Get excited: New everyday travel data coming soon!
Statistics Canada has begun data collection for the “Canadian Survey on Everyday Travel”, and I am excited!
There are currently no national-level data on how Canadians travel day to day. Data collected through the census focuses on the main mode of transportation for the commute to work. We know that people make many more trips than that during their day, and that people are multi-modal. The new survey approach aims to provide a more accurate picture of everyday travel, including caregiving and leisure trips, and will inform infrastructure investment decisions for all Canadians, including drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and public transit users.
I took a look through the questions being asked, and am looking forward to data on some specific points, including:
Access to micromobility devices amongst Canadians (including bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, etc.).
Use of subscription services for transportation, including bike share!
Looking at trips not made, including if there were no adequate transportation options available, or if transportation was too expensive.
Tying mode of transportation to the reason for making a trip, including errands, picking or dropping someone off, exercise, volunteering, etc.
Looking at multi-modal trips where different segments of a trip might be made using different modes.
Capturing what factors would help people use transit, walking, or micromobility more often.
Collecting this data is an important step in informing investments in our transportation network. When the only data we have is about the trip to work, that’s typically what we plan for. This tends to over-prioritize driving. Knowing how people get around for other trips during their day, and what their barriers are, will hopefully provide planners with more well rounded data that takes all of our trips, trip-chaining patterns, and multi-modal trips into account too.
Data collection for the survey is taking place between March 2026 to March 2027 and will be sampling a total of 120,000 dwellings. The data release date is yet to be determined.