6%). PoCo had the highest level of commuters who rely on driving to work (77.3%), while Coquitlam had the lowest (71.4%).
Across Metro Vancouver, 64.3% of commuters drive to work each day while 20.4% rely on public transit.
Tri-City residents are also spending more time commuting than the typical Lower Mainland resident, according to the data.
In Coquitlam, PoCo and PoMo, 57.1% of all commuters spend 30 minutes or more getting to and from work, with 17.3% of respondents spending over an hour in transit each day.
That compares to the average for Metro Vancouver, where only 49.7% of residents spend 30 minutes or more commuting, with only 11.2% spending more than an hour on their daily trips to work.
The Tri-Cities are also lower than the Metro Vancouver average when it comes to walking and cycling to work. In the three municipalities, only 3.4% walk and 0.6% ride their bikes, with Coquitlam having the highest percentage of walkers (3.7%) and PoCo having the highest percentage of cyclists (0.8%).
Across the region, 6.7% of all commuters walk to work while 2.3% ride their bikes.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
@gmckennaTC
