What this research shows is that public transit isn’t a niche issue – it’s foundational to how Canadians think about quality of life. Nearly nine in ten Canadians say transit matters to their communities, and four in five expect the federal government to be an active partner in funding it. What’s striking is the awareness gap: most Canadians didn’t know funding was being reduced, but once informed, concern rises sharply. From a public opinion standpoint, that creates risk. Canadians want safe, reliable transit with predictable, long term funding.
-Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist
The research gauged the opinions among Canadians on public transit funding and the state of public transit.
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1558 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between January 24th and February 4th, 2026. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.
Individuals were randomly called using random digit dialing with a maximum of five call backs.
The margin of error for a random survey of 1558 Canadians is ±2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The research was commissioned by the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) and was conducted by Nanos Research.
Full data tables with weighted and unweighted number of interviews is here: by region age and gender; by vote; by community size.