What to know
- 61 per cent of Canadian transit users surveyed don’t own a car, while another 16 per cent can access one through family, carshare or other options.
- In Toronto, 62 per cent of TTC users don’t own a car, while 22 per cent own one and 16 per cent can access one.
- 51 per cent of Canadian users said transit is their usual way of getting around, while only 36 per cent said they wished they had a car.
- Transportation accounts for about 22 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, with World Car-Free Day encouraging people to choose transit, walking or cycling.
World Car-Free Day on Tuesday means ditching your car keys for the day to reduce air pollution. For many Canadians, going car-free is already part of their everyday routine.
New data from the Canadian tracking app Transit found that 61 per cent of Canadian transit users polled don’t own a car to begin with, while another 16 per cent don’t own one but can access one through a family member, carshare service or another option.
That means only 23 per cent of those using the Transit app across Canada own a car.
Transit said it looked at data from more than 250,000 Canadian transit commuters who answered whether they owned a car between September 2025 and September 2026, as well as responses from nearly 10,000 app users surveyed about how their transportation habits have changed. No margin of error was provided.
The data was released on Sept. 22 for World Car-Free Day, an annual day encouraging people to leave their cars at home and try other modes of transportation to get around.
In Toronto, 62 per cent of TTC users said they don’t own a car, while another 16 per cent said they don’t own one but can access one. About 22 per cent surveyed said they own a car.
Mississauga had the lowest rate of car ownership among the cities surveyed, with just 14 per cent of Transit users saying they own a car. Hamilton followed at 16 per cent, while the Niagara Region came in at 19 per cent.
Ottawa also came in at 22 per cent, while 24 per cent of Montréal riders and 25 per cent of Vancouver riders said they own a car.
The company also found that 51 per cent of Canadian users said they ride transit all the time, and that public transit is their usual way of getting around.
The survey also asked people about how they feel about car ownership when they first set up the Transit app.
Only about 36 per cent said they wished they had a car, while 13 per cent said cars are not good to have.
Driving costs could be another potential factor behind transportation choices.
Gas prices in Canada were 23 per cent higher in August than a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada.
Transit showed that younger people, immigrants and lower-income people were more likely to rely on transit.
World Car-Free Day takes place every year on Sept. 22. It’s a day that promotes other modes of transport while encouraging people to leave their cars at home and try public transit, cycling and walking.
The annual day highlights the benefits of reducing car use, from cutting emissions and traffic to encouraging more sustainable ways of getting around cities.
According to Statistics Canada, transportation accounts for about 22 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Reducing the number of cars on the road can help cut emissions while also lightening traffic congestion and making cities more sustainable.
