Ride-hailing use in Metro Vancouver soars to over 3.5 million trips per month | Daily Hive

Uber pick-up area sign at the international arrivals area of Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan)

After years of debate, ride-hailing services launched in Metro Vancouver in January 2020, almost immediately following regulatory approval — just weeks before the sudden onset of the pandemic.

At the time, proponents noted that Metro Vancouver was the last major urban region in Canada and the United States to permit services such as Uber and Lyft.

Now, more than six years later, TransLink reports that ride-hailing usage in the region has experienced steady growth — rising gradually from just under one million trips per month in January 2021 to over 3.5 million per month in November 2025, based on the latest data collected by the provincial regulator, which is provided by ride-hailing companies.

Over this period, companies gradually expanded their service areas to cover all of Metro Vancouver. Uber, in particular, now offers the widest coverage in the Lower Mainland and extends into a significant portion of the Fraser Valley. Moreover, Uber made a B.C.-wide expansion in May 2025, further extending its reach across the South Coast and enabling trips such as Vancouver to Whistler.

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However, TransLink emphasizes that ride-hailing still represents a relatively small share of overall transportation patterns. A 2023 survey found that combined ride-hailing, taxi, and informal ride-hailing trips accounted for under three per cent of total automobile trips.

Early data in 2021 from the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board already showed that ride-hailing trips quickly grew to far outnumber taxi trips — a stark contrast to the taxi industry’s pre-2020 monopoly. This gap has likely only substantially widened ever since.

When comparing ride-hailing volumes with public transit ridership, more recent data analyzed by TransLink in 2025 suggests the gap is narrowing. Public transit ridership remains about six times higher than combined ride-hailing and taxi trips.

According to TransLink, approximately two-thirds of ride-hailing trips occur between areas with less optimal public transit service, often involving at least one transfer. The remaining one-third could have been completed using a single, transfer-free transit trip.

As expected, ride-hailing usage is highest in the city of Vancouver, accounting for 43.5 per cent of all pickup locations in Metro Vancouver.

This is followed by Surrey/White Rock (17.3 per cent), Burnaby (8.6 per cent), Richmond excluding the airport (6.2 per cent), North Vancouver City/District (4.2 per cent), Coquitlam/Port Coquitlam (4.2 per cent), Langley City/Township (3.4 per cent), Vancouver International Airport (3.1 per cent), New Westminster (2.5 per cent), Delta (2.4 per cent), UBC/University Endowment Lands (1.4 per cent), West Vancouver/Lions Bay/Bowen Island (1.3 per cent), Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows (1.3 per cent), and Port Moody/Anmore/Belcarra (0.6 per cent).

In 2024, 36 per cent of all ride-hailing trips began within the Metro Core — defined as the combined areas of the Downtown Vancouver peninsula and the Central Broadway corridor. About 13 per cent both started and ended within the Metro ore, and 71 per cent of those trips could have been completed via a single, transfer-free transit ride.

Additionally, about eight per cent of ride-hailing trips were short enough to be walkable, typically occurring in dense urban areas.

TransLink stresses that ride-hailing plays an important role in the broader transportation system, particularly in areas with limited public transit service. However, short trips in dense urban centres often compete with walking and public transit, contributing to congestion.

“Higher ride-hailing activity generally aligns with denser, more walkable, and public transit-served areas with lower levels of automobile ownership and higher levels of paid parking. This concentration has implications for curb management, passenger loading activity, and localized congestion, particularly in activity centres, entertainment districts, and near major destinations,” state TransLink staff in a report this week.

“Ride-hailing can function as both a complement to and a competitor with public transit. Ride-hailing, taxis and car-sharing are an important part of the shared mobility eco-system, allowing more people to make the occasional car trip without needing to own a personal car, which supports active transportation and transit usage for many other trips.”

At Vancouver International Airport (YVR), public transit usage is much closer to ride-hailing levels. Public transit ridership is about 1.3 times higher for inbound trips and 1.8 times higher for outbound trips. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of ride-hailing trips to or from YVR could have been completed via a single, transfer-free journey on the Canada Line.

“Ride-hailing market share is also relatively high for trips to and from Vancouver International Airport, where travel patterns, luggage considerations, lack of system familiarity, and the additional YVR AddFare all influence mode choice,” continues the report.

Earlier this spring, YVR president and CEO Tamara Vrooman noted that 65 per cent of travellers use shared transportation or other non-private vehicle modes, including ride-hailing and public transit. Ride-hailing alone now accounts for 24 per cent of all airport trips.

The growth of ride-hailing since 2020 has also reduced demand for additional parking at YVR. As a result, Vancouver Airport Authority has decided not to complete a partially built second parkade, which may instead be repurposed or demolished for more productive uses, including potentially the footprint of an inward terminal building expansion. Construction on the parkade began in 2017 but was suspended indefinitely in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Regarding multimodal travel, TransLink notes that for passengers connecting to or from SkyTrain stations, “ride-hailing represents only a very small share of passenger boardings.”

Usage also varies by demographic group. Ride-hailing is used more frequently by people with disabilities. About 55 per cent of survey respondents with disabilities reported using ride-hailing at least once in the past year. Among those using wheelchairs or scooters, the figure rises to 71 per cent, followed by 59 per cent for those using other mobility aids.

This reflects previously documented reliability challenges with taxi services and HandyDART vehicles for people with disabilities prior to the introduction of ride-hailing. But ride-hailing services do have their accessibility limitations, as the companies do not have any wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

Finally, ride-hailing demand follows distinct time patterns, with peak usage occurring on Friday and Saturday evenings (6 p.m. to 1 a.m.). The third-highest peak occurs on weekday mornings at 8 a.m., followed by a smaller peak at 5 a.m. from Monday to Thursday.

It was also shared that as of 2025, Metro Vancouver’s ride-hailing fleet is now composed of 41 per cent zero-emission (battery-electric) vehicles — up from 34 per cent in 2024, 30 per cent in 2023, 11 per cent in 2022, and six per cent in 2021. Many ride-hailing vehicles are only operating part-time, as nearly 75 per cent of their drivers work on the apps less than 25 hours per week.

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